Editor’s Note: Susan Parks is president and CEO of Orange County United Way, where she leads the organization’s mission to improve lives and strengthen the Orange County community. She is dedicated to achieving the United Way mission by delivering long-term solutions in education, financial stability, health and housing. Lawrence Armstrong is chairman of Ware Malcomb, one of Orange County’s largest architectural firms with nearly 800 employees spanning 28 offices in the U.S., Mexico and Canada. He’s also the chair of Orange County United Way’s United to End Homelessness Leadership Council. United Way ranks 21 on the Business Journal’s annual list of the largest nonprofits operating in Orange County, reporting $28.9 million in revenue for the year ended June 30, 2024.
Matt Rink had some concerns about renting a condo to two sisters who were experiencing homelessness. But, doing the math, the local property owner realized it was good business and good for his heart, too.
WelcomeHomeOC’s landlord incentive program, part of the United to End Homelessness initiative, would pick up the move-in costs for sisters Patty and Cathy, 65 and 58. They’d also fund supportive case management for a year so that the women would adjust to their new environment. Rink could then rely on guaranteed rent coming from a housing voucher.
The risk seemed small — while the upside was obvious.
“I’ve seen the programs that Orange County United Way supports, and they do a great job,” said Rink, who has rented the two-bedroom condo to the sisters for four years now.
“To see somebody who has come so far and has finally gotten to a place, it’s so special.”
Rink learned what we hope more people will come to understand: Homelessness is not an easy problem to solve, but it is solvable. We have solutions. We know what works.
Empowered by Orange County United Way, the United to End Homelessness initiative is a collaboration between Orange County’s top business, philanthropic, governmental, faith-based and non-profit leaders. Dedicated to ending homelessness for everyone in Orange County, our coalition is working to promote measures that benefit all of society. Measures like the one Rink champions. Measures that work.
Make Prevention a Priority
According to The UCI-OC Poll, 52% of renters surveyed were worried about how they were going to pay rent and feared evictions. The high cost of housing is the main driver of homelessness, and many people are living paycheck to paycheck.
One unexpected bill or decrease of income could trigger the loss of their home.
In a report about Orange County evictions, researchers found that even though household incomes rose by 7% for people who received federal housing vouchers between 2017 and 2021, the cost of housing increased at a rate of 31%.
Put simply: Hard working people can’t make ends meet. Many are “self-evicting,” rather than having an eviction on their record — but they still need an affordable place to live. We need more rental assistance funds directed towards this population.
With the County of Orange, Orange County United Way is piloting a homelessness prevention and stabilization program, aiming to prevent individuals from falling through the cracks in the first place.
Preventing homelessness is also a fundamental element of Orange County United Way’s 211OC and United for Financial Security programming, helping people who are on the brink.
Increasing Inventory of Permanent Supportive Housing
For those already experiencing homelessness, the combination of permanent housing paired with supportive services that connect people to needed resources is the proven, recognized answer.
Orange County knows how to do this.
We need developers, landowners and elected officials to work together and increase the housing inventory at a significantly swifter pace. We also need more willing landlords to provide units for rent and more ongoing funding for supportive services.
The Orange County Housing Finance Trust, the Orange County Board of Supervisors and many local cities share a common goal of creating 2,396 permanent supportive housing units by 2029. They’ve created a pipeline to streamline the process.
Meanwhile, WelcomeHomeOC provides financial incentives, such as sign-on bonuses, holding fees and other assurances for landlords who rent units in Orange County to individuals, veterans and families with a housing voucher.
“WelcomeHomeOC solves so many of the challenges property owners and managers can face,” said Steven Gallian, property manager with QIP Management and a champion of the landlord incentive program.
“The financial assurances that cover downtime during the application process mitigates the vacancy rate you often experience when seeking new tenants. With this program, I know I’ll receive rent throughout the application and screening process, which is invaluable.”
Countywide, housing programs like WelcomeHomeOC are creating a positive ripple effect: More than 82% of people who were placed in permanent housing remained housed two years later and about 61% of adults who stayed in their housing were able to increase their incomes.
Save Taxpayer Dollars
While the true cost of homelessness is borne by those without a place to sleep, a groundbreaking UCI study found that every Orange County taxpayer bears the financial brunt of this growing problem.
At the time of the study, Orange County spent $299 million per year addressing health, housing, law enforcement and other issues related to homelessness, according to UCI sociologists Dr. David Snow and Dr. Rachel Goldberg, who conducted the county’s first cost study on homelessness.
The sociologists found that supportive housing could cut the costs of chronic homelessness nearly in half, from the $100,759 per person per year we spend in taxpayer dollars to $51,587 per person per year.
All told, if every person experiencing chronic homelessness in Orange County were provided supportive housing, taxpayers would save $42 million per year.
And these are savings that last.
In 2023, Orange County United Way trained 226 people as Housing Champions, a network of advocates who fight for affordable and permanent supportive homes as best practice solutions that are needed in our community.
These champions’ efforts helped secure the approval of 415 affordable units in Orange County, 251 of which will be permanent supportive housing.
Data shows that Orange County’s success rate for clients retaining this housing or exiting to their own permanent housing in Fiscal Year 2023 was 97.95%.
“Without a program like this, I would probably be one of the people living out of their car, trying to make things work,” said Seth, a former foster youth and now a nursing student who found permanent housing through WelcomeHomeOC.
“Having this safe space of my own makes it easier to focus on school and work toward everything I want to do.”
End Criminalization of Poverty
Addressing homelessness effectively means speaking out about solutions when national and local policies criminalize homelessness rather than taking steps to end people’s homelessness.
The Supreme Court ruled that cities could ticket and arrest people for sleeping outdoors, even if a person has no alternative.
How our community responds to that ruling matters.
We are all impacted by homelessness in our communities, from suburban residents to downtown business owners. Action is certainly needed.
However, criminalizing poverty with measures such as encampment sweeps burdens police and negatively impacts public safety while leaving taxpayers holding the tab. It also leads to debt, trauma and convictions that endanger a person’s future employment and often trap them in a homelessness-jail cycle.
Conversely, focusing our collective resources on proven solutions, such as more affordable housing, rental assistance dollars, landlord incentive programs and dedicated permanent housing with support services, lowers costs and improves people’s situations.
Our coalition is concentrating our energy and efforts toward the solutions that work, and we hope more business leaders will join us. Together, we are building an Orange County where everyone has a safe and affordable place to call home.
A place where landlords like Rink and tenants like sisters Patty and Cathy can all make the most of the opportunities afforded to us in Orange County. The downside risk is small. The upside is obvious.
We welcome you to attend or host a Homelessness 101 class, where you and your colleagues can learn how to play a role in this effort. Solving the problem of homelessness takes all of us.
