Responding to local homeowners and politicians, Orange County will clear homeless encampments from a riverbed and stormwater channel under its control.
Orange County has decided on an aggressive approach to growing homelessness encampments along the Santa Ana River. On January 22, the county plans to clear the riverbed of homeless encampments, a process that will require the closure of the Santa Ana River Trail in two cities.
"County officials said the move is necessary to remove debris, trash and human waste that has accumulated over the months that hundreds of people have been living along the trail," reports Jill Replogle. "The trail will be closed for as many as three months while crews also perform a backlog of maintenance projects, officials said."
According to advocates cited in the article, 1,000 homeless individuals live in the riverbed. Brooke Weitzman, a lawyer with the Elder Law and Disability Rights Center, says those people will have no choice but to sleep on sidewalks if the encampments are cleared. Weitzman and the Elder Law and Disability Rights Center sued the county in 2017 to block a similar action. "It’s unclear whether county officials will be allowed to go through with the evictions now," according to Replogle. The county is persisting, regardless.
FULL STORY: Orange County to start clearing out massive homeless encampment on Jan. 22
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