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Visible Homelessness is On The Rise
On a single night in January 2017, 4,792 people experienced homelessness in Orange County. Approximately 68% were unsheltered and they sleep in places unfit for human habitation. Homeless people in Orange County are diverse: they are young and old, men and women, chronic and newly homeless, alone or in families and they are Veteran's. Despite their differences, each homeless person needs safe and permanent housing. The poverty rate in Orange County is 22% which translates to nearly three quarters of a million individuals living in poverty and at-risk of homeless- ness. Mininum wages pay $10 an hour, but one must earn $25.46 per hour to afford a market-rate one bedroom apartment at an average cost of $1736 |
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per month. 64% of all jobs here pay less than the living wage. It is quite possibly the worst place to become homeless anywhere in America. The disparity between "living wages" and affordable housing is nearly insurmountable here causing the most vulnerable and financially insecure households to spend as much as two thirds of their entire income on rental expense. Rent-burdened households, often families with minor children, must make sacrifices in nutrition, education and health care expenses just to keep a roof over their heads. They are but one financial mishap from becoming homeless themselves.
There is no rent control in place in any of the County's 34 Cities. Over the past decade, the rising costs for rent have outpaced increases in incomes making it particularly difficult for households living on "fixed" incomes to make ends meet. Each time the fair market value for rent increases here, more elderly and disabled persons' are forced into the streets.
Hope 4 Restoration recognizes that fully engaging in efforts to end homelessness in Orange County requires a deeply involved community and a deeper commitment from all stakeholders to foster solutions that will reduce the current amount of persons' experiencing homelessness, provide greater preventative measures for those at-risk of homelessness and secure the quality-of-life for our communities that are directly impacted by widespread visible homelessness.
There is no rent control in place in any of the County's 34 Cities. Over the past decade, the rising costs for rent have outpaced increases in incomes making it particularly difficult for households living on "fixed" incomes to make ends meet. Each time the fair market value for rent increases here, more elderly and disabled persons' are forced into the streets.
Hope 4 Restoration recognizes that fully engaging in efforts to end homelessness in Orange County requires a deeply involved community and a deeper commitment from all stakeholders to foster solutions that will reduce the current amount of persons' experiencing homelessness, provide greater preventative measures for those at-risk of homelessness and secure the quality-of-life for our communities that are directly impacted by widespread visible homelessness.
"Don't be part of the problem, by not being a part of the solution"
Be Informed... Get Educated... Take Action!
Homelessness has grown to crisis proportions in Orange County. Too many of our fellow neighbors have lost hope. Veterans who fought for our freedom are now fighting for a place to call home. People with disabilities often find themselves chronically homeless.
If we don't tackle this now through a comprehensive community-wide solution, it will spiral out of control. Our overall goal is to end homelessness in Orange County. Key to achieving this is implementing the recommendations laid out in the groundbreaking 2017 UCI Homelessness Cost Study. To that end, we will:
This is most often the case when it comes to understanding homelessness.
For many persons experiencing homelessness, suffering from life on the street is just the beginning of their hardship. They are often also subjected to alienation and discrimination by mainstream society. Stereotypes spring from myths and misconceptions that need to be re-examined with a focus on the facts. Merely understanding the truth about homelessness and the people who become homeless often opens the door to create a community of people willing to help their fellow neighbors who happen to be experiencing homelessness. Myths and stereotypes can be challenged by facts and broken down by those willing to take a fresh look at what they thought they knew. The following are some common homelessness myths, along with the facts that challenge them. The myths about homelessness that you will find in my article came to me after conducting research of more than 2,000 individual comments from the public comments sections of the online edition of the Orange County Register. Common misconceptions regarding homelessness were sampled from more than 300 persons that contributed to the comments section of approximately 75 articles between February and September 2017. From the data gathered I was able to extract 30 of the top "myths" locally regarding homelessness. Note: These myths are not arranged in any particular order by frequency or popularity. Read More Here.
This approach is guided by the belief that people need basic necessities like food and a place to live before attending to anything less critical, such as getting a job, budgeting properly, or attending to substance use issues. Additionally, Housing First is based on the theory that client choice is valuable in housing selection and supportive service participation, and that exercising that choice is likely to make a client more successful in remaining housed and improving their life. Read more here.
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These are the document standards for data and statistics on homelessness
in Orange County. Without this information you have nothing!
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Restoration With Purpose |
Hope 4 Restoration will promote strategies that provide solutions for ending homelessness
in Orange County. We are faithfully committed to identifying and meeting the needs of people experiencing homelessness in our communities. We are equally dedicated to reducing the elements of visible homelessness that currently impact our communities.
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Homeless Services We strongly believe in identifying the specific needs of each person experiencing chronic homelessness individually and fulfilling those needs accordingly. Where there are resources that are found to be unavailable, there must be commitment to making them available. |
Community Engagement A great city will have detailed plans regarding how they will adapt to changes socially and economically. We will discuss policies proven successful in other cities that increased affordable housing opportunities as a solution for ending homelessness and costs taxpayers less. |
Collaborative Organization We seek to build relationships with community stakeholders and other organizations. We understand that a collaborative effort is necessary to create solutions to end homelessness that benefit people in our communities with homes and those without |
Community Events We organize one of the largest events in Orange County each year in support of the local homeless communities. "The Longest Night" is held on Dec. 21st each year in observance of National Homeless Persons' Memorial Day. For more info click here. |
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1295 E. Lincoln Ave. Suite #38 Anaheim, CA 92805 | (714) 472-8459
Hope 4 Restoration is a 501(c)(3) organization. Tax ID 82-2374403. All donations are tax deductible in full or in part.
©Hope4Restoration.org 2017 All Rights Reserved
©Hope4Restoration.org 2017 All Rights Reserved
