Orange County Will Give Out Millions To Fight Homelessness Before It Happens

Orange County has approved a pilot program that sets aside $3 million to help residents at risk of eviction, which the county estimates will help around 200 households from becoming unhoused.

OC Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento will fund about half of the pilot using discretionary funds available for his district. He told LAist that he anticipates many of the pilot participants will live in his district, including the city of Santa Ana, and portions of Anaheim, Garden Grove, Orange, and Tustin, even as the program will be available countywide.

Sarmiento cited a UC San Francisco study that showed that many unhoused people believed they would have avoided homelessness if they'd had financial help during the eviction process.

"We think if we can kind of bridge that delta, we can keep people housed at a much lower cost than having to try to house them once they're on the street," he said.

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As to identifying program participants, Sarmiento said that the county is already aware of vulnerable households through eviction court. "I don't think identifying 200 households will be too difficult, just because we know there are thousands of people that are struggling," he said.

The county will determine whether to make the program permanent after the yearlong pilot. The county also plans to partner with researchers to determine if the program has successfully prevented homelessness.