Homeless Orange County

They already run a Santa Ana shelter for homeless men and one for homeless mothers with children. Now they have their sights set on another segment of Orange County's homeless population, one they say has long been overlooked despite its growth: those living with HIV and AIDS.

On a sunny autumn morning, about a dozen people are sitting or milling around in the shade in front of the large, temporary modular building they sleep in each night to escape the elements. Some are chatting with their gregarious and talkative preacher about the future of Buena Park's only homeless shelter, at the First Southern Baptist Church. A similar conversation could have been heard during the same time last year. The Rev.

More than 200 people who help Orange County's homeless met Wednesday to discuss how they can better serve their clients--despite rising rents and home prices. The meeting was the first effort of a new consortium of the Shelter and Hunger Partnership, Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force and county government. Together they hope to eradicate homelessness with a variety of measures.

Orange County supervisors on Tuesday approved spending $170,000 to provide food and shelter for at least 250 homeless people this winter at two National Guard armories. Supervisors hope that with additional state and federal funding, the program will be able to shelter the homeless for 120 days, beginning in December. In past years, the county scrambled to keep the shelters open as long as possible.

A new one-room school designed to help homeless children who are frequently turned away by school districts that are unwilling to enroll students without permanent addresses opened this month for its first full academic year. Transitions, which is run in conjunction with the Interfaith Shelter and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District, is staffed by a fully accredited teacher, and students can receive breakfast and lunch there, donated school supplies and all the necessary immunizations.

Susan Rosa went to three schools in Costa Mesa last week to enroll her two young sons, but all three turned them away. Exasperated and feeling defeated, she returned to her family's home, a motel on Harbor Boulevard. It was there one afternoon last week that she met Lori Glover and Vanessa Ontiveros, administrators at the nearby Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter. They were looking for people just like the Rosas--families with no permanent home.

Nestled among the bamboo thickets and elephant grass that lace Talbert Regional Park, Donna Edwards has illegally carved a home underneath some willow trees. To conceal the camp, the path there is a tricky labyrinth over felled branches amid thick brush that has left slash marks on Edwards' legs and arms. To the 52-year-old woman, it is a small price to pay for a little privacy, some peace of mind.

Nestled between the bamboo thickets and the elephant grass that lace Talbert Regional Park near Costa Mesa, Donna Edwards has illegally carved a home underneath some willow trees. To conceal the encampment, the path there is a tricky labyrinth over felled branches amid thick brush that has left slash marks on Edwards' legs and arms. To the 52-year-old woman, it is a small price to pay for a little privacy, some peace of mind.

The long and loud battle over a Buena Park pastor's homeless shelter has ended quietly. The minister, city officials and neighbors say they are satisfied, at least for now, with a prefabricated building that can house a few dozen homeless people. The Rev. Wiley Drake had set off an uproar in 1996 by taking in the homeless at his First Southern Baptist Church on Western Avenue.