On Tuesday, March 20, 2018, the Laguna Niguel City Council voted
unanimously to initiate litigation against the County of Orange, just 24 hours after the Orange
County Board of Supervisors voted to create a homeless encampment in downtown Laguna
Niguel just a few steps from a public library, daycare center, and elementary school.
“I am stunned that anyone at the County thought it was a good idea to place 100 homeless
individuals in tents that are adjacent to not only a residential neighborhood of young families
but also a daycare center where innocent children play and just a few hundred yards from an
elementary school,” said Elaine Gennawey, Mayor of Laguna Niguel. “This is a public safety
tragedy waiting to happen and we will do everything in our power to prevent this from
occurring. “The safety of our residents and their children demand that our City Council take
swift and decisive action, which is what we have done.”
The City Council opened their regular City Council meeting by individually expressing their
outrage and dismay for the County’s proposal and each pledged to take whatever action
necessary to prevent any negative impact on the quality of life for residents. Following their
comments, the City Council heard public testimony from more than 50 speakers, who shared
a myriad of concerns with the County’s proposal and spoke in support of the City resisting the
County’s efforts to move the homeless encampment from the riverbed in Anaheim to a
residential neighborhood in Laguna Niguel. Over 500 individuals attended the meeting and
indicated their support of each of the speakers.
After spending 10 years claiming to work on a solution for homelessness, the County
conducted a hasty and haphazard shifting of homeless encampments from the Santa Ana
Riverbed into motels throughout the County. With the clock running out, the Board of
Supervisors voted unanimously to place the hundreds of homeless currently living in motels
into temporary tented shelters on County property in Huntington Beach, Irvine, and Laguna
Niguel.
All three cities have initiated litigation against the County to prevent this aggressive action that
would put to risk the quality of life, businesses and public safety of the residents that the
County purports to represent.
“This “Homeless Shuffle” the County is trying to perpetrate on Laguna Niguel may be the
greatest threat to our quality of life since the Board of Supervisors unsuccessfully tried to build
an LAX-sized international airport in South Orange County 20 years ago,” said Gennawey.
“We defended our residents successfully against the Board of Supervisors then and we will do
the same again now.” To that end, the City voted unanimously to initiate litigation against the
County of Orange.
