Orange County has taken steps to deal with their homeless problem including removing bus benches dear Disneyland and clearing out the Santa Ana Riverbed but their steps to push them out has no follow through.
There is no clear plan in place for where the homeless will go and if the last two weeks are any indication, residents will not tolerate shelters or county sanctioned tent cities in their neighborhoods or parks.
After more than 1,000 community members protested at a Board of Supervisors meeting, the county walked back on their plans for temporary homeless shelters in Huntington Beach, Laguna Niguel, and Irvine. Many of the homeless are currently staying in motels but those vouchers are set to expire and once they do, there will be even more homeless wandering the street.
Protesters at the meeting are frustrated with the notion that they're cold hearted. They don't know what to do with the homeless, but don't believe it's their responsibility to solve the crisis.
"Who cares? This is not our responsibility," said Abby Moore, a retiree from Laguna Niguel. "We are not elected to handle this crisis. I just don't want to be near the homeless."
Angela Liu of Irvine said she did not know where the homeless should go. But it should not be in her city, she said.
"They need to put them somewhere, maybe somewhere else in California," said Liu, who owns a legal services company. "I really don't know where they can go. But Irvine is beautiful, and we don't want it to get destroyed."
Read more at the LA Times