Homelessness in Santa Ana increased in 2024 by over 44%

According to the 2024 Orange County Point in Time Count, over the two-year period from 2022 to 2024, the number of homeless individuals counted in Santa Ana increased by 44.2%, from 990 to 1,428, with an increase in the unsheltered homeless population of 71.46% from 508 to 871 in 2024.

The County of Orange and City of Santa Ana Homeless Services Division believe that the lower 2022 numbers may have been the result of COVID-19 pandemic emergency housing measures, including an eviction moratorium.

From 2019 to 2024, homelessness increased 7% in Orange County and 20% in California.

The massive increase in homeless residents in the City of Santa Ana occurred despite the City spending hundreds of millions of dollars in recent years to address homelessness, including:

  • A 200-plus bed homeless navigation center
  • A homeless outreach team that’s on the streets seven days a week
  • Over $60 million in affordable housing investments over the past decade, creating over 1,000 new units
  • Completing 267 units of permanent supportive housing since 2018 for formerly homeless individuals, with 221 currently in progress

Only this year has the Santa Ana City Council finally directed the SAPD to start arresting transients who pass out while high or drunk.

Perhaps the City of Santa Ana should direct the SAPD to check if any transients are wanted in other jurisdictions or have outstanding warrants for their arrest? The police should be enforcing all laws and citing and arresting anyone involved in crimes such as using illegal drugs in public, theft of any kind, trespassing, etc. If transients know that coming to Santa Ana will result in jail time perhaps they will go somewhere else…

Art Pedroza Editor
Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.
Art Pedroza

Our Editor, Art Pedroza, worked at the O.C. Register and the OC Weekly and studied journalism at CSUF and UCI. He has lived in Santa Ana for over 30 years and has served on several city and county commissions. When he is not writing or editing Pedroza specializes in risk control and occupational safety. He also teaches part time at Cerritos College and CSUF. Pedroza has an MBA from Keller University.

View Comments

  • The navigation center puts people out for no reason they break up a happy marriages they’re poisoning everybody as for your outreach team that’s on the street 7 days a week they don’t do a thing all they do is just push you off to the next person they don’t want to help you if you call begging for help they just say oh well there ain’t nothing we can do so how is it the homeless people’s fault you guys should hire somebody that actually cares about the homeless and wants to see the homeless succeed instead of fell as for the City of Santa Ana they need to start looking into the navigation center and how it’s ran and their staff because all they are is racist the police and their outreach engagement team all they are is lazy those people out the population grew for the physical fact that the navigation center those people out for no reason if they feel that they’re not the type of people they want there they throw them out if you look at them wrong they throw you out so the city of Santa Ana needs to start paying attention to that instead of the homeless people because if the navigation center would be ran right there would be less homeless in the streets and more people housed

  • How many of the homeless were dumped here by other cities? And how many are from out out of state? This needs to be figured out so they can be given a bus ticket out of here. Also, it seems like all these non-profit homeless organizations are useless. Their goal is to keep getting money without actually doing anything. There needs to an accountability for the money spent. What do they and the city define as a “success”. Shelter for a day or a fully employed, functioning adult? I have no doubt that Joshua above is telling the truth. The encampments are torn down only to have them back up the next day so obviously a revolving door situation is happening. I don’t care about the mentally ill (they should be in hospitals) or junkies (they should be in jail); however, the fastest growing homeless population are seniors because they expected Social Security to support them for life but the sudden increase in the cost of living makes that difficult. Is there an unincorporated area where tiny homes can be built?

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