I live in
Huntington Beach, CA, and it is a great city with a lot to offer. It is a small beachside city in Orange
County, in Southern California between Los Angeles and San Diego. Many people come here for vacation to enjoy
the beautiful beaches and amazing weather year round. I really don’t know of any problems that I
have with living here except for one. Each
time I go to a park in my city, which is at least once a week with my children,
there are homeless people living and hanging out in the parks. I feel this is a safety issue because these
parks are designed for children. Although
I feel this is a safety issue for my children, I am sure the homeless feel that
this is the closest thing they are going to find next to a shelter. The bigger issue here is that the city of
Huntington Beach does not provide a shelter for the homeless. The closest shelter nearby is in the city of
Los Alamitos over eight miles away.
(Homeless Shelter Directory).
Odds are if you are
homeless and living in a park, you lack the resources to afford the cost of
transportation back and forth to the shelter.
Therefore, the next best thing is a public park that offers restrooms,
shelter and water fountains. The only
other options of a place to stay for the homeless are under a bridge or at the
beach, and those places will not work because they will get kicked out of the
beach, and it is dangerous under a bridge.
Unfortunately, the parks seem to be the homeless’ best option for
shelter in Huntington Beach. This is a
huge matter that the city of Huntington Beach needs to address.
There have been times when my wife or I have taken our
children to the park, and there were many homeless sleeping there. On one occasion, my wife took our daughter to
the bathroom and had to leave immediately.
A homeless woman was in the restroom, with her shirt off, bathing
herself in the sink. It is a very sad
and hard situation that the unfortunate woman had to deal with, and I feel bad
for her, but the city needs to offer places for the homeless to be able to go
and bathe. I do not know that the woman
would ever hurt a child, but what if an older child had gone to the bathroom by
him or herself, and a homeless person was in there and got aggressive with
them. It is a potentially dangerous
situation for children and an unfortunate situation for the homeless persons
living at the parks.
There have been other times when I have taken my kids to the
park right across the street from our neighborhood, and there have been
homeless people sleeping and hanging out there.
One homeless man actually started shouting and it scared my
children. We had to leave
immediately. Again, another unfortunate
situation where my children were unable to play at a park that my tax dollars
help pay for, and the homeless man was unable to find a shelter where he can be
safe and receive the help he needs.
As with any local problem that involves the city, the ideas
of how to solve the problem do require funding and man hours. The first solution for this problem is to
have the local police monitor the parks more carefully. This solution would not require any extra
funding, but does require the police to take away some time that they would
have spent patrolling other areas of the city that need it. Because of the terrible financial situation
of the entire state of California, I know that cutbacks have been made with our
local police department. If we start
requiring them to routinely monitor and the parks and clear out the homeless
people, we are taking away from other areas that need patrolling. Not only will this spread the police patrols
thin, but it will not provide any better housing solution for the
homeless. Once a policeman tells the
homeless that they have to leave, there really are no other options for them to
go to except maybe another park a few streets over? This solution of requiring frequent park
patrolling is not the answer.
Another option for solving this problem of homeless people
occupying the local parks is for the city to build and provide a homeless
shelter. Obviously, this would require lots of money
and time. By the time the city came up
with the funds to pay for it, city officials would then have to find city owned
land available to build one that is within a safe area, start taking bids from
contractors to build the building, select a contractor, and start actual
construction. This would take at least a
year to complete. Within that year, what
would we do to help this situation until the homeless shelter is complete?
The best answer to this community’s issue of homeless people
living in the local parks is to provide free transportation to the nearest homeless
shelter, which is just 8 miles from Huntington Beach. I do know that the city offers free rides for
visitors that come to go to the beach, and park at city hall. Why not use the funding that pays for free
transportation to the beach to help pay for busses to transport the homeless to
a homeless shelter? The city can set up
a schedule of when the busses would run, and then provide the rides. This would take care of the problem. The homeless people living in the parks would
be provided a free ride to a shelter that is safer for them and offers support
to help them try to better their circumstances.
This solution of free transportation also works for the city because it
would require a lot less funding to provide this service rather than building a
shelter.
The problem of the homeless people in my city occupying the
local parks is one that the city of Huntington Beach needs to address. There is no homeless shelter in Huntington
Beach, so many of the homeless sleep and spend their days in the parks. The best answer to this problem is for the
city to provide free transportation to the nearest homeless shelter. This is the best solution because is more
cost efficient than building a local homeless shelter, it prevents the police
department from having to put more man hours into patrolling parks, and it
provides a safe, better housing solution for
the homeless. If you are just as
concerned as I am with this disturbing issue in our community, please do what
you can to try to help me in making this issue brought to light. A letter to the Mayor, a visit to City Hall,
anything you are willing to do would be appreciated. After all, this is an issue in our city of
Huntington Beach that affects all who live here.
