The Santa Ana City Manager, Kristine Ridge, gave an update on the homelessness issue at the last City Council meeting, as seen in the embedded video above.
Ridge said during her presentation that there were 81 arrests/citations involving homeless suspects in Santa Ana in November, 2021. That was an increase from the 49 arrests/citations involving Santa Ana’s homeless in October of this year.
Ridge also said that Santa Ana has a SMART Team (Santa Ana Multi-Disciplinary Homeless Response Team) that you can call at 714-242-3706 to report issues involving the homeless.
In her presentation Ridge also touched on the upcoming Point-in-Time homeless count, which was skipped last year due to COVID-19. This is an annual countywide effort to count all of the homeless people in each city so the County can better assess the situation and deploy needed resources.
In 2019 the Point-in-Time count showed that there were 1,769 homeless people in Santa Ana. How many do you figure are here now? There were 1,000 homeless people in Santa Ana back in 2017. There were also 189 cleanups of homeless encampments/sites in Santa Ana in November of this year. A total of 62 homeless individuals were also referred to shelters in November. Ridge noted that the city has 437 housing units available for the homeless.
The next Point-in-Time count is set for Jan. 25 and volunteers are needed. Click here for more info.
Donations support the coordination efforts of the 2022 Everyone Counts OC Point In Time Count event. Contributions will be distributed to event participants and individuals and families experiencing homelessness encountered during the 2022 Point In Time for participating in a survey.
Items needed for the 2022 Point In Time Count include:
Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) supplies
- 5,000 snack kits
- Cases of water bottles
- 200 $25 gift cards to grocery stores
- 5,000 $5 gift cards to food establishments or grocery stores
Learn more about how the City of Santa Ana is addressing homelessness in our community by visiting the Homeless Services Data Dashboard.
