San Clemente City officials will discuss homeless shelter plan at upcoming City Council meeting

San Clemente officials said they will present the city’s progress on creating an emergency homeless shelter during Tuesday’s City Council meeting, May 21.

Residents have increasingly complained about a growing homeless encampment at North Beach and a lack of city response. City officials have said they’ve been working on solutions and more about their plans will be discussed publicly at the meeting.

San Clemente officials believe it would cost about $500,000 to renovate a city-owned building for a shelter and nearly $2 million a year to run it, Assistant City Manager Erik Sund said.

But there are hurdles the city is facing.

The building the city is looking at is in an industrial park in the zone where a homeless shelter would be approved, but is currently leased to Family Assistance Ministries until 2023, Sund said.

And, the city’s current operating budget has only about $400,000 in reserve, and that’s already not enough for upcoming projects the city plans, Sund said.

“It’s going to be difficult to fund anything beyond a year,” he said. “That’s a huge cost and the city will have to look at priorities.”

And, there has been little progress in discussions San Clemente officials have had with county officials about getting funding help for a city facility or a regional shelter, he said. “The city believes that a true regional solution is necessary to fully address this issue.”

Residents have complained city officials haven’t been sharing these efforts with the public. They see a growing encampment bringing blight, unsanitary conditions and danger to the community.

A previous council meeting where residents expected homeless issues to be discussed was canceled. A standing-room only crowd expressed numerous complaints at a last-minute town hall, held in its place.

Sund said the lack of communication should not be interpreted as a lack of attention to the residents’ concerns.

But the city and law enforcement are restricted in how they can respond to the homeless encampment without a shelter in place. A recent court ruling says cities can’t force homeless people off of the streets if they have nowhere to go but a city sidewalk, park or other public space.

San Clemente is also one of five South County cities named in a February lawsuit in which three homeless people argue that anti-camping ordinances and other laws criminalize homeless people.

“I am hopeful the county of Orange will take leadership on homelessness in the region,” Councilman Dan Bane said. “They have already seen success in funding the regional shelter solutions in north and central Orange County and we believe that South Orange County deserves a comparable solution.”

State funding is providing about $13.1 million toward building two homeless shelters in Buena Park and Placentia; more than a dozen north Orange County cities are contributing a combined $1.2 million for the construction and more for the on-going operating costs.

Ed O’Connor, with the Emergency Shelter Coalition which has representation from by various faith groups in San Clemente, said he has been trying to help the city with solutions, but has received little response to suggestions for an alternative location and funding sources.

In 2016, the group prevailed in a lawsuit against the city that requires San Clemente to comply with state law to designate an adequate area to develop an emergency shelter without having to get a permit from the city.

“We’re sitting on $900,000 from attorney’s fees from the lawsuit that we would apply to the shelter,” O’Connor said. “It does cost money and there are funds other cities have applied for. Tustin and Costa Mesa are both getting them. If you commit to the shelter, the money is available.”

The group is suggesting a 10-acre site now declared as open space along Avenida Pico between Calle del Cerro and Camino Vera Cruz be used for developing a shelter,” O’Connor said. “Our proposal is they give us 10 acres if we agree the emergency zone be moved from the business park onto the open space site.”

The group has mapped out site plans and building structure ideas for something that would not only provide a bed for one night, but address the needs of the chronic homeless, O’Connor said of the plans he will share at Tuesday’s council meeting.