Ten periods after filing a dispute against Orange County and three South County metropolitansover homeless sanctuaries, Santa Ana agreed to dismiss San Juan Capistrano, Dana Point and San Clemente from that complaint.
That needles Orange County as the sole remaining accused in the case provided for, in which Santa Ana alleges it is taking an dishonest share of the county’s homeless into its municipality. A hearing is scheduled for Feb. 4 before U.S. District Judge David O. Carter at the federal courthouse in Santa Ana
A Santa Ana spokesman said late Friday that the three cities were dismissed from the lawsuit because officials in those communities stated” they have not hauled homeless individuals from their cities to Santa Ana and have no plans to do so .”
Officials from the three South County municipalities announced Santa Ana’s action” legally and factually baseless .”
Saying they were pleased to be removed from the lawsuit, officials wrote in a joint proclamation that Santa Ana’s action” thus avoiding further pointless payment of taxpayer dollars and instead let the three South County cities to focus their limited resources available on actual issues associated with homelessness .”
The three municipalities had been accused of looking to Santa Ana as a sit to move its homeless.
In December, the San Clemente assembly voted to close its emergency homeless site. At the time, municipality officials said they hope to tap emergency armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton as a road to meet their the demands of furnishing couches and allow the city to enforce its anti-camping laws.
In their explanation, officials from the three municipalities disclaimed Santa Ana’s allegations.
” Each of the three metropolis named in the lawsuit dedicate significant funding to helping people experiencing homelessness, and remain committed to working in collaboration with the County of Orange, Orange County Sheriff’s Department and non-profit service providers to identify long-term and balanced solutions ,” they wrote.
Santa Ana entered a second lawsuit against the Mental Health Association of Orange County, which extends a public drop-in center in Santa Ana for homeless people with mental illness. That dispute, registered Jan. 13, calls the facility a public inconvenience and seeks to at- least temporarily, if not permanently- shut it down.
Meanwhile, Orange County’s plan to build a homeless shelter on Yale Street, near Centennial Regional Park has precipitated germinating community opposition. On Thursday, more than 200 residents attended a community meeting hosted by the Santa Ana Unified School District. All the speakers spoke against the projected sanctuary, saying it was too close to academies, constituted safety issues and should not be built in Santa Ana, which previously has some 1,000 berths for homeless people.
Read more: ocregister.com.