The Orange County Board of Supervisors approved a new policy on Tuesday that allows for the immediate arrest and fining of unhoused individuals camping on county-owned land, including flood control channels and parks. The policy passed with a 4-1 vote, despite concerns about the potential impact on Santa Ana, which may see an increase in unhoused people being booked and released from the county jail.
This decision marks a significant shift in how Orange County addresses homelessness, following a Supreme Court ruling in City of Grants Pass v. Johnson. The ruling reversed a previous ban on criminalizing people for sleeping in public spaces if no adequate shelter was available. The new policy also reverses parts of a 2019 legal settlement that required the county to offer shelter and services before arresting individuals for camping violations.
Supervisor Katrina Foley, who proposed the measure, emphasized that the new ordinance is not intended to “arrest our way out of this” but to ensure public safety by enforcing anti-camping rules. The policy aims to create uniform rules across different jurisdictions to prevent encampments from re-emerging in areas like the Santa Ana River and Talbert Regional Park…