Homelessness was down during pandemic, so how do Orange County communities replicate that?
When Orange County’s recent point in time count of people living on the streets and in shelters came back higher than in 2022, officials said the loss of pandemic-era protections such as rental assistance and the eviction moratorium contributed to the return to numbers closer to those seen in 2019.
When those emergency resources and protections went away, folks became more vulnerable again to falling into homelessness, they said.
But having seen their benefits, some cities in Orange County have begun making permanent some of their own safety nets to supplement the loss of these resources, such as enhancing eviction protections or capping rent increases. And more money is being spent on creating longer-term housing to get people out of the cycle of going in and out of shelters.
