Homelessness in Orange County by Denise Rincon

Denise Rincon

                                                          Homelessness in my community 

Research   

  In my community there is social issues that affect myself and my community. One of the biggest issues is homelessness in Orange County. Not only that but because of how many homeless there is in my community that many homeless died this past year. In the website The Orange County Register the article called For Orange County's homeless population states, " For Orange County's homeless population, 2017 was the second deadliest year on record. At least 193 homeless people died in the county in 2017, according to the coroner's office records by the Register". I feel like this death doesn't lower because of the conditions the homeless people lived in or addictions they had. I did read in other articles about the cause and they state that it has to do with many situations they are in. I did read in this article that says is because of the health problems, drug overdoes or suicide. There is many homelessness in Orange County for example many of this homeless people are living or camping in the Santa Ana Riverbed. In the website of ABC7 the article called Orange County Officials begin moving homeless from riverbed to shelters, motels they state, " Orange county officials began moving homeless people out of the Santa Ana riverbed and into shelters and motels. It's all a part of a settlement worked out by the county and homeless advocates". This is a good idea and its helping out community by helping out the homeless people to live in a better condition and there will be less deaths. This article from Los Angeles Times talked about the homelessness in Orange County and what people opinions where about this issue. According to the article called O.C pushes homeless off the streets but can't find anywhere to shelter them in the website Of Los Angeles Times states "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." This made me realize how this people are making the homeless and our community look like they don't care what happens to this people. But this people just want what’s best for them but not the community. we should look at it on how it will not just affect us but everyone our neighbors and community. The community has to get more involved in this issue because it affects our community surroundings. 

Citations:

       Bio, Greg Lee. “OC Officials Begin Moving Homeless from Riverbed to Motels.” ABC7 Los Angeles, 20 Feb. 2018, abc7.com/society/oc-officials-begin-moving-homeless-from-riverbed-to-motels/3114598/.

       Do, Anh, et al. “O.C. Pushes Homeless off the Street but Can't Find Anywhere to Shelter Them.” Los Angeles Times, Los Angeles Times, 28 Mar. 2018, www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-oc-homeless-test-20180328-story.html.

      

        Graham, Jordan. “For Orange County's Homeless Population, 2017 Was the Second Deadliest Year on Record.” Orange County Register, Orange County Register, 18 Jan. 2018, www.ocregister.com/2018/01/17/for-orange-countys-homeless-population-2017-was-the-second-deadliest-year-on-record/.

 My opinion      

In my personal opinion on why this social issue is important to me is because when I was 6 years I would see many homeless in my community walking in the streets with supermarket carts full of personal stuff, trash, or even furniture. This just made me feel sorry for them because of their living conditions and I just want to help them out. another reason is that it makes my community look like they don't engage in our community by helping others. Many people talk about the homeless without really knowing the reason why they are in this condition. for us it’s easy to judge them because they are living in the streets of our community, but we don't know what they went through to be in the streets of my city Santa Ana.  I'm glad that finally this year Orange County officials did something to help the homeless people get out of the streets to motel. I fill like I'm not the only one in my community or neighborhood that might feel the same way as I do. I went to my community and I also heard one day in the news that the city was figuring out what to do with the homeless in my community. This is how I choose this specific issue because it affects me and my community because we are trying to help the homeless have a better life, living conditions, and help them out. But one day in the news I heard that they got all the homeless out of the riverbed in Santa Ana by moving them to hotels for a couple of weeks. One thing that made me choose this issue was this because then they kicked them out of the hotels when the time was done but while they were staying the hotel workers treated them like they were criminals. That made me angry and disappointed on how my community treats the homeless, they try to help but they don't in the same time. Not only that but then they wanted to send them to Irvine in a property that is contaminated because that was the military base many years ago and they haven't fix it. that place was going to be for the homeless camps, but it was not in good conditions because it was going to affect their health. Then my neighbors went to the court to complain about this issue and that they didn't want the homeless near their children schools and that it was not in good conditions. That's why this issue is important in my community and for myself; we have to try and help the homeless in our community not judge them. 

Evidence 

Daisy Flores Mendez

  

" Our community provides the homeless with basic needs like food and clothing. And there are some who refuse the help. A big issue that affects our community is that the cities bordering us (Santa Ana) send the homeless people here. Most of the solutions that our community had provided are short term rather than long term. Many homeless that I personally have seen around my school make us feel unsafe because they wonder around yelling curse words and cross the streets during traffic". 

Samuel Hernandez 

" Homelessness in my community has become a problem. they are seen from riverbeds to train tracks and freeways exists. Most of them would rather ask people for money instead of trying to get a job. I myself think twice about giving a homeless money because many of them are drug addicts and would rather satisfy their addiction then feed themselves". 

Noemi Rincon

" My point of view about homeless is that it has become a problem to the image of our community and for the people. Homelessness is a problem which means it has a solution, but it is hard to get others to engage in the solutions. People have created schema of what homeless look like, how they act, what they do and have decided that there is no hope in helping them when they don't even try to get themselves out of the situation they are in. As part of the community I have volunteers at shelters and gone out to feed the homeless and i have noticed the increase. When volunteering, some of these homeless people have told me their stories on how they got to that point which the majority of the time is them talking the wrong path and ending up on the streets because they don't have anyone, or they lost the people they had. Yet, I have also seen homeless who are on the streets because they are starting a new life in a new country in search for a better life. The homeless I have met during my volunteering have told me that they appreciate the help we give them which makes me think that in the community would get together to help support one another homelessness might be less of a problem. Yes, I believe that there is some homeless that are just out there begging for money to continue doing the thing that got them there in the first place but there is homeless who are not mentally stable which can include addicts. I also believe that there is homeless who are just lazy to get a job but there is also homeless who were thrown out into the real world without knowing how to be independent and support themselves. Homelessness is really a problem not only in my community but in this country and we should be trying harder to decrease the number of people on the streets instead of just watching the number increase".