IRVINE — Elected city officials are showing mixed reactions to Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s proposal to put a temporary homeless shelter on county-owned land just south of the Orange County Great Park.
“Clearly this is a shot in the dark, without any plan, by Supervisor Nelson to stick it to the residents of this city without getting the opinion of the council or residents,” Irvine Councilman Jeff Lalloway said in response to Nelson’s announcement at the May 9 board meeting.
Under Nelson’s proposal, the county would erect a large, temporary, 200-person, tent-like structure on county-owned land in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Santa Ana. He wants the first one to open within 30 days, but stressed that his purpose was to start a conversation.
“We need everybody to have an honest discussion,” Nelson said in a phone interview after the board meeting. “This is such an unpopular topic. … No one wants a homeless shelter in their community.”
In recent months, scores of homeless people and advocates have spoken at county board meetings, complaining that homeless people living along the Santa Ana River have no access to toilets, showers, clean water or a reliable food source.
Nelson said his short-term plan would not prevent the county from formulating long-term solutions and that he didn’t want to wait for a permanent fix before addressing the issue. He said his plan is by no means perfect and said he is open to better ideas.
“Having nothing seems to me a poor option,” Nelson said. “We have people on the street today. “Can we fix it? Yes, but we need the will to do it.”
Nelson wants to provide basic amenities such as beds and portable bathrooms and showers at each site. He said he approached the plan wanting something “similar to what you would see if there were an emergency today and the Red Cross had to set up facilities.”
Last month, Nelson directed staff to identify county land where it could open a shelter. One of the proposed sites is on 100 acres of county-owned land just south of the Great Park, along Marine Way. Nelson said the site was proposed because the land is flat and there are few neighbors.
The county last year released its plans to develop the land into apartments, hotels and retail — a proposal that has angered Irvine officials, who said it could congest roads and block Great Park development. Nelson said his proposal won’t affect the county’s development plans because the shelter’s temporary.
Irvine Councilwoman Melissa Fox said while Irvine may not be seeing the same homeless problem as other cities, it has a large number of people without stable housing, including many UC Irvine students. She said putting a homeless shelter is better use of the land than the county’s development plans.
The county allowed Irvine to annex the Great Park land in 2003, and as part of that deal, the county set aside the 100-acre site for itself for future development. The agreement states the county has “exclusive land use control” over the property and “shall be entitled to place any development” including but not limited to 15 government uses suggested in the document. An emergency shelter is one of the listed uses.
Councilwoman Christina Shea said the homeless problem must be addressed and a shelter may be a proper use for the county land. However, she and fellow council members said Nelson should have consulted the city before announcing his proposal.
“I’m totally willing to work with the county, but we’ve got to do this properly,” Shea said. “We weren’t even notified about it.”
Nelson said that’s “fair criticism” but added this is just a beginning of the process. County staff is expected to evaluate the Irvine and two other proposed sites and report to the board at its May 23 meeting. The project needs a board approval.
“It’s not like we’ve made a decision yet,” Nelson said. “We will discuss with the cities if we decide to move forward.”
Irvine officials said there are a lot of unanswered questions about Nelson’s proposal.
“This is just a proposal floated by one of the supervisors,” Mayor Don Wagner said. “I don’t think anybody wants to overreact to it. I don’t.”
Orange County opened its first two year-round shelters in the last year, including an emergency shelter at a former bus terminal in Santa Ana and a full-service shelter in Anaheim aimed at quickly finding people permanent housing.
A 2015 count found there were nearly 4,500 homeless people in the county. The figures for the county’s 2017 count have not yet been made public.