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Home My WebLink AboutCORRESPONDENCE - CLOSED SESSIONCity Council Meeting Correspondence 8/20/2019 REGARDING HOMLESSNESS DISCUSSION Closed Session - Date of Name Correspondence Representative of In Favor In Opposition Comment of RA*. of RA.* 1 8/20/2019 Tim Johnson Yes 1 TOTAL: 1 *RA - Recommended Action Tuesday, August 20, 2019 Page 1 of 1 Orozco, Norma From: Tim Johnson < Sent: Tuesday, August 20, 2019 10:18 AM To: eComment; Iglesias, Cecilia; Solorio, Jose; Penaloza, David; Villegas, Juan; Pulido, Miguel; Sarmiento, Vicente; Ridge, Kristine; rflores@stanta-ana.org Subject: Closed Session Agenda Item 1 B & C City Council and City Manager Ridge ... This email is with regards to the homeless issues in closed session agenda item #1(B) & (C). I thank you for continually addressing homeless issues although I believe that our residents deserve more information from our city. Specifically, I believe that the residents deserve information as follows: 1. What the status of the Yale Street shelter that the city and county previously entered a MOU on during 2018. 2. Has the county violated terms of that MOU? If so, what is the recourse and current course of action? 3. What is the status of the lawsuit between the City of Santa Ana and the South County cities? If you recall, the city council previously approved filing a lawsuit against other South County cities for not addressing their homeless crisis and the imbalanced impact that was having on the city of Santa Ana. City council directed legal counsel to prepare that lawsuit but I do not believe it was served upon the defendant cities. The residents deserve to be notified as to the status of that lawsuit and when the defendants will be served and if the city is not going to serve them, provide reasoning for such a decision in a public forum since it was voted upon in a public forum. 4. Provide an update as to the SAPD's current course of action with regards to anti -camping ordinance enforcement. Are they currently enforcing anti -camping ordinances? Are they able to enforce considering the occupancy at The Link (i.e. not full)? What are the consequence for violating anti -camping ordinances and do they escalate as a particular individual's number of violations increase? What should the resident's expectations be when calling SAPID or QOLT with regards to timing of a response by PD/QOLT? S. What the residents' expectations should be with regards to encampments and other homeless issues being seen throughout our city? What should our expectations be in terms of enforcement, clearing of visual encampments, and other homeless items in terms of response times, law enforcement action, etc... 6. What is the status of the encampments and trash along the Union Pacific Railroad through Santa Ana? I know that it is Union Pacific's responsibility to take care of their own property just like any other property owner. Is Union Pacific cleaning this up? What has the communication been with UP and their representatives as well as their planned response? Is the city fining UP on a daily basis for code enforcement violations? What should the residents' expectations be with regards to the railroad? I have made numerous reports to the UP emergency line by the way ... they indicate that they are aware of the problem yet from my perspective, I am not seeing any action being taken and this is not a good situation for the city, its businesses, or its residents (both housed and unhoused). I am concerned about the city's involvement in the federal lawsuit and the previously discussed proposed Yale homeless shelter. This shelter was discussed in open court before Judge Carter and I am concerned with how the lack of progress on this shelter (or an alternative) may impact the potential settlement. I encourage you to: 1. Expand the number of permanent supportive housing (PSH) units in our city. This includes speeding up the planning process for PSH developments and being flexible on parking requirements. I also encourage you to spur the creation of PSH units in other parts of the county. 2. Put pressure on the county to expand the availability of mental health beds throughout the county. The facility in Orange being built is not enough although a good step in the right direction. 3. Work with the county on development of expanded shelter beds that operate in a similar manner as to The Link. I believe that the county should have a model that it applies to all shelters... including The Courtyard and the Armory. 4. Seek reimbursement from the County of Orange for costs that the city has incurred with regards to homeless issues ... it is the county's responsibility to deal with public health issues and the financial burden should not fall upon our city. The city has previously expended tremendous funds dealing with a situation that the county should bear the financial burden for. 5. Seek changes in the county's jail release program to where the county transports released inmates to their city of residence and/or city of infraction instead of being released to the streets of Santa Ana. Supervisor Do brought this up at a prior Board of Supervisor's meeting on June 25th. 6. Work with the county in closing down The Courtyard and replacement with a more appropriate shelter. In the meantime, the county should implement needed changes to The Courtyard including no walk ins, no loitering, and other measures that they would implement at a new facility like the previously proposed Yale facility. 7. Work with the County and the operator of the seasonal Armory shelter so as to minimize impact of the surrounding neighborhood including more appropriate intake processes, day time storage of items, transportation plans, and anti -loitering rules. 8. Force the county to open shelter facilities in other cities especially in South Orange County. Right now, the county has no available beds in South County. Try calling 211 and seeking a bed for a homeless person in South County. See item number 3 above with regards to the previously approved filing of a lawsuit. 9. Put out public information educating the public about the homeless crisis including the causes, the solutions, the financial impact, the responsibility of the county, and what the residents expectations should be with regards to homelessness. I previously have used the below 5 points which is a good summary I believe of the above as it relates to what the City of Santa Ana should be doing in coordinating with the County on our homeless crisis ... these are items the county needs to be doing proactively but the city should be encouraging/pressuring the county to do: 1. Inform: Come out with a public message about what Yale would look like operationally ... help those in SA know that it is not going to be like The Courtyard. In the alternative, inform the public about what we should expect of any future shelter that the city would support, what the expected results of such future shelter programs would be, and what the course of action would be to monitor such program. 2. Jail Release: Commit to transporting those released from the SA County Jail to the jurisdiction that they offended in instead of simply releasing them onto the streets of Santa Ana which puts an undue burden upon SA. 3. Show: Improve the conditions of The Courtyard right now ... make it look like Bridges/Link from a walk in/out perspective and no loitering. Show those in SA what Yale may look like by changing The Courtyard for the better now. 4. Stop: Commit to stopping the procedure of sending homeless folks from other parts of the county to Santa Ana which would also entail creating service centers outside of SA and in South County. 5. Probation: Commit to finding another location for post -release jail probation and/or parole housing outside of Santa Ana. Right now the Red Roof Inn (Main Street by Main Place Mall) is used I believe for this purpose but there likely are others in SA also. The county needs to work with the State to reform its parole housing to have less impact upon Santa Ana. 6. Spread: Come up with a plan to officially open a shelter facility in South County. The County has 100-acres in Irvine properly zoned- since it is S132 zoned, a little 5-acre slice seems more than reasonable. The County has other property outside of SA, Garden Grove, Westminster, Anaheim... which is properly zoned also. Thank you for your time and service to our city and its residents and businesses. Tim Johnson FA