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there. Something more than a flimsy mat on the ground 6 inches away from someone else's feet. We have some of the <br />best business and development minds in the country here in OC and we need to use that talent to create a great <br />emergency housing facility. In my line of business, and likely yours also if you are in the private sector, if I have a <br />product or service that will serve the greater good but no one is buying, then I must change the product and how it is <br />marketed towards the needs of the consumer. We have to do the same with emergency housing... change the product <br />so that they will utilize it more willingly over time. <br />Some are concerned about whether it should be multiple small locations or one big one. I am in favor of whatever can <br />be done quickest. We have been talking about this item for a long time. The time for talking about this is over. The <br />time for action is upon us. Part of that action plan needs to be a community communication plan. There is so much <br />misinformation out there amongst my neighbors. I too was one who had a lot of misinformation and beliefs that now <br />have changed, but that change happened due to information and discussion. The City needs to inform its local <br />citizens. The County needs to do the same. Residents need to know what PSH is. They need to know what services <br />come with PSH. They need to know that the homeless pay a %of their income for utilizing PSH. They need to know the <br />economics of how it costs over $100K to care for a chronically homeless individual for one year while it is about half that <br />for someone on PSH. They need to know the plan for getting Santa Ana homeless off the streets, into emergency <br />housing, and then into PSH or other housing options. They need to know the security measures. They need to know <br />how this will benefit our quality of life. <br />Additionally, the City needs to work with local hospital and medical providers who currently are footing a large portion <br />of the bill for providing care to the homeless in having them partner up with the City and County in providing these <br />housing solutions. A homeless individual who has shelter is far healthier and uses expensive sources of medical care far <br />less. If the hospitals, insurance companies, and other medical providers are sharing in the benefit of providing housing <br />solutions, they should be willing to fund some of the costs. It will still be a win for them. A win for the city. A win for us <br />residents. And a win for the homeless. <br />You will get pushback from folks saying that Santa Ana is doing enough already. I do not dispute that we are doing more <br />than others. However, we still have over 600 Santa Ana residents who are unsheltered. I would say we are not doing <br />enough until we take care of those folks. At the same time, hopefully your group along with urging of Judge Carter can <br />nudge/force the County and other local cities to care for their own also. Or, if we are going to care for them, then we <br />need to be paid handsomely for that care. The Irvine site which is County owned can be converted into a homeless <br />facility overnight by the County and can be a long term great solution if the political will was there along with good <br />education. The City of Irvine likely cannot shut that process down without jeopardizing shutting down all real estate <br />development due to the SB2 zoning repercussions of doing so- this would be very difficult for a city with so much <br />development going on to reconcile. This is wholly a County decision. Done properly, and done the "Irvine Way", that <br />site certainly can be a viable solution for that part of the County, although we still have our area of the County to take <br />care of. Any problems the citizens of Irvine have with that location are doubled on the same standard for The Courtyard <br />location in DTSA. <br />Location will always be a problem. Ideally, it should not be, but in reality it is so we need to consider that. Fortunately, <br />Santa Ana is a large city and a city with a fair number of commercial properties. Unfortunately for property tax rolls, we <br />also have a number of parcels that are underutilized but that means there is opportunity. Some of these underutilized <br />parcels are in areas of town that will not be as close to residential areas as others which may alleviate some concerns of <br />residents although may increase concerns of the homeless. I trust that you have been and are currently looking at <br />sites ... this is great! Maybe that is even what you are discussing today ... sites for Judge Carter. With such a large <br />homeless population, we can have a major impact. Our facilities can have on site everything and coordinated <br />transportation. This opens up areas of town not in downtown by The Courtyard which by the way I would dare anyone <br />to find a location in the County closer to schools, parks, libraries, and residential- I don't think it exists. Areas such as the <br />little part of Santa Ana everyone forgets is in our city due to it being on the other side of the 55 freeway... Red Hill and <br />Barranca/Dyer. It is close to the OC Rescue Mission and there are some natural buffers along with transportation <br />corridors. It would be great to have some more local services right there but with a large facility, I have no doubt that <br />we can provide on-site services to help. This is a very viable area if the property is available to make it happen. <br />z <br />