O.C. Quality of Life in Decline? (Anaheim, Irvine: foreclosed, sex offenders)

[HarleyGuyOC]

I come to Orange County on business every 5 years or so and usually stay for about four months each time. During my stays, I do alot of traveling around mostly Northern OC (everywhere from Fullerton & Yorba Linda down south to about as far as Laguna Beach).

This last time in the area, I've noticed many more apparently homeless people in neighborhoods where previously I had never noticed any before. For example in the Amerige Heights area of Fullerton I've noticed many newly-homeless looking people hanging around Bastanchury Park, as well as an "Obamaville" of tents that sprung-up within the adjacent empty lot where the Hughes plant used to be. I say 'newly-homeless' because they obviously were people that were carrying their belongings with them in shopping carts, yet still looked relatively clean and fairly well groomed. One such relatively young couple with their dog really got to me and made me feel very sad & powerless to help.

In Anaheim I've noticed many people panhandling with signs on most off-ramps from the 22, 5 & 57 freeways. That never happened before. Certainly not in these quantities. I've also noticed many people going thru the trash bins on the night before garbage collection day, when some homeowners set their bins out on the street early. Sometimes the same recycling bin will be inspected by multiple people thru out the course of the night. I've even seen people rummaging thru the non-recycling bin too, which is fairly disgusting because who knows what filth is in those bags!

Crime has also seemed to increase exponentially, although most of it is still limited to petty crimes, there has been a notable countywide escalation of violent crimes such as shootings and armed robberies. This all based mostly on data I myself garnish from local city newspaper crime reports & police dept activity logs.

I was wondering if anyone else might have noticed these signs of decline in Orange County or know of any others. What such changes, if any, have you noticed in your OC city? Some of my local friends deny that any problem exists, but I fear they might be suffering from the Boiling Frog Syndrome.

What do you think?

[Danskgirl7]

Sub prime mortgage crisis. A lot of people got booted out of their homes. Nowhere to go and now live on the streets. It is really sad.

[BVitamin]

Everything seems to look the same here … in Irvine …

[Coldjensens]

Those are occupy protesters.

[wrcousert]

Why can't the cities work with the banks to turn some of the foreclosed homes into temporary shelters? Many of them have been empty for years and could remain empty for years to come. This could be a huge help to those who became homeless due to the current mortgage crisis.

[DocGoldstein]

Originally Posted by Danskgirl7

Sub prime mortgage crisis. A lot of people got booted out of their homes. Nowhere to go and now live on the streets. It is really sad.

This. I don't think it's just OC, it's all over the nation. Times are tough.

[Coldjensens]

Originally Posted by wrcousert

Why can't the cities work with the banks to turn some of the foreclosed homes into temporary shelters? Many of them have been empty for years and could remain empty for years to come. This could be a huge help to those who became homeless due to the current mortgage crisis.

I have worked with groups that try to get businesses and churches to open up for homelss during bad weather evets. It is a problem because, unless you ahve a lot of supervisory personnel, they pee on the floor, grafitti or carve their name or words into and onto everything, steal anything not locked down, create pest infestations (bed bugs, lice, fleas etc), and other problems. Many homeless people are good stable responsible people, many have mental disorders and/or serious drug addictions. There is no practical way to sort them out and give shelter only to the stable, responsible people while turning away the others. Banks who have already lost a lot of money on a house loan and not going to pony up more money for 24/7 security, plus you need one supervisory/security person for every three guests.

You would also have problems with neighbors and HOAs. No one wants a homeless shelter in their neighborhood. Would you want a homeless shelter next door? How about if it housed 8 registered child sex offenders? Even at minimal occupancy (say 4 people per home), the bank could well be breaking zoning ordinances, violating CC& Rs or otherwise run into legal problems.

Finally you have liablity problems. If one homeless person hurts another while there, or if somone gets hurt while in the house, the bank will get sued.

It is unfortunate but your good idea is not practical. The only solution would be for the banks to turn over ownership of the homes to a charity, then the charity would have to deal with the legal issues, but they arleady deal with those issues all the time.

[Leonard64]

Originally Posted by HarleyGuyOC

I come to Orange County on business every 5 years or so and usually stay for about four months each time. During my stays, I do alot of traveling around mostly Northern OC (everywhere from Fullerton & Yorba Linda down south to about as far as Laguna Beach).

This last time in the area, I've noticed many more apparently homeless people in neighborhoods where previously I had never noticed any before. For example in the Amerige Heights area of Fullerton I've noticed many newly-homeless looking people hanging around Bastanchury Park, as well as an "Obamaville" of tents that sprung-up within the adjacent empty lot where the Hughes plant used to be. I say 'newly-homeless' because they obviously were people that were carrying their belongings with them in shopping carts, yet still looked relatively clean and fairly well groomed. One such relatively young couple with their dog really got to me and made me feel very sad & powerless to help.

In Anaheim I've noticed many people panhandling with signs on most off-ramps from the 22, 5 & 57 freeways. That never happened before. Certainly not in these quantities. I've also noticed many people going thru the trash bins on the night before garbage collection day, when some homeowners set their bins out on the street early. Sometimes the same recycling bin will be inspected by multiple people thru out the course of the night. I've even seen people rummaging thru the non-recycling bin too, which is fairly disgusting because who knows what filth is in those bags!

Crime has also seemed to increase exponentially, although most of it is still limited to petty crimes, there has been a notable countywide escalation of violent crimes such as shootings and armed robberies. This all based mostly on data I myself garnish from local city newspaper crime reports & police dept activity logs.

I was wondering if anyone else might have noticed these signs of decline in Orange County or know of any others. What such changes, if any, have you noticed in your OC city? Some of my local friends deny that any problem exists, but I fear they might be suffering from the Boiling Frog Syndrome.

What do you think?

It has gone down hill. Sad but true.

[Leonard64]

Originally Posted by BVitamin

Everything seems to look the same here … in Irvine …

Sad but true.

[DocGoldstein]

Yeah I don't think Newport Beach empty REOs would be great places for homeless shelters. The neighbors would be instantly hostile.