San Clemente denies proposed lease for homeless shelter

The San Clemente City Council has denied a proposed lease agreement to have a homeless shelter in the Rancho San Clemente Business Park.

Council member Laurie Ferguson says the Council and several hundred people who showed up had many concerns.  The overriding one was the proposed shelter location would have only allowed 35 beds for the homeless. And under Martin verses the city of Boise, San Clemente wouldn’t be able to enforce anti-camping or loitering laws without offering unsheltered people…shelter. The transitional campsite for unsheltered homeless on Avenida Pico, which has been operating for about three months, has 55 people. And the Point-In-Time Count survey earlier this year, had identified 96 homeless people in the city.

She says the Council intends on having a subcommittee on homelessness formed in the future to address issues.