ORANGE COUNTY, Calif. — The Orange County Commission to End Homelessness has one immediate goal: Find an operator for the emergency cold weather homeless shelter.

What You Need To Know

  • Orange County is looking for an operator to run a cold weather shelter after a request for a proposal went unanswered

  • It is the first winter in 17 years the county has not had a cold weather shelter

  • In that time, the county and partner cities have added homeless shelters, with significant ground made in the past several years

  • The 2022 point-in-time count, conducted in February, found nearly 3,000 unsheltered people in Orange County

For years, the county had run a winter shelter at the various nearby armories, including Fullerton and Santa Ana. 

“This is the first year in 17 years we haven’t had a cold weather shelter,” said Molly Nichelson, a spokesperson for the county.

The commission met Wednesday in which Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer highlighted the need for urgency.

“Cold is here, like, now,” he said. “That’s an emergency.”

The county typically opens the shelter in November and had plans this year to open it in December. And while there’s still hope an operator can be found, Nichelson said the county and city partners have made great strides to improve the number of beds in shelters. While some shelters, like the one funded jointly by Costa Mesa and Newport Beach, have a waiting list, the Huntington Beach Navigation Center has 30 beds available. Nichelson said there are 600 beds countywide.

The city had put out a request for a proposal in the summer and didn’t receive any responses. Even after extending the deadline and reaching out to past operators, the county still didn’t find an organization to run the seasonal operation.

The county had discussed a partnership with the Salvation Army to take over the operation of the shelter. At the meeting, local Salvation Army CEO Nesan Kistan said his organization backed out because it had been threatened with litigation.

While the county has been ordered by a county judge to open it, there first has to be an operator to organize the shelter.

An increasing number of local municipalities, including the county, have invested in wraparound services in recent years, a series of programs not just designed to get people off the street but keep them housed.

The February point-in-time count suggests the homeless population saw a slight dip but remains high. The county reported 5,718 in the count, including 280 veterans, 718 seniors and 235 transitional aged youths. Of that number, about 3,000 were reported as unsheltered.