Copyright Los Angeles Times
Orange County supervisors today adopted an ordinance guiding how law enforcement should deal with homeless encampments in unincorporated areas in light of a U.S. Supreme Court ruling. The new law allows the county to arrest and fine homeless people camping in county parks or other county properties, including flood control channels. It follows a Supreme Court ruling from last year that lifted a previous ban on arresting people for sleeping in public places when no shelter beds were available. “We got the help we needed from the Supreme Court,” Supervisor Don Wagner said in a regular meeting Tuesday. “What this is doing is making sure that our sheriff has the tools in the unincorporated areas necessary to enforce that decision and to help, ultimately, the people who are homeless and the folks who are out in the community and are having to deal with homeless encampments in their parks and in their place of business.” Board Vice Chair Katrina Foley said the ordinance stems from a memorandum of understanding with Costa Mesa, Newport Beach and the state and the OC Parks department. “There were no uniform protocols,” she said, adding that the ordinance is not meant to just give free rein to dismantle encampments. “We also do this with a complement of care coordination at the side of law enforcement, so that these people who need help know we are here to help.” Adopting the ordinance further ensures the county remains eligible for federal and state funding for homelessness, Foley pointed out. “It’s just one tool in our tool belt as it relates to a lot of [the] different supports we have to end homelessness here in Orange County,” she added. “We are here to help, but we also need to keep the community safe. We need to keep people from illegally camping in our parks.” Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who cast the lone dissenting vote, said the county has become a model for addressing homelessness. In recent years, the board had adopted a system of care that coupled the breaking up of encampments with the provision of shelter and other services, a mandate under a previous law issued before the Supreme Court ruling. The establishment of that system was the result of a settlement in federal court of a 2018 lawsuit filed by the nonprofit assistance agency Orange County Catholic Worker, which accused several Orange County municipalities of employing legal frameworks that drove homeless individuals to seek sanctuary communities along the Santa Ana River, then used local ordinances to force them from the encampments. “I certainly appreciated all of the work that was done when I was mayor in Santa Ana,” Sarmiento said of the county’s progress. “Unfortunately, we don’t want that dismantled or eroded, so I’m glad to hear that this is going to continue in some way.” Sarmiento called the new ordinance a “good effort,” but acknowledged it as a “departure from what the Catholic Worker settlement with the county did and invested in.” For instance, under the old law, transients were warned before law enforcement would disperse an encampment, he said. “I have trust and confidence sheriff’s deputies will continue to enforce it in a way that’s humane and follows the law,” Sarmiento said Tuesday. The former Santa Ana mayor said he continues to be concerned about how many transients are picked up, jailed and then left in Santa Ana with little resources and no ability to get back to where they were living before. Sarmiento added he’d like to see efforts to return transients to the places from where they were picked up, to alleviate pressure on Santa Ana to accept more homeless individuals because the services they need are there.
