Orange County Approves $3 Million Homeless Prevention Pilot Program
Orange County Supervisors are moving forward with a new pilot program to help stop people from getting evicted or pushed into homelessness by giving them extra cash that they say could help 200 households.
While evictions almost completely stopped during the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic due to a statewide ban on evictions, they dramatically increased in 2022 according to a study by the nonprofit OC United Way.
That report showed over 3,000 people were evicted from their homes in Orange County in 2022 alone, with cities like Fullerton, Anaheim, and Placentia seeing more than 1 in 100 of their renters evicted in just that year.
But the new county program wouldn’t be aimed at people already on the street. Instead sending financial assistance to people “at risk of homelessness or experiencing a housing crisis.” If they fell behind on rent, utility bills, and other similar expenses.
To qualify, residents must be making less than 30% of the county’s average median income. Which would be around $36,000 a year per household according to the US Census Bureau. Or show they’re in the process of getting evicted. With seniors and single parents getting priority registration.
The new program was put forward by county Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento, who also agreed to fund half the program’s $3 million cost out of the discretionary spending he receives for his district as a county supervisor.
According to a report from Sarmiento’s office, by the end of the county’s fiscal year in June. Nearly $1 billion will have been spent on homelessness in just the last seven years.
He Also Said It’s Time To Start To Stop People From Entering Homelessness.
“The goal of the Homelessness Prevention and Stabilization Pilot Program is to keep individuals and families in their homes,” Sarmiento wrote in a memo to the rest of the board. “The expected program enrollment for households will be twelve months. Based upon need and evaluated every quarter.”
The money would be split up between 200 households, with a cap of nearly $11,000 that each person could receive over the next year for late rent and utility bills along with other support like purchasing groceries.
Robert Morse, a member of the county’s Commission to End Homelessness. Said programs like this could’ve saved him from losing his home years ago.
“If this plan had been in effect when I went homeless for 10 years. It would’ve saved the taxpayers of this county over $1 million.” Morse said to the board during Tuesday’s public comment period. “That’s all I’m going to say. Save some money.”
Currently, the program is only funded for one year. But Sarmiento said he hopes to make it a permanent offering. And use the data from the first year’s results to change how it looks going forward.
But there are still some big questions about what the program’s future would look like, including who would be hired to run it.
Douglas Becht, Director Of The County’s Office Of Care Coordination, Said
His office helped draw up the framework for the rental assistance program. They didn’t have the staff to run it and noted that they weren’t sure if it would work.
“There’s been several studies that help us get an understanding of how households are falling into homelessness,” Becht said. “The pilot will help either validate that or show us that number might not hit the mark.”
Until a contractor is hired, it’s unclear how much of the program’s $3 million budget will be spent purely on administering the funds.
Orange County Supervisor Don Wagner
Who approved the program along with the rest of the board Also brought up concerns about how the board would decide if the program was a success or not and raised concerns that the money might flow into landlords’ pockets.
“When government makes money available, it gets spent,” Wagner said. “I want to make sure this goes to help people rather than go to folks who go ‘Hey. There’s more money out in the system, I’ve got this niche, I can jack up my prices.’”
“We’ve got to be careful just making money available for good reasons,” he continued. “If it doesn’t come with the close attention it gets sopped up and does not. To my mind, always serve the purpose it’s intended to serve.”
Source: voiceofoc.org