In Orange County, the longest night is often the coldest. Public coroner records show that this year nearly 500 people died on our streets, an increase of about 100 from last year. These deaths keep rising each year.
At 7.p.m tonight, local leaders will gather to remember those lost, at the Lutheran Church of the Cross in Laguna Woods, holding Orange County’s 7th annual Homeless Persons’ Interreligious Memorial Service. The interfaith event, led by a host of religious leaders like Bishop Kevin Vann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, will feature leaders reading aloud the names of homeless people who died on the streets of Orange County this year.
Organizers will seek to offer dignity to these forgotten neighbors, with each person having a candle carried to an altar in a procession. The memorial service is sponsored by the Roman Catholic Diocese of Orange, Our Father’s Table, the Sisters of St. Joseph of Orange, Volunteer Network OC, the Orange County Interfaith Network and Lutheran Church of the Cross.
Father Denis Kriz, pastor at St. Philip Benizi Church in Fullerton, looked County Supervisors squarely in the eye on Tuesday, warning them in a soft voice, “we honestly can do better.”
Kriz challenged supervisors to get creative, maybe just finding a place for desperate, unhoused people where they can at the very least park and sleep in their cars.
“The stress you put on these people, when they lose their cars, you put them in a hard place,” Kriz noted.
He also advised supervisors that every month, there will be an accounting of residents who died on the streets. And every year, there will be a memorial.
Kriz, who tallies the homeless deaths every month in Voice of OC op-eds, reminded county supervisors that today he will publish the entire list for the year – a sobering statement of failure for all of us to ponder during our holiday gatherings and break.
Consider that nearly five years ago, county leaders all came together, to much PR fanfare, and announced a bold effort to create 2,700 permanent housing units in three years, acknowledging that a central policy tool in solving homelessness is getting people into housing that offers wraparound services like medical and mental health, along with help on job hunting.
They all went to Sacramento, they got fancy legislation approved in record time and lots of politicians got a great photo opportunity, creating another layer of government, the OC Housing Finance Trust.
But this week, county bureaucrats reminded us all that after all the fancy parties and official victory laps, the goal of 2,700 units quietly got moved back and current estimates don’t see anything close to that kind of housing coming online for years.
The goal was to create these units by 2025. But in recent weeks, county officials pushed it back by four years – to 2029.
Full story at Voice of OC.
the blue hotlink at the bottom of the article leads to a page showing average costs of new homeless units across california, about $500,000.00. missing: the square footage of such units, which would be the most revealing if there is “over-pricing. or “over-equipping”
Why is it so hard to effectively tackle the homeless crisis? Why are home and rental costs so high in California? Why does everything cost so much? Why are there no effective ways to eradicate dope in our society? Why can’t lawmakers make new laws, to state that mental patients and dope addicts, who cannot care for themselves, be taken safely off the streets, and be mandated to stay in psychiatric and drug rehab hospitals– for their own good? You do need very strong measures to effectively tackle these serious problems. And to realistically deal with the concept of “individual freedoms and choices.” Mental patients and dope addicts have no true “individual freedoms” nor true “choices” but to live and die– worse than animals– on the streets– unless society can effectively mandate help for them. There are millions of very poor and starving, homeless people, living in Third World countries– but why in America? When young, I recall one of the saddest cases I had ever seen– poor Mexican families living in abandoned boxcars, outside of Mexico City, their smallest children running naked– they had no clothes for them. And we once had an Irish pastor at our church, who told us that his family was poor, like many Irish families were, in his day– and his mother would put him and his four brothers and sisters to bed, each week, while she did all the laundry. Not enough clothes for them. Ven. Fr. Patrick Peyton, C.S.C., the Rosary Priest, also told heart-breaking stories of poverty that his family endured, in Ireland. But these poor people all had at least a home. They did not live on the streets, worse than animals, like the homeless of America, in our present day.
You cannot end homelessness or poverty. But you-yes, you- can end it for one person. You probably already have.
Do you have children? Are they homeless? If you have a spouse, are they homeless?
All of us are born naked. Someone who cares about us wraps us in a blanket.
When people need help, help them.
Have you seen the TikTok-ers who use crowdfunding to help people on the streets?
You can contribute there or go do the same thing yourself.
Do you contribute to Habitat for Humanity?
Does your church participate in a program that helps house the homeless?
Helping the chronically homeless is difficult because it may be for their lifetime. Imagine if you had a brother with that problem and what would you do?
This is the richest country and we have people unhoused because they can’t afford it. This is really a moral issue for the country. The Pastor is correct – we can do better.
God did not tell the government to give shelter to the homeless.
He told Christians to.
And our government for all our people, must operate by decent Christian values– not corruption and sin.
Don’t your Orange County churches have a program where different churches take a week at a time and house homeless families until they can get a place to live?
How are they dying on the streets?
In Orange County, it may not be from exposure, although there are some cool nights.
And heat related deaths might occur but it is not the hottest part of the country either.
Is it murder? Suicide? Starvation? Dehydration? Alcohol abuse? Drug overdose?
What is killing them?
This data is from Sacramento County in 2021 and may compare or not:
The report found the leading cause of death was substance use disorder, which led to 49% of the fatalities, with methamphetamines playing a role in most of them. The second leading cause was injuries, from blunt force trauma to stabbings to gunshots, resulting in nearly 21% of the deaths.
Cardiovascular disease led to 6.5% of the total deaths, while COVID-19 killed 1.5%, according to the report, which is based on data from the Sacramento County Coroner’s Office.
Less than one fifth of the deaths were from natural causes, the report found.
Meanwhile, there were eight deaths from hypothermia in 2021, “more than all the cases of hypothermia from the previous 19 years combined,” according to the report. No deaths were linked to heat exposure last year.
A long time ago, in an agricultural-based society, nearly all American families had some relatives who owned farms. I think people did much better, then. There was plenty of room on a farm, for lots of kids, and for farm workers, too. America was more family-oriented, and you could go and stay with family, during hard times. Nobody lived in the streets! Homes were typically built better, larger, and very solidly, on lots of property, to last for generations — and often (before Social Security) grandparents might come to live with married kids, in their last years. Nearly everyone got married and had a family. There were good, distinct roles of husband and wife, and the wife was usually a stay-at-home mother who ran the household, and managed the money. The paycheck of a husbsnd, the Breadwinner– was meant for his entire household– wife and kids. Sometimes a wife would work, but her main job– her Profession, actually– was as a Homemaker– a wife, mother, and running a household. You can pursue your interests– but Marriage and Family must always come first. Otherwise– don’t get married. There would be more jobs for those in need — if husbands were the main Breadwinners, again– and if married women stayed home, and became full-time Homemakers. Overall, there would be much less problems, and more real happiness and good health, in society.
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Of course there were people on the streets.
They were called bums back then.
Or hobos.
Hull House founded by Jane Addams in 1889 was the first homeless shelter in the US.
Traditional Marriage and Family, is the core of all societies, and of all civilization. With good Family Values, faith in God, a strong moral backbone, love of country, caring communities and neighborhoods, and a home for everyone, a Nation will succeed and truly thrive. Crime, mental illness, juvenile delinquency, and a great many problems, will diminish or cease. A good, successful, thriving nation and civilization, is not built upon false values, selfishness, individualism, 1960s-style activism, sin and corruption, and seeking merely money and worldly success in the workplace, for yourself. When life goes wrong, and tragedy strikes, everyone should have a home and family to turn to, for help, love, and support. No one should be left alone, alienated, abandoned, homeless, hungry and desperate, roaming the streets– worse than abandoned animals– soon to collapse and die.
Some are them are addicts, alcoholics, mentally ill, violent offenders, other offenders, gay or transgender people that their families will not support.
Some do not want to burden their families.
Some have not talked to their families in years.
Those caes– alcoholics, drug addicts, violent criminals, and troubled LGBTs with serious issues– require special help. They need serious medical care in psychiatric hospitals, rehabilitation programs, etc. You are correct, family members may be unable to connect with them. Serious help is needed. If these homeless people had had a strong, healthy family life to begin with, their serious problems may have been less severe– or might never have occurred. Love, support, and family, are really the most important thing you can have in life. I have a lifelong friend, now age 86, who lost her wonderful husband last year– and one of her grown sons, a few months ago. She can hardly bear her grief and pain! But she was blessed with a wonderful marriage, five great kids– two daughters and three sons (and sadly lost one son) — all her kids got married, and they all now have grown children– and they also have grandchildren, too! All are active in their church, and my friend still sings in her church choir– and plays in her church’s Bell Choir, too! And she is busy with other activities that she loves. My friend is hurting very badly– but she is doing okay, with lots of family, friends, and her church– she’s had lifelong love and support. She is staying in good health for her age. Faith, family, and friends– so important!
If you have a good marriage and family life, or if you are young and single, with a good family you can count on, and if you are involved in wholesome activities, and are active in your church, chances are, your life will go much better for you. During rough times, with lots of love and support, as well as daily prayer– chances are, you will not turn to harnful and unhealthy vices. People turn to drinking, smoking, drugs, illicit sex, and crime– when things go wrong, and they are under terrible stress, anxiety or depression, and have no help, love or support. Maybe smoking is not considered as bad as drug and alcohol addiction. But smoking is a vice, and an addiction, and people are killed all the time by lung cancer from smoking, and second-hand smoke. When things go wrong, it is wonderful to come home to a good marriage and family life, with lots of love and support– and assurances of prayers for you, too! Fr. Patrick Peyton, the Rosary Priest, always used to say, “A family that prays together, stays together. And a world at prayer is a world at peace.”
That is a lot of if’s.
I just watched a video of a man who was physically and sexually abused as a child by seven different family members.
He suffered a lot and became enormously obese.
Obesity is often a dysfunctional way that people unconsciously try to protect themselves.
Many people get started drinking, smoking, drugs, illicit sex and crime by family members. Sometimes, even parents.
For some people, family is the “F-word.”
Some families are homeless.
If I were working in the State Social Services, dealing with homeless people, the first thing I would do, when gathering information on a case, would be to ask where their family is, and their hometown. Can they possibly reunite with at least one family member, and go and stay with them for awhile, until they can get on their feet? I would talk to the family member(s) and see if something could be worked out. And get them medical care, food, and all
other needed services, too. Of course, some might need long-term hospitalization. In that case, I would try to get family members to come and visit, and re-connect with them, and build good, strong relationships– if possible. I bet many of the homeless people are dope-addicted men. They should be off the streets for good, and hospitalized, with drug rehab programs, with good care. Many of them nay be too destroyed, to ever again be independent and earn a living, and live on their own. The breakdown of the family, and kids running away from home, being indoctrinated, brainwashed and destroyed in the 1960s evil “hippie” cult of sex, drugs, and rock “music”– is one of the very worst things that ever happened in America. The work of Satan.
A beautiful vision. But not really correct. Conditions in the 18th century slums of London, Paris, and other major cities were horrific, with no agricultural “safety net” for those unfortunates trapped there.
In my comnent of Dec. 28 at 12:35pm, I was not referring to the inner-city slums of Europe– or of America. I was referring to more recent, late 19th and earlier 20th century America, when many people (our grandparents, and ancestors) owned farms, and lived a more rural life, in or near small towns, and agriculture was important. The major cities, throughout all history, have attracted all evils– crime, corruption, sin, materialism, destructive beliefs and atheism, and all things to destroy goodness, innocence, religious beliefs and good values– and destroy the souls of mankind. Plus, diseases, poor health, and poverty, have always plagued large cities. In the countryside, in small towns and farms nearby, with a more rural life, family-oriented, neighborly, with good values and religious beliefs, one usually finds a better, happier, healthier way of life. The traditional (man-woman) Marriage and Family, with good family values, is the core of all society and all civilization.
At his weekly audience today, Pope Francis said that Pope Benedict, age 95, is very ill, and asked everyone to pray for him. My heart is full of tears for dear Pope Benedict. May God shower him with healing graces and Divine love.
I feel badly for poor Pope Benedict, who is so ill, with numerous health issues– including a very serious issue with kidney failure. He has had another serious decline, and is no doubt in his final days. May Christ, Our Blessed Mother, St. Joseph, the Patron Saint of the dying, and all the angels and saints, be specially close to Pope Benedict, right now.
If you are homeless, there is help available. Response varies but there are special agencies to help with homeless veterens and homeless families especially those with children.
Let your church know of your situation, too. I know it is embarassing but it is rare to find a church that will not help.
‘no matter how hard the trials, difficult the problems, heavy the suffering, we will never fall out of the hands of God, those hands that created us, sustain us and accompany us on the journey of existence, because they are guided by an infinite and faithful love.’”
Pope Benedict XVI