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How is Orange County Addressing Homelessness? resources provided by the County of Orange. The 2022 Point in Time count documents the resulting decrease in homelessness, even as it shows the remaining challenges. These County of Orange investments to address homelessness make a big difference by taking many people off the streets, providing shelters with basic services, giving needed medical and mental health care, helping with job training, and creating some permanent housing. While these investments are essential, they do not go far enough to house all the homeless people living in Orange County; in fact, only about 30 percent of the individuals exiting temporary shelters move into permanent housing. The challenge of homelessness in our changing economy has been evolving as have our systems of care and prevention. It is clear that no one approach is going to eradicate homelessness. However, if we continue to come together to learn and to improve our collective efforts, we will enable greater success in the exhaustive task of serving this vulnerable population in our community. FINDINGS Based on its investigation described in this report, the 2021-2022 Orange County Grand Jury has arrived at the following findings: F1 South Orange County SPA cities lack low -threshold emergency shelters resulting in more homeless encampments and individuals living on the streets. F2 Too many of the homeless who are severely and persistently mentally ill and those with addiction issues end up incarcerated instead of more appropriate placements. F3 The County of Orange and cities within Orange County have been inconsistent in collaboration for support of shelters and services, which has resulted in missed opportunities to end homelessness. F4 There are an insufficient number of rental units available to those exiting Emergency Shelters, resulting in the majority returning to homelessness when leaving the shelters. F5 The Office of Care Coordination, in collaboration with the Continuum of Care Board, provides an effective community -based system of setting priorities to address homelessness, learning best practices, awarding and monitoring contracts, and overseeing a comprehensive system of care. However, the challenge of housing all our homeless requires much more. F6 Transitional Aged Youth who age out of the Foster Care system are a vulnerable population that often become homeless and need assistance in finding housing. There are insufficient resources to adequately serve these young people. 2021-2022 Orange County Grand Jury Page 13 City Council 16 — 17 8/2/2022