Another, 30 people died without fixed abode in Orange County in October. Their names are:
Juan RODRIGUEZ who died on October 2nd in Fullerton
Michael BELL who died on October 3rd in Anaheim
David AGUILAR who died on October 3rd in Buena Park
Dylan HAMMONS who died on October 5th in Huntington Beach
Yovani ABUNDEZ CASTANEDA who died on October 5th in San Juan Capistrano
Daniel MOUSSEAU who died on October 5th in Stanton
Mario ROMERO who died on October 7th in Santa Ana
Tracy MILLS who died on October 9th in Anaheim
Lisa PETERSEN who died on October 10th in Mission Viejo
Nicholas SANTEE who died on October 10th in Orange
Zachary KENNEY who died on October 11th in Capistrano Beach
Stephanie HIGAREDA who died on October 11th in Orange
Dung LE who died on October 13th in Westminster
Samuel RIVAS, SR who died on October 14th in Anaheim
Wade VENOSDEL who died on October 15th in Orange
Amber CASTILLO who died on October 19th in Irvine
Ralph MARIN who died on October 20th in Santa Ana
Dolly MERZOIAN who died on October 21st in Anaheim
Hoang TRAN who died on October 21st in Westminster
Eduardo BUSTAMANTE who died on October 22nd in Santa Ana
Dennis REY who died on October 23rd in Garden Grove
Allison WEEKLEY who died on October 23rd in Garden Grove
Allen HARRINGTON who died on October 24th in Costa Mesa
Sonya MURRAY who died on October 25th in Rancho Santa Margarita
Claudia KERR who died on October 28th in Tustin
Antwann GUTIERREZ who died on October 29th in Anaheim
Douglas SMITH who died on October 29th in Anaheim
Shahram RAK who died on October 29th in Irvine
Thomas TURNER who died on October 29th in Santa Ana
Jadeanne DOUGLAS who died on October 30th in Mission Viejo
This keeps the County on track for about 400 homeless deaths for 2024. This will be about 20% less than the 500 deaths recorded last year, but nearly double the 209 deaths recorded for 2019, the last full year before COVID.
In 2022, when the homeless death rate was beginning to spike, the County empaneled a Commission chaired by OC Sheriff Barnes to look into the causes of the increase in homeless deaths. Since the death rate has decreased significantly this year, it’d be worth the time to reconvene the Commission to discern what the city and/or its constituent cities have improved to produce the lowered death rate this year.
In other matters on the ground, it has continued to be a frustration on the part of many of us in at least North OC to continue to be presented with families, often with small children or infants, being asked to wait for days at times for weeks to get into even temporary shelter.
A member of a local service provider said that in October there were 22 families with children with disabilities in North OC who were waiting to get into shelter, and 32 families where the family head was with a disability who were waiting to get into shelter.
This was brought up by us to the OC Board of Supervisors. Members of the Fullerton Tri-Parish Homeless Collaborative and the county’s St. Vincent de Paul Society have subsequently had a quite productive meeting regarding this matter with Supervisor Chaffee’s office.
Nevertheless the opacity of the system – we only find out that there’s a problem and a backlog – when we ask why homeless families are coming to our congregations’ doors asking for assistance.
While no one should be homeless, I simply do not understand why there should be any families or seniors for that matter who find themselves homeless are on the streets at all. In other countries, including Britain, such vulnerable people are immediately put into hotel rooms pending (re)placement into more permanent housing.
That there wouldn’t be money for this is a function of simply not having asked. Further, once the County is spending money on keeping families with minors and seniors in hotel rooms, there comes to be an incentive to make the system work.
Currently, problems are kept quiet until the people in question come to our doors. Even then, there seems to be an incentive to “slow walk” resolving the problem.
It should be absolutely clear that no child nor senior should be sleeping on our streets. If there is a problem making this so, it is not theirs, it is ours – the society’s (and this is literally why we have government, certainly on the local level, to protect the common welfare). Further, this is one problem that is certainly solvable if we want to solve it.
Until then, every time a homeless family comes to us for assistance, we will continue to make sure that the rest of the County knows of the problem until it is solved: Again no kid, no senior, and dare one add, no woman fleeing domestic violence should be sleeping on our streets.
Fr. Dennis Kriz, OSM, Pastor St. Philip Benizi Catholic Church, Fullerton.
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