Thu. Nov 21st, 2024

The landmark settlement agreement announced last week by Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do, the county’s lead negotiator for homeless litigation, was signed by all parties today and filed in Judge David O. Carter’s courtroom. The agreement is effective immediately.

The Orange County Catholic Worker and Ramirez settlement agreement includes the following components:

• Deputies may enforce anti-loitering and anti-camping laws immediately in restricted areas such as county parks, county flood control property, and county libraries, among others.
• The settlement agreement is applicable to the North and Central service planning areas of the County.
• The Orange County Sheriff’s Department will develop policies and procedures relating to the enforcement of the anti-camping and anti-loitering ordinances that meet the requirements of Martin v. City of Boise.
• The settlement includes the development of the Standards of Care for county-contracted homeless shelters. The Standard of Care will ensure that program eligibility, rights and responsibilities, staff training, grievance process, ADA compliance and services are implemented.
• Screenings and assessments will be made available to all homeless persons within the County of Orange who may be eligible for County-funded treatment programs and resources. When appropriate, the County will provide linkage to appropriate services and programs.

Supervisor Andrew Do Addressed the Court, Stating:

“The framework for the System of Care that the County has built, in part as a response to these lawsuits, will serve as a blueprint that, hopefully, other jurisdictions can adopt.”

“I am proud of the fact that these proposed settlements, for the North and Central Service Planning Areas in the County, strike a good balance between compassionate treatment of homeless residents and the County’s ability to address public health and safety concerns.”

“But, what I’m most proud of is the fact that the County’s System of Care was already in the process of being constructed, even before these lawsuits. Supervisor Bartlett and I began working on mental health started with the Mental Health Ad Hoc Committee over 4 years ago. This was followed up by my proposal for the position of Director of Care Coordination over three years ago, and continued with the opening of the Courtyard, Orange County’s first homeless shelter ever, four months later. The clearing out of the homeless encampments around the County became the County’s next focus to address the exploding public health and safety risks that came with those encampments, which led to us being before you the past 18 months.”

“I would like to thank the named and intervening cities, that have stepped up; they are working day and night to build innovative projects and contributing to the solution to homelessness,” said Supervisor Do. “The momentum that has been sustained by all of these cities, especially in the north SPA, has been instrumental in making Orange County a shining example of prudent, compassionate care for the homeless and made our settlements here today possible.”

Read Supervisor Do’s full statement to the court here.

author avatar
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.

By 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.

One thought on “O.C. Settlement on homeless litigation finalized and is now in effect”
  1. I feel that it is an appropriate time to file a Bivens claim against multiple City Officials for their
    Corrupt efforts to obstruct justice, by interfering with my right to seek redress from this grievance. Retaliatory pay back is referred to as “Deliberate indifference” it is unconstitutional
    for an individual member of a protected class, to be targeted for being poor, without a place
    of residence. Specifically my Storage property was swindled from me, with information provided by my employer who was being intimidated by Newport Beach officers. I was placed in custody on three occasions without reasonable cause, taken to a jail outside of the
    defendant’s jurisdiction for the purpose of physical abuse. I receive retaliation on a constant
    basis for my constitutional claims, in the form of helicopter patterning, combined with
    vigilante harassment and threats of violence. With all the close patterning for intimidation and threat of arrest, It has caused me to be prevented from seeking employment, these forms of
    oppression are a challenged policy which are not practiced in good faith, since I do not have
    a drug abuse or a felony record. I plan to file a case with the grand Jury, to indict the City
    officials responsible for all these corrupt injustices.

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