Editorial: ACT V solution the best

The city has been backed into a corner legally and now must find someplace to offer shelter to homeless people in order to regain control of the city’s beaches and parks, indeed, all its public spaces.

The ACT V parking lot is the only remotely acceptable choice: It is a developed site, not right next to homes, and is earmarked for public use only a few months of the year.

Laguna Canyon residents are understandably not happy with the prospect of these new neighbors. But the folks who live across the street from Heisler Park were also not happy when groups of unhoused people began living and carousing day and night within eye- and ear-shot of them, after the city became unable to control the use of the public parks.

This situation is remarkably similar to the one city officials dealt with in the early 1990s when the street corners in Laguna Beach became gathering places for people seeking day labor. At that time, city officials recognized that the Constitution protected the free-speech rights of anyone, including those soliciting jobs, and created the Day Labor Hiring Site, also in Laguna Canyon, as a way to protect those rights but also protect the community from the unwelcome presence of aggressive job-seekers.

The hiring site has worked well, in large part because of the efforts of local advocates to make it safe and comfortable for both job-seekers and employers. The hiring site provides an excellent service and therefore is well-used and successful.

The ACT V shelter as proposed will also be a tightly controlled, monitored and supervised situation. It will require homeless people to accept assistance and “go along with the program” or relocate out of town. It will meet the requirements of the city’s settlement with the ACLU over the “right to sleep” and will give the town some relief from the chaotic situation that ensued following the agreement.

We see no reason the ACT V homeless shelter could not be as successful as the hiring site in giving a new sense of hope to homeless people, and a sense of safety to the community.

Those who truly care about the welfare of the homeless and who want to see their situations improve should be delighted that the city has been able to offer this solution, and just in time for winter.