Statement from Chairman Don Wagner on Grants Pass v. Johnson Ruling

(Santa Ana, CA) – The following is a statement from Chairman Don Wagner on the United States Supreme Court’s ruling on the Grant’s Pass v. Johnson case:

I appreciate the Supreme Court’s decision this morning in the Grant’s Pass case. It gives state and local governments the freedom to respond quickly and appropriately to unique local homeless issues. The one size fits all approach of the discarded Martin v. Boise decision has failed us. Elected county and city leaders deserve the ability the Court has now restored to decide for ourselves the best ways to address our homeless population.

In Orange County we will not turn our backs on the homeless and will not use this decision to abandon our commitment to help those who need that help. As the Supreme Court correctly recognizes, there are many reasons people fall into homelessness. California’s so-called “housing first” model ignores those many reasons and assumes wrongly that shelter must come first in trying to solve the problem. In fact, however, unless we deal first with the many different root causes of homelessness, from alcohol and drug dependency to mental illness to economic hardships and more, we cannot expect our homeless to be successful in escaping from their plight.

I am struck by the irony that those root causes of homelessness are ignored in the State’s “housing first” model while our Sacramento leaders speak incessantly about the alleged “root causes” of crime when excusing criminal behavior and seeking to lighten criminal penalties. But in the case of homelessness, where those circumstances are critical and often determinative, local officials now have the ability to respond as needed in each specific case. I just implore Sacramento to continue its critical funding of local efforts rather than use the cover of its mismanagement of state finances to cut back on its role to help those among us most in need of that help. Orange County, under the leadership of this Board of Supervisors, will continue our work. I thank the Supreme Court for giving us this opportunity and restoring to us a few traditional tools to keep our communities safe, preserve our quality of life, and do that critical work for our homeless.