After locals demanded that Orange County officials clean out the Santa Ana Riverbed trail and evict the hundreds of homeless individuals who had set up camp there, they were stuck with where those homeless might end up next.
Dozens of locations for shelters have been proposed by O.C. officials and discarded faster than you can say Not In My Backyard. One site was a former pre-school and library, off Santiago Canyon road, far from the services many would need.
However, David Whiting with the Orange County Register writes that the perfect place to shelter the homeless may be right in front of our noses - the beach.
Whiting points out that between San Clemente and Seal Beach, there's more than 40 miles of oceanfront, with vast stretches of open space and hundreds of sturdy bathrooms and showers. Beaches also often have plenty of job opportunities for those who want to make a little money. Whiting even endorses the idea of hiring the homeless to help clean the bathrooms/showers on the beach.
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