Voice of OC opinion urges Housing First shift in OC

A Voice of OC opinion article published Tuesday argues Orange County should move its homelessness strategy toward Housing First, permanent housing and prevention rather than relying on incarceration and enforcement.

The article ties the debate to the county’s proposed fiscal year 2026-27 budget, saying discretionary spending remains heavily weighted toward jails and law enforcement while deaths among unhoused residents continue.

Voice of OC reported in the opinion article that Housing First began in New York City in the early 1990s and became a major part of the federal homelessness response from 2010 to 2016.

The article says Orange County should expand housing investment, use public land for affordable and supportive housing, reduce evictions, speed up affordable housing development, seek state and federal money and redirect more discretionary county spending toward Housing First strategies.

According to Voice of OC, more than 3,471 people without a fixed abode have died across Orange County over the past 10 years. The article also says more than 100 unhoused people died in the county during the first six months of 2026.

The opinion article says the proposed Orange County fiscal year 2026-27 budget includes about $320 million in discretionary Net County Cost funding for jail operations and about $357 million for the Orange County Sheriff’s Department.

Voice of OC also reported that county supervisors, except for one, voted to raise their own annual compensation by about $49,000. The article says the proposed budget sets aside about $114 for Public Protection for every $1 allocated to Orange County Community Resources.

The opinion article frames the budget choices as a test of whether Orange County will continue managing homelessness through crisis response or invest more directly in housing and prevention.