In Orange County more than 2,000 individuals are homeless on any given night. Many struggle to survive in communities that criminalize their mere existence yet provide no meaningful resources to help them move off the streets and into long-term supportive housing.

This week, however, brought a new level of anxiety for individuals who are homeless as the first of many El Niño storms moved across Southern California, bringing heavy rains and near freezing temperatures.

For many living under freeway passes or along the riverbed, the rains only pushed them deeper into misery. Some tried to protect their few belongings while trying to avoid contact with police, who they say frequently ticket them for sleeping in public or conduct random searches of their tents. Others simply rode out the storm without any shelter.

The situation was only made worse by a county miserably ill-equipped to deal with the storm despite having made public pledges to the contrary.

Last month, county officials promised to spend $500,000 to establish a rapid response system that would provide emergency shelter to the estimated 400 individuals living along the riverbed. Yet as the storm passed there was no sign of any kind of coordinated government response.

Instead, what many residents along the riverbed described, was a county without a plan to help some of its most vulnerable residents.

A few of their stories:

Greg, 63, a resident of an encampment under the Katella Avenue Bridge:

“Some cop came by the other day and said a big storm is coming. A lady was with him. I think she was with mental health services. The only thing she told us was we might think about going to a shelter, but that’s not going to happen. They just take your things and you have to wait to get in. Besides, I lived in the armory and it was awful. You get sick and it’s not a good place.”

Jeff Buckley, 48, a resident of riverbed encampment under the 5 Freeway.

“I don’t see a difference from last year to this year’s response. Maybe, you see more police, but there ain’t no real difference. The cops just come by and tell you it’s going to rain and to stay up top and watch the water level so you don’t get swept away. But that’s about the only difference I can see from what they did last year and this year. I’ve been on the streets since 2007, and the truth is no one has ever really come out here to help us. The only time the police come out here is to harass everybody. They come and start asking you for your name and if you are on parole, and then go through your stuff.”

Tammy Schuler, 40, a resident of an encampment by the Chapman Bridge.

“I stayed here when it rained but I got a daughter, so my mom and I pooled our money together, and I sent them to a motel to ride out the storm. I had to stay here and make sure our things were ok. I don’t know about help, but I heard a couple of people say that a lady came by to tell people it was going to rain but that was it. The only thing different this year from last is more people coming around with food and tents and stuff, but those are charities and church groups, not the city. I try to stay out of trouble. We tend to stay here by the riverbed because if you go to a park then the cops harass you. I guess they worry about the kids, and folks don’t want you. I don’t want to wind up with a ticket so I stay here and keep to myself.”

Tina Abbott, 56, a resident of a riverbed encampment under the 5 Freeway.

“I just got out the hospital sometime in November, I think. I was hit by a car and had back surgery. It’s been tough. Some church groups have come down around Christmas time. They gave us stuff we needed. But we lost a bunch of stuff because we went to Mercy House (a shelter) and when we came back all our stuff was lit up. I lost my shoes and I’m supposed to be using a walker but I can’t get one right now. We’re starting from scratch. We’re just trying to stay dry. I applied for housing but I can’t seem to get it because if have a felony from 30 years ago.”

Sandra Hernandez is communications director at the ACLU of Southern California.

The following article was first published in the Voice of OC.

Orange County’s emergency response plan fails to protect homeless people from El Niño storms.

As those storms rolled in early last week, Orange County officials faced a first test of their emergency response plan aimed at protecting people living in the riverbed. The plan failed miserably.
In December, the Board of Supervisors committed $500,000 to an action plan that will ensure “that temporary shelter beds/services for the homeless will be available immediately in the event of severe weather and/or other emergency conditions.”

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Recognizing that the county’s cold weather shelter system at the National Armories has the capacity to serve only a fraction of all people who are homeless, the plan contracts out shelter services that would temporarily expand the system by 440 beds to accommodate people residing in the Santa Ana riverbed and flood channels during El Niño storms.

As the first El Niño downpours of the season roared through the county, however, the promised emergency spots were nowhere to be found.

Homeless and forgotten, stories from the Santa Ana riverbed

 

According to people living at a riverbed encampment under the Katella Avenue Bridge in Anaheim, the county’s response had been limited to one Health Care Agency worker who came by before the deluge. The worker distributed flyers with contact information for the usual emergency shelter programs, but made no mention of additional emergency space people could access during the storm.

People living at riverbed encampments by the Chapman bridge and the 5 Freeway in Orange said they had not seen even one county outreach worker before the storms hit.
Residents of a riverbed encampment under the 5 Freeway said that police officers had warned them about the impending storm and had advised them to seek high ground—yet the officers did not assist people in accessing emergency shelter.

As one officer explained, “We have no plan to put people in emergency shelter because we have nowhere to put them. The Armories are bursting at the seams.”

We have no plan to put people in emergency shelter because we have nowhere to put them.

In the absence of government help, many riverbed dwellers sought shelter under the bridges, but space was limited. Others rode out the storms with tarps and tents, set up along the embankments.

Homeless people living in the Santa Ana Civic Center were also trying to figure out how to stay safe and dry. As the storm raged early Tuesday morning, some huddled under the awning of the Santa Ana Public Library, only to be forced back into the downpour by Santa Ana police officers.

Among the people in the area were Bernie Duschame, 57, who lives in the Civic Center Plaza. He said the officers did not give people an alternative place to go.
Local governments did not neglect the emergency needs of everyone, however.

While homeless people scrambled for shelter under bridges, awnings and hand-made lean-tos, the Orange County Fire Authority, along with several cities throughout the county, were busy providing free sand bags to local housed residents and business owners.

Of course, the county could have avoided the severe weather emergency for people living outdoors by implementing their own Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. This plan claims to use a “housing first” approach that emphasizes placing persons who are homeless in safe and affordable permanent housing as an immediate response to their crisis.

Yet this year—year four in the plan—the county has the capacity to house only one in 10 of the thousands of people experiencing homelessness on any given night.
In the interim Orange County officials need to respond to El Niño storms with meaningful action.

Empty promises will not keep people living outdoors safe and dry during storms, and will not protect them from hypothermia and other weather-related health and safety hazards.
And while the county contracted out implementation of the plan to a local nonprofit agency, this does not absolve it of responsibility for the public health and safety of its citizens.

The county needs to provide immediate, responsive and effective help to those people who have no protection from extreme weather conditions.

Orange County homeless advocates have developed a petition to call upon the Board of Supervisors to fulfill their promise of providing emergency beds for all people living outdoors during inclement weather—and permanent, affordable housing for all.

Sign the petition.

Eve Garrow is homelessness policy analyst and advocate at the ACLU of Southern California.