As homeless encampments continue to pop up, officials in Orange County are acknowledging the need to cooperate. Now the task is convincing residents.
Editor’s note: This is the third story in a series examining homelessness in Orange County, including the cities of Costa Mesa, Fountain Valley, Huntington Beach, Laguna Beach and Newport Beach.Some cities have relatively robust resources. Others have very few. And no city has declared itself to be in charge.
The challenge now is summoning the political will, often over the objections of residents, to move ahead with solutions to homelessness. An elected official’s political fortunes could be determined by one controversial vote — and when it comes to homelessness, controversy is rarely in short supply.Newport Beach residents opposed to a proposed homeless shelter rally outside City Hall before a City Council meeting in October.
"“The ‘NIMBYs’ want everybody to just leave out of their neighborhoods, but they have to go somewhere. Somebody needs to ask at one point, ‘Whose backyard is it going to be? Where are we going to put them?’”“We have patients from the entire 50 states ending up here,” he said. “Our weather attracts people from many other states. So, I seriously doubt that the majority of people living on our streets are Huntington Beach residents.
Homeless people say they are aware of how they’re perceived. “It’s almost to a point where people are giving you resources, but they almost think they’re enabling you,” said Josh Webster, 42, a homeless resident of Laguna Beach. “But at the same time, it’s like you need those resources just to survive.”
“When we do that, we are able to distance ourselves from them, because if we turn somebody into the ‘other,’ especially ... when we kind of assign blame to them — that it’s their fault that they are this way — it’s very easy for them to remain the other, and then we don’t need to engage.”
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