O.C.'s grand homeless plan collapsing as residents balk at having shelters in their neighborhoods
People who aren't local are not understanding the context here. I work in an around one of the encampments this measure is designed to "control" and I can provide some background information.
For the past several years, Orange County has experienced a massive increase of homeless encampments. Primarily, they are located along the Santa Ana riverbed, at the OC Civic Center, and another couple scattered around various riverbeds.
The reason these encampments have been allowed to flourish is because they are on COUNTY land, or other land not controlled by a single municipality. Various cities and their police forces have been unable to control the homeless encampments because they don't have jurisdiction. The county land is controlled by the Orange County Board of Supervisors, which is currently manned by, shall we say, significantly more liberal people than you would expect for largely upper middle class Orange County.
What is important to understand is that these people are not HOMELESS. They are VAGRANTS. I can't make a blanket assumption, but I would hazard a guess that of all the homeless people in these encampments, less than 10% would even be interested in a job and a permanent place to live. I'm serious.
Anecdotal but typical of my experiences with the local vagrants: There is one guy who lives behind/beside my office. He's been there for over a year. His daughter has come into our office and told us his name and begged to help us convince him to come home. He refuses. He literally runs whenever she comes around to offer him a ride home. He just is content to live under a tarp and do whatever his drug of choice is.
I spend a lot of time at the OC Civic Center, which was a big public library, the county seat of government, several parks, etc. Supposed to be a place for everyone to enjoy. Yet it is essentially a war zone. There is a big central square with the flags of the countries of the world, etc. Should be nice, right? Except it has been allowed to become a homeless encampment. Literally in the middle of Orange damned County's civic center. Over 100 tents filled with vagrants. You used to see kids and families at the civic center... not anymore. Despite the porta-johns that went in a year ago, they continue to piss and crap in the Japanese garden next to the courthouse. There is trash everyone. Half the people are walking around half-naked. I pay exorbitant taxes to maintain the civic center yet I would literally never let my wife and kids anywhere near the place.
And the crazy part is, nobody seems to care. They allow a different soup kitchen to set up on site every day. They have a little tent set up next to the camp for people to drop off supplies. They bring in a hazmat crew to clean up the trash once a month or so. But nobody tells them to leave!
Anyway, I'm getting away from myself. The situation has been so toxic for so long, a few public servants (like the guy who has been gunning for the DA job) have been banging the drum about actually doing something about it. The Santa Ana riverbed camp is literally next to some people's backyards and their home values have cratered. The Civic Center is a damned nightmare. So they are trying to force these people out. Of course, bleeding hearts from out of town sued to stop them, but the judge handling the case walked through the encampments and said moving them was something that had to happen. So the County came up with this "plan" of setting up circus tents with beds and porta-johns and shipping the people there. I won't comment on my thoughts about the chances that would be successful, but suffice to say its all a big joke anyway.
Oh, did I mention that Orange County has been paying for hotel rooms for these homeless people for the last month while they are trying to set up the tents? Yes, taxpayers are putting these people (the few who will accept, anyway) in hotels.
So the county's plan is basically "Hey, “F” the responsible homeowners in Hunter Biden, Irvine, and Laguna Niguel" (all very nice, upscale cities) we are going to dump hundreds of literal vagrants in your backyards. Enjoy your property values! Thankfully, Hunter Biden and Laguna Niguel lawyered up and put the kibosh on their circus tents, but the county actually owns a bit of land in the middle of Irvine so they haven't been able to stop it yet. And Irvine might be the "wealthiest" of all. My wife works in healthcare not far from this site and she is dreading the influx of homeless that will probably flood her parking lot and bathrooms, or looking for medication.
You can think me or others like myself who fear these homeless and what they will do to our lives and property values, but I work amongst these very homeless people. They don't want our help. They won't accept it. They WANT to be this way.
And before someone jumps in and says "WELL WHAT DO YOU THINK WE SHOULD DO THEN YOU ELITIST SCUM" my solution is simple:
Ship them to the desert where the land is free. Set them up with a tent, running water, and basic social services. Whenever they show up back here, ship them right back out. We don't need to abandon them, but we sure as crap don't need to coddle them either.
