Homeless man Michael “MJ” Diehl, center, laughs as he visits with people protesting the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Hundreds of people gather outside the Board of Supervisors meeting at the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday, March 27. Orange County supervisors will decide Tuesday whether to rescind their recent vote that could site emergency homeless shelters in Irvine, Huntington Beach, and Laguna Niguel. Many immigration advocates are protesting Supervisor Shawn Nelson’s call to join the DOJ in suing CA about its Sanctuary State law. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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Jodie Mosley, of Anaheim, holds up her fist as she speaks to a crowd opposed to the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Orange County Supervisors Todd Spitzer, left, chats with Irvine mayor Dan Wagner, before the start of the OC Board of Supervisors’ meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Timmy Sun, 6, sits atop the shoulders of his Irvine neighbor, Joe Yan, as they join other people protesting the Orange County Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

John Xu, 10, of Irvine, speaks out against putting homeless people in his city during the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Orange County Supervisors Todd Spitzer, left, chats with Irvine mayor Dan Wagner, before the start of the OC Board of Supervisors’ meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Timmy Sun, 6, sits atop the shoulders of his Irvine neighbor, Joe Yan, as they join other people protesting the Orange County Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, holds signs including ones with Xs over the face of Shawn Nelson, as they protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



A woman who said she was from Irvine but did not want to be identified argues with a homeless supporter outside the Orange County Supervisors’ meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Thousands of people, mostly from Irvine, protest the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Homeless advocate, Kenneth Batiste, with the group Housing is a Human Right, gets angry during the public comment time of the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Congressman Dana Rohrabacher listens as the Orange County Board of Supervisors discuss the county’s homeless plan in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)

Orange County Supervisor Shawn Nelson chastises a speaker for going over their allotted time during the public comment section of the Orange County Board of Supervisors’ meeting in Santa Ana on Tuesday, Mar 27, 2018. (Photo by Jeff Gritchen, Orange County Register/SCNG)



Tent city opponents from Irvine protest outside the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)

A tent city proponent who chose not to give his name was on hand to demonstrate at the Hall of Administration on Tuesday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)

A tent city city opponent from Irvine protests outside the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)

Tent city opponents from Irvine protest outside the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)

A tent city opponent from Irvine protests outside the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)



Tent city opponent Eugenie Zheng argues with a tent city proponent from Santa Ana outside the Hall of Administration in Santa Ana on Tuesday. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)

Tent city opponent Timmy Sun is engaged in a protest outside the Hall of Administration on Tuesday. The six-year-old is on the shoulders of his mother, Amy Sun. (Photo by Bill Alkofer, contributing photographer)

Bowing to public backlash, Orange County supervisors on Tuesday rescinded their recent plan that could have created emergency homeless shelters in Irvine, Huntington Beach and Laguna Niguel to house up to 400 people.

But they’re likely to replace it within weeks with a second proposal to shelter the homeless in yet-to-be-selected local cities.

The board’s unanimous vote, which undid its March 19 approval of a three-city homeless shelter plan, came at the most crowded supervisorial meeting in recent memory. In attendance were a dozen leaders of those cities and hundreds of jeering residents, including a coordinated legion from Irvine that chartered as many as 20 buses to come voice their united opposition to the project.

Hundreds more anti-shelter protestors rallied outside the meeting, chanting, “No tent city!” In all, police estimated nearly 2,000 people were on the scene.

“The Great Park is not the place to take care of (the homeless),” Irvine resident Robin Deverich told the board to applause, saying her grandchildren played near the area proposed for a shelter. “They will be free to come and go wandering through our playgrounds and parks and nearby schools. … You will be responsible for any harm that befalls our children if you make that choice.”

But Santa Ana city leaders, school board officials and residents criticized many Orange County cities for not doing their part to shelter the homeless. They called for a more equitable distribution of shelters throughout the county, noting that other cities have pushed homeless people into Santa Ana, Anaheim, Orange, and Fullerton – allegations that echoed recent criticisms from a federal judge. Santa Ana is home to the county’s largest year-round shelter.

“We have taken the brunt,” Santa Ana Unified School District president Valerie Amezcua said to cheers. “All children matter. Not just children in certain cities. I appreciate all the city leaders that came forward to talk about schools and daycares… But guess what? Santa Ana has them, too.”

Despite the board’s reversal, it’s likely supervisors soon will vote again for a plan to site a homeless shelter in at least one Orange County city. That’s because Tuesday’s action leaves the county without a plan to implement U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter’s request to find appropriate shelter for what could be a few hundred homeless people.

Carter, who is overseeing a civil rights lawsuit filed by homeless people against the county, has called on supervisors to house people living in and around the Santa Ana Civic Center and others who were moved by county health workers last month into motels from the dismantled Santa Ana River encampment.

Facing pressure from Carter, Supervisor Lisa Bartlett last week said it’s possible the board’s next step would be to consider a plan to open a single 400-bed shelter, comprised of portable structures, to be located on 108 acres south of the Great Park in Irvine. That county-owned parcel already is zoned for a homeless shelter. And a 2003 agreement between Irvine and the county specifically lists an emergency homeless shelter as a legitimate land use.

But Bartlett backpedaled Tuesday, saying she wouldn’t support an Irvine shelter unless city officials backed the plan, according to her office. Instead, she said she wants cities to collaborate at an upcoming April 3 court hearing – which will double as a countywide summit on homelessness – to propose locations for the shelters. All Orange County city leaders are invited attend to that hearing.

Bartlett has said she already spoke to city leaders about possible sites but has declined to name the locations. Meanwhile, Supervisor Shawn Nelson is backing State Senator John Moorlach’s push to house homeless at the Fairview Development Center in Costa Mesa, a soon-to-be-shuttered facility for the developmentally disabled. The Costa Mesa City Council will host a special meeting on Wednesday to discuss that proposal.

“We’ve got to work cooperatively and collaboratively and let the group at large come up with some good solutions to homelessness,” Bartlett said.

The board could vote on the new plan as soon as April 10.

The recent uproar over the homeless camps is the latest fight in a months-long saga over how the county and cities should attend to several hundred homeless people who were living along the Santa Ana River.

It’s also part of a much longer trend in which city residents and leaders in Orange County often recognize the need for homeless shelters but don’t want them located in their respective cities. Carter and other public officials have said that pattern has pushed homeless people disproportionately into Santa Ana and Anaheim.

County staff in February moved nearly 700 homeless people living along the riverbed in Anaheim and Orange into motels on 30-day vouchers, which recently began to expire. On Tuesday, at least 70 of those people remained in motels; and different population of 175 homeless people has been living in the Civic Center, according to county officials.

County leaders have insisted they already have enough shelter capacity to house the former riverbed inhabitants. They repeated that assertion on Tuesday, noting vacancies at Santa Ana and Anaheim facilities. But Carter wrote in court documents that the county lacks adequate shelter space and recently accused staff of irresponsibly “cramming” homeless people into already-full facilities, potentially to their detriment. That harm, Carter wrote, includes mentally-ill people being triggered by crowded shelters and domestic-violence victims being sexually harassed in them.

To address the judge’s concerns, supervisors last week passed the three-city shelter plan, which would have located 200 homeless people in Irvine, then 100 in Huntington Beach and 100 in Laguna Niguel, if needed.

The pushback to their decision was widespread and immediate.

Within a day, the Irvine and Laguna Niguel city councils voted to sue the county, and Irvine filed its lawsuit on Monday. At least 250 protestors rallied outside Irvine City Hall on Thursday, Friday, and Sunday. More than 24,000 people have signed two petitions opposing the plan. And at the March 20 city council meetings in Laguna Niguel and Irvine, residents berated the board – their fears stoked partially by Supervisor Todd Spitzer, the lone vote against the plan, who told one crowd they were being asked to shelter sex offenders and “the worst of the worst.”

Supervisors Bartlett and Steel soon buckled to backlash and decided to reverse the vote.

Supervisor Shawn Nelson has accused Spitzer of lying and fear-mongering to back his run for district attorney. OC Probation said only one homeless sex offender was living in motels on county vouchers and another three were in the Civic Center encampment.

In response to Nelson’s allegations, Spitzer defended the substance of his concerns, saying Tuesday that there are 66 homeless parolee sex offenders who he’s worried could enter low-barrier shelters. Spitzer didn’t have evidence those parolees are currently among the people waiting to be housed, though he said he was told that three parolee sex offenders recently were removed from the Civic Center.

Nelson said that no Orange County city “wants to have or host this difficult population.” But he called on city leaders to propose solutions at the upcoming court hearing.

“I’m anxious to hear on April 3 who steps forward and says we want emergency shelter, we want to take some of the load off Santa Ana,” Nelson said.

The county said it is set to finish moving homeless people out of motels by the end of Wednesday. In addition to shelters, the former riverbed inhabitants have been moved to mental-health facilities, recuperative care beds, residential detox centers and sober living homes. The county has declined to release numbers of how many people have been transferred to each option.

Brooke Weitzman, attorney for the homeless plaintiffs, said regardless of what county leaders decide in coming weeks, supervisors should admit they were wrong when they said people in the riverbed encampment didn’t want help.

“The old narrative that people are service resistant – that narrative is dead,” Weitzman said. “Now the only question is what is the county going to do to step up, and how are cities going to support that?”

Correction: A previous version of this story misstated the agency responsible for monitoring the three homeless sex offenders that Supervisor Todd Spitzer said were removed from the Santa Ana Civic Center. The men were parolees.

Staff writer Tomoya Shimura contributed to this story.