Emails
Miguel Rafael Curiel
Originally Published on October 17, 2023, on SoCalHomelessness.wordpress.com
Growing up, I’d see our homeless neighbors throughout the city streets. Today, an estimated 171,000 people are homeless in Californnia.1 When I decided on making this blog on the topic of Homelessness and the potential solutions to the crisis, I knew I wanted to get comments from public officials. I reached out to a few of my local representatives in Orange County. I contacted all members of the Orange County Board of Supervisors via email, the mayor of Santa Ana and the all the council members. I want to make sure I get the City of Santa Ana’s public officials’ comments on the issue considering the fact that the vast majority of homeless people live on or the surrounding streets of Santa Ana.
To my surprise, a few public officials actually were willing to sit down and talk with me about the situation. I have recently been able to secure meetings with City of Santa Ana Councilmember Phil Bacerra of Ward Four and Orange County Board Member Supervisor Katrina Foley.
As eager as I am to have these conversations, I am most interested to hear what the people experiencing homelessness have to say.
University of California San Francisco. Our Studies California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness. June 2023. https://homelessness.ucsf.edu/our-impact/our-studies/california-statewide-study-people-experiencing-homelessness↩︎