Orange County Supervisors approved new rules that open the door for county sheriffs to break up homeless encampments on county land, including parks, flood channels and other unincorporated areas. 

It’s the first step taken by county supervisors to force homeless residents off the streets after the Supreme Court overturned a lower court ruling that required counties to have shelter beds in place before they break up encampments last year. 

[Read: Is Orange County About To Enforce Anti-Camping Laws Again?]

While cities like Santa Ana, Anaheim, Irvine, Garden Grove and Fullerton approved new rules for their police departments to break up homeless encampments, this is the first time county leaders have officially given the greenlight to sheriffs. 

Moving forward, Orange County Sheriff deputies and other staff will have the authority to break up homeless encampments on county property, encouraging anyone they find there to head to one of the county shelters. 

“We got the help we needed from the Supreme Court and what this is doing is making sure our sheriff has the tools in the unincorporated areas as necessary to enforce that decision,” said Supervisor Don Wagner at the supervisors’ Tuesday board meeting. 

Supervisor Katrina Foley said part of why they’re moving forward on new rules now is to work with the cities of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa to break up homeless encampments at the state owned Randall Preserve, which sits next to the county’s Talbert Park and the Santa Ana river. 

Because of the overlap between different jurisdictions, there’s no standardized way to handle the homeless who camp out there, but Foley said they want to set up a deal between all the agencies to break up the encampments. 

“We will be able to use that to create our (memorandum of understanding) with other cities and the state,” Foley said. “This ordinance is just one tool in our toolbelt … we are here to help, but we also need to keep the community safe.” 

The shift comes as county leaders have increasingly acknowledged the homelessness crisis isn’t getting better anytime soon.

County leaders renamed their Commission to End Homelessness as the Commission to Address Homelessness just a few months before a grand jury report found the county was still failing to effectively address the problem. 

[Read: Grand Jury: Orange County Again Fails to Curb Homelessness]

Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento voted against the new rules, saying he felt like it was a step backward after years of work encouraging people to enter shelters on their own without forcing them off the street. 

“There was an entire system that was developed,” Sarmiento said. “We don’t want that dismantled.” 

He also raised concerns that an increase in arrests of homeless people could leave them with nowhere to go except the jail in Santa Ana, the city where he used to be mayor.

“Unfortunately people were released into this community with very few options left to them,” Sarmiento said. “Then it becomes the problem of one district absorbing everybody else’s issues … that’s patently unfair.” 

Assistant Sheriff Jeff Puckett said that anyone released from the county jail gets access to a bus pass, meaning any homeless person who leaves the jail will have a way to get back to their community. 

“There’s a number of mechanisms that go into place to help them get back on their feet,” Puckett said. “The jail doesn’t always have to be a ‘bad place.’” 

The crackdown also comes amid concerns that many residents who just got out of homelessness could soon be headed back, with the federal government set to cap how much funding it sends to permanent supportive housing.  

[Read: Orange County Grapples With Loss of Food and Housing Benefits as Shutdown Drags On]

That program has supported over 1,400 people in Orange County with obtaining housing, distributing over $33 million last year, according to Sarmiento. 

“This reduction poses a serious risk of housing instability for hundreds of Orange County households who have already exited homelessness.” 

Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.

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