When the “hurricane that never happened” was predicted, there was no emergency shelter for the homeless in place in Fullerton. We have been experiencing heavy rain and thunderstorms, as well as 48-degree nights, and there are still no cold weather or emergency shelters in our city for homeless individuals.

According to the Fullerton Fire Department, in case of an emergency, it is able to quickly produce shelter and medical services for the City. However, the City would have to tell them to do so, and it is only used for things like large-scale fires, earthquakes, train derailments, etc. Wouldn’t a hurricane be a good time to practice and help the homeless at the same time?

There were approximately 272 people in Fullerton experiencing homelessness in the 2022 Point in Time Count (the last available); 202 of them were unsheltered. (Twenty-eight homeless people died in Fullerton in 2023.) The need for a cold-weather emergency shelter is obvious. Despite this need, Fullerton has not opened an emergency cold-weather shelter this winter. (Previously, Fullerton and Santa Ana were the only locations of emergency cold weather shelters funded by the county.

In past years, Fullerton has opened emergency shelters at the Armory, EV Free Church, or the Independence Park gym.) Meanwhile, Anaheim opened temporary shelters at four churches in the central and west parts of the city that offer 50 overnight beds to people connected to Anaheim.

The lack of an emergency cold shelter in Fullerton is even harder to explain since Director Doug Becht from the Orange County Executive Office | Office of Care Coordination sent a letter on October 5, 2023, stating in part, “With the understanding that smaller, regional emergency sites that are proportionate and responsive to the individuals in a city or surrounding community are more impactful on the population served, while less imposing on a community than a large site that serves the entire county the Commission is asking Fullerton to consider and propose a model that will serve their communities needs. “It is expected that different models will be proposed by each city, such as providing a site that is either city- or provider-operated, working with a provider or faith-based group that can host a program, and/or a city working with their year-round shelter to carve out some capacity during this time of year to specifically operate for this purpose.”

The letter was addressed to then-Mayor Fred Jung (currently Mayor Pro Tem) and cc’d the City Manager, Eric Levitt. The letter was not sent to the rest of the city council members until an inquiry about the letter was made in February 2024 by the Fullerton Observer. Questions as to why the letter was not sent to the rest of the City Council and who decided Fullerton should not participate in opening a cold weather shelter have not been answered by either the City Manager or the Mayor Pro Tem.

The current lack of emergency shelter is not acceptable both for the most vulnerable members of our community and for the public at large who don’t want streets dominated by homeless encampments. It is also costly.

An OC United Way study estimated that $299 million was spent to address homelessness in Orange County by governmental and non-governmental entities in 12 months in 2014/2015. The City of Fullerton needs to take action and to take that action as soon as possible.