BY Hosam Elattar and Noah Biesiada Hundreds of thousands of bullets, flash bang grenades, pepper balls, armored vehicles, drones and hundreds of carbine assault rifles – these are just a few of the weapons the Orange County Sheriff’s Department have in their nearly $4 million arsenal. On Tuesday, OC Supervisors voted 3-1 to approve the sheriff’s department military equipment use policy which has sparked a debate on the rarely used weapon inventory and what critics are calling the militarization of the county. Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento opposed the policy, arguing that while pepperballs may non lethally take down a suspect, in the instance of a protest it could be misused and “chill” people’s First Amendment right to peaceably assemble. “The ...

  BY DAVID DURAN | voiceofoc.org Welcome to June, when often clammy marine layers descend upon sunny Orange County—and the Board of Supervisors rolls out another wildly inequitable, unjust, and opaque budget. Budgets reflect moral choices among competing interests, and it’s clear where the supervisors’ interests lie: squarely on the side of the OC Sheriff’s Department, jails, and the District Attorney’s Office. These programs receive more than half of the approximately $1 billion discretionary budget (54%). Meanwhile, the Supervisors commit a measly 1% of those dollars to desperately needed affordable housing. In fact, the recommended discretionary budget allocates 230 times more in funding to the Sheriff’s Department than to housing. The numbers don’t lie. But many of the Supervisors feigned ...

CLICK TO VIEW PDF

By Sean Emery | Orange County Register A non-profit group has filed a lawsuit challenging a Fullerton municipal code that outlaws people living in recreational vehicles on city streets without a valid permit, arguing that the restrictions target the homeless and disabled and violate the state constitution. The suit filed in Orange County Superior Court on behalf of Housing Is a Human Right Orange County and several Fullerton residents challenges a city prohibition against “stopping or parking any recreational vehicle on city streets without a valid City-issued permit” by alleging that the law has “resulted in the arbitrary and discriminator expulsion of Orange County’s most vulnerable residents.” “During this time of desperation for so many, and a desire ...

BY NOAH BIESIADA AND HOSAM ELATTAR | Voice of OC Advocates for homeless people are looking to take Fullerton officials to court over a local law they say unjustly targets people living in their cars and people with disabilities. The ordinance in question prevents anyone from parking any trailers or RVs in the city without a permit, and was implemented about a year ago according to Fullerton Mayor Fred Jung, who called the lawsuit “completely counterproductive.” A handful of Fullerton residents and Housing is a Human Right Orange County, a local organization that advocates for homeless people, are arguing that the city law violates the state constitution. “Fullerton is one of many cities that are terribly cruel to people who are unhoused. We know ...

 What Exactly does the County Board of Supervisors do? A Community Teach In Click link to watch video: https://www.facebook.com/ResilienceOC/videos/645124203978815/

By David Duran Written in memory of the over 237 unhoused people who have died without abode throughout Orange County from January 1, 2022 – June 30, 2022. Housing is a Human Right OC (HHROC) reviewed the Orange County Grand Jury’s recently released report, “How is Orange County Addressing Homelessness?,” with great interest. Unfortunately, we found that the report’s analysis and recommendations are so flawed that we were moved to send a letter of concern to the OC Grand Jury for their serious review and consideration. We note that the Grand Jury correctly identifies the county’s shortage of permanent affordable housing to end houselessness. However, its recommendations focus on additional shelters and forced treatment. These recommendations are foolhardy. Orange County ...

Buena Park Homeless Liaison Officer, Josh Carreto, and Public Safety Task Force Officer Lindsay Cruz, check out a new homeless encampment at an abandoned store on Tuesday, May 10, 2022. No one was there at the time.(Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG) By Alicia Robinson | The Orange County Register It’s easy to spot the tattered tents of an encampment, stray shopping carts full of belongings, or someone shouldering an overloaded backpack topped with a bedroll. But figuring out how to accurately measure homelessness so its root causes can be addressed is a challenge for which no perfect solution has been found. Orange County officials announced last month that the federally required “point in time” count, taken ...