October 1998

Second Version

You may send comments on this report to ocssa@ssa.co.orange.ca.us

This report addressing the topic of motel families was created by the Social Services Agency, in cooperation with the Health Care and Community Services Agencies, the Housing and Community Development Department, city governments, and members of the non-profit and faith-based community, as a response to a request by the Orange County Board of Supervisors to detail existing outreach efforts to the motel community.

It includes a discussion of motel families as a subset of the homeless population and the services provided to these groups by government agencies and community and faith-based organizations. It further describes the level of interaction and experience these entities and municipalities have with individuals and families living in motels. The report discusses the link between early childhood experiences and later life outcomes as well as the impact of early intervention and prevention programs on affecting those outcomes relative to the motel family issue.

The information reflected in this report was obtained primarily from government agencies and other service providers. Anecdotal information about the population was collected via informal surveys and interviews directed at government agencies and departments, community and faith-based service providers, city governments, and the families themselves.

The Social Services Agency would like to acknowledge the Orange County Register and in particular, staff writer Laura Saari for highlighting the plight of the motel children and their families.

SSA would also like to acknowledge the help and cooperation of the following agencies and organizations, both public and private that provided information and input into the Motel Families Report.

In addition, the Social Services Agency would like to acknowledge its staff members who researched the issue, coordinated the massive amount of information, and wrote the report:

The families highlighted by the Orange County Register's article titled "Motel Children" are, by federal standards, homeless. Like the general homeless population, the motel families can attribute their circumstances to similar situations and causes. Housing problems may be coupled with other factors including scant employment prospects due to a lack of job skills or education and training, domestic violence, substance abuse, mental illness, or poor household management skills, and/or poor decision making.

The article's graphic description of substandard living conditions and emotional hardship endured by motel families profiled the worst of the motel living situations, yet may serve as an example of how many of the County's greater pool of impoverished survive. The issues and barriers faced by the families are well known, if not common, in many populations and in varied demographic circles. Trailer parks, overcrowded substandard apartment complexes, or single room occupancy units not designed for families often foster the kinds of social ills and building code violations now highlighted in the publicity of motel children. These "circumstances" are universal in that they exist in a variety of residential environments not just in the County's well-populated circuit of residential motels which serve as one of many alternative forms of shelter and have operated as such for over two decades. In fact, the legislation that defined "residential hotel" and recognized their extensive use as often the only form of housing to very low and low income individuals, was enacted in 1979.

Given that residential motels are dispersed throughout the region, the motel family issue impacts almost all of the County's 31 municipalities. Much of the direct known contact the cities have with the motel population is through their code and law enforcement personnel. The environments at some of the motels generate an abundance of police calls. Some cities have adopted ordinances that limit the number of individuals who may reside past 30 days and others have regulated the length of stay in a motel through their planning commissions. There are motel operators who employ the practice of restricting length of stay which forces families to move, only to have them return a short time later.

In terms of services available to the motel community, none of the County agencies and few of the non-profits view the motel families as an independent segment of the population needing a different set of services. Through the Social Services, Health Care, and Community Services Agencies, motel families may access a variety of programs offering financial and job assistance, mental and physical health, and substance abuse treatment services. Community and faith-based organizations provide an extensive array of services as well.

Orange County, like most urban environments, has a shortage of affordable low cost housing. However, through the creation of the County's Continuum of Care system, the Housing and Community Development Department has worked with public and private stakeholders, business and civic leaders, service providers and advocates to collectively address the causes of homelessness. This collective has focused on: designing comprehensive systems of housing, identifying services to assist the homeless, recognizing gaps in the service delivery system, and establishing a method for efficient and coordinated use of federal, state, local, and private resources. The system is one that adjusts to the needs of homeless by allowing resources to be directed where they will have the greatest impact.

Raising children can be difficult and challenging and this job can be particularly hard for those, like motel families, who are in poverty or lacking a stable home. Such instability is disruptive to families and interferes with the physical, social, and emotional development of children. Under the law, motel living is not considered abuse and therefore, in itself does not warrant child welfare services intervention. Yet, the children in motel families are often exposed to multiple risk factors. The relevant literature is convincing in its explanation of the significant impact multiple childhood risk factors have on a child’s development. The literature also stresses the effectiveness of programs for children and parents in lessening the impact of these risk factors and, in turn, preventing child delinquency and crime. In a County that will have a projected population of 3.1 million and an estimated 6,000 children in the foster care system by 2010, the demands on limited financial resources will only continue to grow. The most cost-effective, long-term solution to abate the increasing number of neglected and delinquent children and the growing prevalence of severely dysfunctional families is to direct public, private, and non-profit sector resources to broad-based early intervention programs and to collectively focus, as a community, on an agenda that will improve the quality of life in the County.

Those who are homeless and those who live in motels do not fit one general description, but both groups have the same basic needs of housing, adequate income, and health care. Some may need additional services, such as mental health or substance abuse treatment. Service providers report that some people living in motels are actually fearful of or openly resistant to accepting services while others eagerly embrace any available opportunities for positive change.

Acknowledging that homelessness is a pervasive problem and that motels have become de facto housing for the poor, the County, cities, and other service providers working via collaborative partnerships can ensure that the motels are maintained as decent housing residences and that adequate services are provided. Despite the various difficulties faced by providers when serving this population, there are mechanisms in place that will enable the County to improve the situations of the children and families. The ability to do outreach and address the needs of the motel population under the umbrella of the County's current service delivery system and in accordance with a preventive agenda already exists.

Orange County has an expanding and diverse economy and is currently experiencing growth in almost every major industry as well as a low level of unemployment. Most of the residents enjoy a very high standard of living. However, like many other urban communities, Orange County is faced with the reality that despite the high level of economic prosperity and community affluence, there is a population in need.

A recent Orange County Register article chronicled the lives of children and their families living in two of the County's hundred-plus residential motels. Stories of the dangers and difficulties of motel living were told by the children who make their home in the motel complexes and in the adjoining parking lots.

For many readers, the article provided a first-time look into the lives of the families living in motels. The story offered a detailed account of how this segment of the population lives and of some of the issues they face every day as motel residents. It depicted many of the motel families as financially, emotionally, and socially impoverished. Often the rooms which serve as their temporary residences are small and furnishings are sparse. Many rooms lack kitchen facilities. As a result, bathrooms serve as make-shift cooking quarters and become cluttered with dishes and hotplates. The rooms are commonly home to four or more people of both sexes. There is no privacy as one room frequently serves as the bedroom, living room, dining room, and kitchen. The residents are usually living in crowded and sometimes unsanitary conditions, and lacking adequate food and clothing. More seriously, they may be exposed to drugs, prostitution, neglect and abuse.

The Orange County Register's explicit depiction of the physical and emotional hardship endured by the families living in motels elicited an overwhelming response from the Orange County community. Residents responded to the article with an outpouring of donations of food, clothing, baby supplies, and cash. On August 23, 1998, over 200 people interested in assisting the County's motel families attended an informational meeting hosted by Project Dignity, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing physical, emotional, and spiritual assistance to homeless and low income individuals and families. In their own response to the article, the Orange County Board of Supervisors requested an assessment of the County's motel families and an accounting of the services available to them via outreach from County agencies and departments.

The scope of this report covers the causes of homelessness and how the motel families are defined within this population. It offers an explanation of the various causes of homelessness as well as some of the specific issues facing motel families. There is some discussion of how the municipalities within which the motels are located address the problem, if at all, and what level of interaction they have with these families. The next sections are devoted to the county agencies and other public and non-profit organizations that offer services to the homeless, including the motel families. These groups describe their level of interaction with the individuals and families in the motels and provide an assessment of the population. The report's concluding sections detail the link between early childhood experiences and later life outcomes relevant to the experience of motel children, and the positive impact early intervention and prevention programs have in reducing violence and delinquency.

Orange County, unlike many other urban settings, does not have public housing projects. Their absence, however, does not necessarily mean that the typical issues and problems associated with housing projects do not exist in Orange County. The residential motels, although dispersed throughout the county, are concentrated in a few major locations. Later in this report is a section devoted to a few specific cities that are home to the motels and some of the issues those municipalities face in addressing the residential motel phenomenon.

A variety of inextricably linked and complex set of circumstances push people into motel living situations and perpetuate the cycle that forces them to remain there. The two main factors that force these families to make the choices between food, shelter, and other basic needs are poverty and a lack of affordable housing. Other contributing factors include: alcohol and drug abuse, changes in the family structure, domestic violence, and changes in the labor market and level of income assistance.

The Stewart B. McKinney Act was enacted in 1987 to provide relief to the nation’s rapidly increasing number of homeless individuals. The intent of the Act was to provide funding for emergency food, shelter, education and transitional and permanent housing, as well as to address the multitude of health problems faced by homeless individuals. As defined by the Stewart B. McKinney Act (Appendix 1), families living in residential motels are homeless. Although information on the homeless population in Orange County does exist, there is little in the way of data specifically related to those residing in motels. There is no county or municipal agency that maintains a list of the motels in the County serving as temporary shelters, that tracks the number of individuals or families living in a motel environment or how often these families access available services. Nor do cities or community and faith-based organizations have a definite count of the level of service they provide specifically to these families.

The Housing and Community Development Department (H&CD) in their 1998 Continuum of Care Narrative estimated that there are 11,946 homeless persons in Orange County of which motel families are a part. H&CD has identified subcategories of the County’s homeless. However, those living in motels are not specifically addressed. H&CD estimates that 3,336 homeless are chronic substance abusers, 2,087 are seriously mentally ill, and 1,905 suffer from both substance addiction and mental illness. There are an estimated 2,800 homeless veterans, 1,543 homeless individuals inflicted with HIV/AIDS, and 1,513 physically disabled. Although it is difficult to calculate the number of homeless victims of domestic violence since many cases go unreported, it is estimated that there are 2,480 homeless battered spouses in Orange County. These estimates are based on data collected from the region’s homeless service providers and public assistance programs. Although these numbers are a description of the homeless population as a whole, the demographic profile that these numbers present probably serves as a fairly accurate reflection of the homeless subgroup residing in the County's low-cost motels.

Despite the lack of current data and the apparent difficulty in gathering information on the families living in residential motels, extensive discussions with a variety of public agencies, non-profit service providers, social workers, public health nurses, and others who regularly work closely with the population, provided insight into the characteristics of this motel population and the variety of issues and barriers they face. In addition, we may soon have an even clearer picture of this population and its use of various services via three studies that will be released this fall.

The Interagency Council on the Homeless in Washington, D.C. recently conducted a national survey of homeless assistance providers and clients which will be used to provide information about the providers of homeless assistance and the characteristics of homeless persons who use services based on a statistical sample of 76 metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Orange County was one of 28 large metropolitan statistical areas that were included in the national sample. The Urban Institute will be examining the data related to geographic level, program type, the types of services delivered, and will be assessing emerging continuums of care. They will also be identifying patterns of homelessness based on age, race/ethnicity, gender, household composition, history of homelessness, employment, education, and use of services and benefits.

In addition, Biola University is preparing a study which will better identify the needs of the homeless population specifically in Orange County. A third study has been commissioned by a United Way consortium of the region's largest services donors. The study will identify and geographically code service providers throughout the County and will provide a better understanding of how resources are allocated.

According to the United States Census Bureau, in 1996 there were 36.5 million people in the United States living in poverty, representing 13.7 percent of the population. Five and a half million of those poor were children under the age of six; 47 percent of those children were extremely poor, living in families with a combined family income below 50 percent of the Federal poverty line. The Census Bureau estimates that 17.2 percent of Californians are poor based on a three year (1994-1996) average. These startling trends in poverty that exist on a state and national level are also reflected in the poverty numbers for Orange County. The most recent available official census statistics (1993) estimate that there are over 300,000 poor people in Orange County comprising 12.6 percent of the population. Approximately 130,000 or 18.9 percent of children under 18 years of age in the County are living in poor families.

In 1997, the federal poverty threshold for a single mother supporting two children was $12,931, while the median income in Orange County was $63,200 according to the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). A single mother with two children working at a full-time minimum wage job in California earns about $11,960 and lives at about 92 percent of the federal poverty level. Incomes for the poorest Americans have not kept pace with rising cost of living, and the minimum wage is no longer a living wage.

Nor does welfare prevent children and their families from being poor or enable families to afford decent housing. Between 1970 and 1994, the typical state’s AFDC benefits for a family of three fell by 47 percent after adjusting for inflation. Current welfare benefits are below the poverty level in every state, and in most states below 75 percent of the poverty level. Welfare benefits have not kept up with increases in the cost of rent and therefore do not provide families with adequate allowances for housing.

For many families a monthly grant allotment barely covers the cost of living in a residential motel. It does not cover the cost of moving in and maintaining residence in an apartment. A review of the extent to which a monthly grant allotment covers housing and some living expenses in the city of Anaheim validates this belief. Anaheim was chosen since it is the location of several of the County's residential motels, including one featured in the article. A comparison between the cost of renting an apartment and motel room in Anaheim reveals the following:

• The average monthly rent for a two bedroom apartment in Anaheim is $700 (range $600-$750).
• Security deposits are approximately $300-400 and application fees which cover the cost of credit and reference checks cost between $15 and $30 and must be paid by the potential renter.
• Anaheim utilities require a deposit of $85 for electricity only, $115 for electricity/trash, and $155 for electricity/trash/water.
• Residential motels average $140 per week (range $120-$180).
• A CalWORKs grant for an average family of one adult and two children is $565.

Many motel families’ earnings may be sufficient to pay for a monthly rental in an apartment but are inadequate for credit checks, required deposits of first/last months rent, and utility connection fees. In addition, those individuals who have been evicted in the past, who have negative or no references, and who have a history of bad credit, find landlords unwilling to take a chance even if they do have an income level adequate to pay deposits and rent on a month to month basis. Consequently, they are unable to "get out of the hole" that keeps them dependent upon a motel living situation.

A lack of affordable housing and the inadequacy of housing programs contribute to homelessness. The County has one of the highest costs of living in the state, which has resulted in many residents being unable to afford housing. According to a recent report by the Washington, D.C. based Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, the nation’s widest gap in affordable housing is in Southern California. The Center determined that seven California cities are consistently on the bottom of all major affordable housing indicators. Anaheim/Santa Ana ranked as one of the seven with the country's least affordable housing. The report titled "In Search of Shelter - The Growing Shortage of Affordable Rental Housing for Low Income Families" evaluated data on how the nation and how the 45 largest metropolitan areas in the country are doing in meeting the needs of poor renters. Poor renters are defined as those families earning at or below the federal poverty level which is $12,931 a year for a family of three. Anaheim/Santa Ana is one of the areas that has the highest proportion of low-income tenants living in overcrowded conditions and shares with Northern California the distinction of having the largest percentage of poor tenants who spend the vast majority of their income on shelter, according to the study. Seventeen percent of the area's poor renters live in subsidized housing.

Anaheim/Santa Ana ranked last in four categories.

1. Ratio of low income renters there are in a community to low cost units - 4:1
2. Percentage of poor renters paying more than 30 percent of their income on rent and utilities - 91 percent.
3. Percentage of poor renters paying more than 50 percent of their income on rent and utilities - 78 percent.
4. Percentage of poor renters' households who share housing or live in overcrowded units - 40 percent.

Despite a strong and growing economy the low income housing shortage will likely grow worse. A recent Los Angeles Times article cited the lack of new construction as a sign that home prices will continue to rise and create a shortage of affordable housing in a county that has already seen housing prices rise 19 percent since last year. Forecasters predict that prices in Orange County could rise so significantly over the next four years that only 13 percent of the County's households would be able to afford a home at a median cost of $472,250. The article quotes Dan Miller, Interim Director, Housing and Community Department, "The housing crisis is impacting families in every socio-economic level where in Orange County there is a need for over 33,000 low cost housing units." There are available minimum wage jobs, however; there is no housing available to families, many of whom spend more than 50 percent of their income on rent. Many of the County's poor renters already live in overcrowded conditions, and the situation is not likely to improve. As the economy improves, landlords who once accepted HUD's Section 8 vouchers, under which families pay 30 percent of their rent, will now rent to those with higher incomes.

The County's four housing authorities have extensive waiting lists, validating the article's findings that affordable housing for low-income families is in short supply.

1. Anaheim Housing Authority

• Taking applications on an ongoing basis.
• Waiting list: 6,325.
• Average wait is 2 years.
• Veterans receive top priority.

1. Garden Grove Housing Authority

• Last open application period was in 1996. Received 6,000 applications
• Waiting list approximately 3,500.
• Average wait is 4-5 years unless qualify for federal preference, need witness protection, are victims of domestic violence, or referred by a city shelter.

1. Orange County Housing Authority

• Last open application period was in March 1996. Received 10,000 applications.
• Waiting list 3,000.
• Average wait is 2-3 years unless qualify for federal preference, or are a US veteran, or the spouse/widow of a US veteran.

1. Santa Ana Housing Authority

• Last open application period was in December 1994. Received 8,000 applications.
• Waiting list 2,234.
• Average wait is 4 years.

Substance abuse and homelessness go hand in hand. The Health Care Agency's public health nurses and the Social Services Agency's social workers agree that about half of the single adult population residing in the motels suffer from alcohol and substance abuse problems and that these addictions both precipitate and sustain their living situation. The rampant drug use within the motel community, coupled with the lack of housing programs available to substance abusers, are often cited as major obstacles to moving families out of a motel environment.

Like the mentally ill, substance abusers are among the least healthy of the motel population. Many of the individuals with substance abuse problems are at a higher risk for HIV infection and are more likely to have serious health problems due to a lack of medical care. Few chemically dependent homeless are able to find resources to pay for treatment or for preventative health care.

According to public health nurses who work with the motel population, many are mentally ill and their move into this environment may be a consequence of this illness. In turn, motel living may also trigger and exacerbate emotional instability for some of the residents and contribute to anxiety, depression, or phobic disorders.

Nationally, 50 percent of all homeless women and children are on the streets because of violence in the home. Poor women fleeing domestic violence are vulnerable to becoming homeless and to living in residential motels because these women come from households facing economic hardship and they generally have no means of self-support. Abusers may threaten the family and friends of the victim, leaving the victim with little choice other than to move into a public facility or a motel environment. Victims of domestic violence also have difficulties in their attempts to become self-sufficient. Many times their efforts to seek and secure work are thwarted by their abusers who cause them to be late or absent or harass them so that they quit or are terminated.

Changes in family structure coupled with a weak family support network are additional factors contributing to the number of individuals who take up residence in motels. With the significant rise in divorce over the last twenty-five years, there are a great number of single mothers with children. Nationally, they comprise the greatest percentage of homeless families and a large segment of the motel population. Many of these young single mothers are often financially strapped, inexperienced in managing a household, and are easily impacted by even the most minor crisis, and therefore, are at a great risk of becoming a part of the motel community.

Over the past twenty-five years, the demand for workers has changed as the American economy has shifted from one of goods production to one of services. These changes in the labor market have significantly affected the employment prospects of those who lack appropriate skills and education or are the victims of downsizing.

Besides those factors which precipitate a move into a motel living situation, discussions with several motel families and those that provide services to them revealed additional issues with which the families are confronted, including: the difficulties presented by the physical living conditions in the motels; their own physical and emotional health and education, and the health and education of their children; a shortage of food and clothing; a lack of transportation; and a lack of needed job skills.

In person interviews were conducted with nine women residing in motels throughout Orange County. The women range in age from 31-40 years and are either pregnant or living in the motel with their children. The length of time these women have lived in motels ranged from a period of two days to on-and-off for ten years. Some only stay for several days each month due to the cost while one of the women has been living in the same motel for one and a half years. Many of the women had lived in apartments or were living with relatives but due to financial loss, garnishment of wages, loss of a job, or relationship change, were forced to move to a motel.

Many of the motels are rundown and dirty, and their facilities are inadequate to serve as permanent residential accommodations. There are generally no kitchen facilities and therefore no place for proper food storage nor for cooking. Some of the families need to share housing with other families or with relatives. The shortage of personal space creates a strain on parents and their relationships with their children. Each of the families interviewed reside in one room with as many as eight to a room with no cooking facilities or just a hot plate and either no refrigerator or a very small mini refrigerator.

The motels are often settings for extensive substance abuse and prostitution, and many of the women interviewed disclosed having a substance abuse history. However, all nine women interviewed denied current illegal drug usage. Because there is no privacy and parents do not use discretion in their drug use and sexual activity, children are constantly exposed to these elements. It is an environment that also puts children in serious danger of victimization by other children and adults due to the high incidence of domestic violence and abuse. Children are in and out of several rooms where a variety of activities may be carried on. Often, no one is supervising and few, if any, boundaries are set for children in their activities.

Eight of the nine women are receiving governmental assistance in the form of SSI, CalWORKs, Food Stamps or Medi-Cal. Four of the women are pregnant and receiving services from the Perinatal Assessment and Coordination Team from Health Care Agency. These services include home visits from public health nurses and social workers. At least half of the women admitted that the Social Services Agency's Children and Family Services Division had provided assistance due to possible child abuse or neglect.

In addition to the problems presented by poor sanitary conditions, the families suffer from other pervasive health problems. Their access to health care, particularly preventative health care, is limited. Maintaining good health becomes a low priority as parents struggle to meet the family's daily demands for food and shelter. Common acute problems in children include lice, tooth decay, ear and skin infections, diaper rash and conjunctivitis. There are incidences of diseases such as anemia, bowel dysfunction, and visual and neurologic deficits. An even more prevalent problem is obesity. Since refrigerated storage and cooking facilities are not available, fast food restaurants and convenience stores are often the most common sources for food for many of these individuals. Diets often contain an excessive amount of carbohydrates and fats. Hunger is also pervasive, and a significant number of children regularly lack sufficient caloric intake. Many of these families are constantly moving so there is no opportunity to develop a relationship with health care providers. The families often receive fragmented care since they are often relying on hospital emergency rooms for treatment.

Some services to address these issues are being provided to the women residing at the El Dorado Motel in Anaheim. An organization called "On Fire Ministries" provides food, clothing, and hygiene items at the motel site. The organization also provides weekly "Sidewalk Sunday School" for about 50 children at the motel which includes music, games, food and a lesson. The women reported no other groups providing services to them and their families.

The lack of accessibility to services is a major issue for these families. Many of them are unaware of available services or lack transportation. The only way they hear of available services is through a friend, and the only way they may access the services is if the organization comes to their motel.

The majority of the interviewees feel that the most important or needed services are those that would assist them in obtaining housing, either in the form of financial assistance to make a deposit or first month’s rent, or through a subsidized housing voucher. They also believe that education and job training would enable them to obtain or promote in jobs that pay more than minimum wage. Several stress the need for transportation and child care as well as the continuation of Medi-Cal services in order to obtain appropriate medical care for their families.

Only one of the women interviewed enjoys living in a motel, while the rest feel hopeless or frustrated in their situation. All the women agree that the major obstacle that prevents them from leaving the motel environment is a financial one. If given financial rental assistance or a rental subsidy, most say they would leave the motels. One woman felt that in addition to financial assistance, she would want a home visitor to help her develop her homemaking and parenting skills and provide needed emotional support.

Many of the families permanently living in the network of residential motels find themselves residing in that environment for one or several of the mentioned reasons. Although some of these same families have, on occasion, been presented with an opportunity to leave, they choose to remain part of the residential motel community. According to social workers who interact extensively with this population, the lifestyle appears to be an attractive one to some of the individuals who then choose to live in this environment. An overwhelming majority of clients seen by Children and Family Services (CFS) workers in motels have, or have had, substance abuse problems. For these people this is an "addictive life style" where there is no tomorrow, no thought of the future, no sense of responsibility; everyone lives in the moment and some, from "fix" to "fix." Even when clients sober up, they find that it is hard to leave a life style which many experience as supportive.

Collectively, the social workers suggested that in a great many cases with or without addictions, this living arrangement is very much a cultural life style choice. All aspects of motel living are not accurately defined simply by poverty and the other issues that accompany it. Residential motel living is not all negatives. Motel inhabitants get used to motel living and like the sense of community that the residential motel environment provides. Workers describe a "neighborliness" among the longer-term residents at some of the motels; and they look out for one other. Families become acquainted and develop social groups. Parents feel like they have the freedom to leave their kids because there is always someone to provide babysitting.

Some of these families feel as if they "fit in" in the motel culture and do not really "fit in" anywhere else. Consequently, some of these clients are seen by workers as "happy" and comfortable where they are despite the lack of space and many other negatives that would drive them to seek another way of living. Since the County does not have housing projects for low-income families and individual subsidized housing is essentially unavailable due to waiting lists of thousands of people, these motels can be an attractive and largely available alternative. The environment can be so appealing that even in some cases where a CFS client has qualified for the Family Unification Program which provides Section 8 housing for child welfare agency clients in specific circumstances, the client has not followed through with securing housing. Others have not followed through on housing referrals, or have secured subsidized housing and then lost it due to eviction. These families end up relocating to a motel housing situation and join others who have simply made decisions not to move.

Residential motels exist to some degree in almost every city in the County. (Appendix 2) Therefore, most of the County's 31 cities are faced with a myriad of issues associated with the residential motels and the families who live in them. In terms of housing and homeless needs, these municipalities, through their respective consolidated plans, which establish five-year priorities as well as one-year action plans for the use of federal and non-federal community development and housing funds, have developed specific strategies, programs and activities. These efforts, which are supported by community and faith-based organizations, are aimed at meeting the needs of the homeless population. Related to that are zoning and safety concerns associated with the presence of the residential motel population. In the interest of discussing the level of contact and interaction cities have with the motel population and types of city services that are available to motel families, seven cities that are located throughout all regions of the County and who have a motel population, were contacted. They include: Anaheim and Garden Grove, which have the greatest concentration of residential motels, Costa Mesa, Orange, Fullerton, San Clemente, and Stanton.

All of the County's cities played an active role in the development of the Continuum of Care system which is a Housing and Urban Development Department region-based strategy to combat homelessness that will be discussed later in this report. The region's cities and non-profits worked in cooperation with the County's Housing and Community Development Department to ensure a regional approach to development and implementation of a Continuum of Care strategy to assist the homeless that was in accordance with needs and goals identified in their consolidated plans. The resources these communities provide are critical to several elements of the County's Continuum of Care system.

All cities contacted have a shortage of housing for the low-income renter. There are no public housing units in the County, and the limited availability of low cost rentals is a problem for most cities. These cities all have residents benefiting from rental assistance, however, in all these cities the need for rental assistance exceeds the supply of available resources. The barriers to affordable housing are consistent throughout the County. Market constraints including the cost of land, supplies, and construction, in addition to government constraints by way of regulations on housing developers, affect the price of owner and rental units.

Although aware that a significant homeless population exists, cities acknowledge the difficulty in estimating the number of homeless. Many have shelters within their boundaries that are operated by other service providers to accommodate this population, yet they also find that there is a growing number of low income residents at risk of slipping into homelessness. In response, cities have developed anti-poverty strategies dedicated to addressing the needs of very-low income families. With the support of Community Development Block Grant (CDBG), Home Investment Partnership Act (HOME), and Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) funds, these cities support a variety of programs including those that target low income individuals and families. Priorities addressing the needs of this population include: increasing the supply of transitional and affordable housing, coordinating antipoverty strategies with other service providers, and supporting rental assistance and homeless prevention programs.

There are several code sections applicable to motels under which city governments must operate. In addition to those that cover building standards, there are two that relate directly to the occupancy of motels by families who make these locations their primary residence. A residential hotel is defined by section 50519 of the California Health and Safety Code as a building containing six or more guestrooms or efficiency units, intended or designed to be used, or are used, rented or hired out to be occupied for sleeping purposes, by guests, which is also the primary residence of those guests. The ability to charge a uniform transient occupancy tax, better known as a "bed tax" as covered in section 7280 of the California Revenue and Taxation Code is also central to a city's handling of the motel population. The law states that the legislative body of any city or county may levy a tax on the privilege of occupying a room or rooms, or other living space, in a hotel, inn, motel or other lodging unless the occupancy is for any period of more than 30 days. When levied by the legislative body of a county, the tax applies only to the region's unincorporated areas. This tax is intended to offset the costs of the services a community provides to individuals who are not residents of the city. Also according to state law, a motel operator cannot require an occupant of a residential hotel to move, or to check out and reregister, before the expiration of a 30-day occupancy if the purpose is to avoid the application of the chapter relating to the hiring of real property.

Anaheim provides housing assistance through its housing authority which is part of the City's Community Development Department. The City also has a Community Services Department whose Recreation and Human Services Division has three service systems: one for youth and children; one for parents to improve their parenting skills and to enable them to be self-sufficient; and one for homeless services. This division handles gang/drug prevention and intervention programs, counseling and health and referral services, and several programs that target children. Specifically, Project Save a Youth (S.A.Y.) provides after school programs for elementary through high school-age children that offer activities which promote and strengthen self-esteem.

The Community Services Department in partnership with community-based organizations and county agencies offers teenage pregnancy prevention and high school diploma programs; mentoring; bilingual emergency referral assistance for housing, food, clothing, and other necessities; legal assistance for low income residents; free youth and adult job placement services; and English as a Second Language classes. These services are provided at neighborhood centers located in low-income areas of the city. On a limited case-by-case basis, the City will provide motel vouchers for a two or three night stay to families with children needing assistance.

Although the City does outreach, it does not specifically target the 50 or more motels that code enforcement staff estimate there are in Anaheim. Staff feel that about half of the motel population are aware of their programs and often these families are referred to social services or other community and faith-based organizations for assistance. Although this population does not frequently access the City's services, Anaheim has recognized the need for an alternative method of service delivery to motel residents and is developing outreach strategies to focus on long-term systemic changes in order to serve the motel population. The City is putting together a coalition of agencies to address the issue with the intent to provide outreach and work with motel families, adults and children in Anaheim. Anaheim will be working with the Orange County Rescue Mission and area schools to identify residential motels that should be targeted. The City has contacted the Health Care and Social Services Agencies for membership in the coalition.

Anaheim is also partnering with the Orange County Rescue Mission and other public and private service providers to develop the "Hope Harbor Facility" which will be located in the blighted motel district. This family-oriented facility will operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week to assist individuals and families in crisis.

As part of a recent Book Faire, the Library Division of the City's Community Services Department solicited donations of new books for children living in motels and intends to enlist the help of volunteers through Project Dignity and other service providers to deliver the books to the motel families. In addition to offering books to the children, the library is exploring opportunities to provide storytelling activities directly to the motels via the outreach Bookmobile service.

The City does not have an ordinance which places a limit on the length of time families may rent a room. However, the residential motel issue has been brought to the attention of the City's planning commission which has restricted four motels in Anaheim from having residents stay for more than 30 days.

Although the City has a Community Services Department, it provides residents primarily with recreational activities. However, in the City's interest to establish a more efficient means to deliver services to its homeless, FISH-Harbor Area, Human Options, Mercy House Transitional Living Centers and Serving People in Need (SPIN) joined forces in 1995 to create a model system of service delivery. Costa Mesa’s homeless have access to a variety of programs and services offered by the Continuum of Care Coalition ranging from domestic violence shelter and permanent housing to medical and dental service and job counseling. Homeless persons in various regions of the County are also referred to the Coalition for services and housing. Coalition members meet monthly to review the progress of clients. In addition, Costa Mesa participates in a collaborative partially funded by Social Services Agency’s Families and Communities Together (FaCT) Program called "Families Costa Mesa" which is run through the YMCA. About 20 partners are involved in this partnership to assist families in crisis, including YMCA, Hoag Hospital, Share Our Selves (SOS), and the Newport-Mesa Unified School District.

In 1997, Costa Mesa adopted an ordinance governing the operation of the City's motels. Under the ordinance, no more than 25 percent of motel rooms in any motel can be rented to the same person whose occupancy exceeds 28 consecutive days or 28 days in any 60 consecutive day period, except where a conditional use permit has been obtained from the city. Since January 1, 1998, two motels have filed for a conditional use permit. One was approved for use as a senior single residence occupancy unit and the other as a motel.

In 1994, the City of Costa Mesa set up a Motel Task Force for the purpose of reducing criminal activity in the motels and ensuring that the physical structures are adequate. The group which is still meeting quarterly, has representatives from the City Attorney's Office, Costa Mesa Police Department, Fire Department, and Planning and Building Divisions, Health Care Agency's Environmental Health Division, and the City Council. Transient occupancy tax data presented at the last Task Force meeting indicated that four motels had 10-20 percent of their occupants staying over 30 days. Staff estimated that there are six residential motels in the City.

Fullerton has a Community Services Department which refers people to non-profits which provide food and shelter needs to the community. The City has identified three at-risk areas and is working with non-profits to provide service to these locations. Two of the three have community centers which are used to provide services and outreach and the City's CDBG funding is currently supporting 11 non-profits for housing, physical and mental health services, job and day care programs. St. Jude Hospital is also a major provider of services through mobile service units.

Shelter services are offered through several providers. Fullerton Interfaith Emergency Service (FIES) provides one and two night emergency vouchers for use in hotels, offers food baskets, and coupons redeemable at local supermarkets. Western Youth Services provides food, shelter, and counseling for a limited number of troubled or runaway youth. Housing Emergency Assistance Reserved Handicapped (HEARTH) offers assistance to disabled individuals and families, including financial assistance for move in costs, and support services for needed transition to permanent housing.

Two transitional shelters serve the City. The 48-bed New Vista Shelter is Fullerton's long-term shelter available for homeless families and allows a maximum eight-week rent-free stay for families who save 80 percent of their income to achieve independence from the program. The Interfaith Shelter Network provides transitional housing for 12 homeless single adults and arranges for shelter in local churches, with a maximum two-week stay at any one congregation. In addition, according to city staff, the City of Fullerton has approved the construction of single room occupancy (SRO) accommodations with one manager unit and 136 rooms which will be rented by the month. The SRO units are expected to be available by the end of the year.

The City acknowledges the presence of residential motels, but is unaware of how often their services are accessed by motel families. City zoning codes determine the length of time families may reside in motels. Stays over 30 days are limited to multiple-family residential zones.

Garden Grove has a Community Development Department that supports housing and community improvement programs, as well as a Community Services Department which provides recreational activities and Section 8 Rental Assistance.

There are five or six residential motels within the City limits. Garden Grove has adopted ordinances relating to motels and hotels which state that a maximum of 10 percent of the customers may remain in any one establishment for 30 consecutive days. No consecutive occupancy may exceed 30 days; nor may any nonconsecutive occupancy exceed 30 days in a 45 consecutive day period.

Like Anaheim, there are no services targeted specifically to motels families. However, the Garden Grove's Community Services Department is examining potential opportunities to partner with the Garden Grove Boys and Girls Club, law enforcement, motel operators, and other organizations to provide on-site counseling and family support services as well as recreational activities to the adults and children living in the City's motels.

Garden Grove currently has a Family Opportunities Creating Unity and Support (F.O.C.U.S.) program whose mission is to take a proactive approach in developing the potential of youth, in supporting families, and in strengthening community through various programs and partnerships. One component is the Community Care Coalition, a networking group of service providers in the Garden Grove and central Orange County areas that deal with family strengthening and preservation issues, which will collectively address issues and work together on programs providing needed services in the community. There is also an Information Referral and Support Services Program which enables community agencies and service providers to connect families with needed information and resources. The Family Developmental Opportunities Program creates a community-wide awareness of the benefits of family support training including parenting skills and involvement in children’s activities. The City also sponsors family and youth programs that strengthen the family and meet the recreational, educational, and developmental needs of adults and youth.

The City's Community Services Department provides a resource center, recreational activities, as well as health, nutrition and hygiene classes, and counseling. Domestic violence programs are run through the police department. For services that target the needs of motel clients, Orange provides referrals to local providers like St. Vincent DePaul.

The City's homeless are served by: the El Modena Family Shelter which is a transitional housing facility to assist homeless families; the Martha House which provides shelter for women only; Beacon House which provides transitional shelter for the mentally ill; Casa Teresa Home which provides shelter for single mothers; and House of Hope which accommodates 20 women and their children.

San Clemente does not have a community services department. Most of the services provided to the community including motel residents are provided by non-profits to which the City directs referrals for food, shelter and other assistance. There are at least eight residential motels in the San Clemente and according to city staff, there is a great awareness among the motel population about services available through the community's non-profit organizations.

The South County Homeless Task Force was created in 1995 by the City of San Clemente Human Affairs Commission, with the assistance of the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, Episcopal Service Alliance and others. This task force, which meets on a monthly basis, was created as a forum for government, non-profits, and residents to address homeless issues and discuss and identify needs in the County’s southern communities.

A city ordinance limits the stay in a motel to 30 consecutive days or less including partial days unless an agreement between the occupant and provider has been established.

Stanton is a small city relative to most in Orange County. It provides cultural and recreational programs to the community and after school activities for youth, including an anti-gang outreach program. Most of their services are accessed by phone or walk-in. Outreach to residents about available programs is done through regular newsletter mailings to the community. For those seeking rental assistance, the City makes referrals to social service providers and community-based organizations. Like most municipalities, Stanton does not have programs designed specifically to target motel families in the two motels identified by law enforcement. The city does not have an ordinance dictating the amount of time a resident may occupy a motel room.

Much of the cities' contact with the motel population is through their respective law enforcement agencies. The number of calls related to motel occupants that the police and sheriff's departments receive range from several times a day in some cities to several times a week in others. According to the Anaheim Police Department where calls are typically received daily, in 1997 officers responded to 553 calls for service at the El Dorado Motel and to 413 calls at the Golden Forest. Generally the calls are for: assault and battery, disturbing the peace, drug-related activity, and child abuse and neglect. The calls tend to be more frequent during swing shift hours.

According to police officers who are responding to these calls, motel families are in great need of a variety of services. Although each family's needs may be a bit different, police officers believe that most of these families could benefit from: job training, educational opportunities, transportation, and substance abuse counseling. They contend that in many cases, the parents of motel children make poor life decisions, they do not relate well to authority, and they tend to lead a destructive life style by ignoring the needs of their children and by not taking advantage of all the services that are available to assist them. Law enforcement views itself as a valuable resource to identify children in need and to try and encourage the parents to provide a consistent education program for them so that they may break the cycle of poverty.

County departments and agencies view families living in motels as a part of the greater population requiring services. The problems and dangers of motel living are very much realities for a broad cross section of the population needing and receiving government assistance. Therefore, although the departments and agencies are aware that their services and programs have been for some time, and are currently assisting those families living in motels, there are no service delivery mechanisms that specifically target this group. Nor is there any tracking of the level of service provided to the motel residents, or of the number of residents accessing services.

The agencies and departments are intimately familiar with the issues of motel families and the challenges that exist in providing services to this largely unstable population. Many of the families are constantly transient, as in some cities they are forced to move every 28 to 30 days. Many motel rooms are not equipped with telephones. Therefore, regular communication and provision of services are very difficult to maintain. Many of the clients have been identified as substance abusers. A lack of reliable communication makes it very difficult for health care staff to establish consistency or stability in medical follow-up, including resources and referrals for treatment services. In fact, many families view social workers and public health nurses as "police." Families often refuse to talk to service providers who are viewed as a threat to their security. Children who are sophisticated and streetwise for their ages trying to survive in any way they can, will lie or hide their situations. Child abuse reports are often very difficult to substantiate. To these children, their survival depends on remaining with the only constant and the only perceived security they have - their parents.

Additional circumstances that make this population difficult to serve are the motel environments themselves. Many of them are in dangerous communities. Health Care clinic staff are often reluctant to go door to door conducting outreach activities. Motel managers will not always be receptive to agency attempts to provide services in their facilities. The lack of privacy poses a problem for Court Appointed Special Advocates (CASA) and the Social Services Agency's Emergency Response (ER) workers, who often interview children curbside or in parking lots about suspected molest, abuse, or neglect.

The next section will briefly cover some of the programs and services offered by County departments and agencies that are available to motel families, and the level of known contact that the agencies and departments have had with them. Although none of the assistance programs are specifically targeted to provide outreach to motel families, there are certain programs described in more detail that address the needs of the homeless, of which motel families are a part, and particularly lend themselves as effective avenues to assist families in motels.

The mission of the Orange County Community Services Agency (CSA) is:

"To bring together public and private sector resources to assist individuals and organizations with conflict resolution, safety from domestic violence, and access to training and employment leading to self-sufficiency through successful community programs."

The Agency, through the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) One-Stop delivery system, provides all county residents, including motel families (with the exception of those in Santa Ana and Anaheim who have their own JTPA programs), numerous employment, training, and education-related services to assist them in overcoming barriers and in ultimately becoming self-sufficient. CSA also offers referrals to the homeless including those seeking shelter from domestic violence.

The One-Stop Centers administer the JTPA Program which offers a variety of services including career counseling, job search assistance, and occupational training. Although JTPA has a residency eligibility requirement, staff can facilitate documentation for those who lack a stable housing situation through local homeless shelters and community-based organizations like the Salvation Army and Community Development Council.

The One-Stop Centers, through their respective outreach plans and often in cooperation with on-site community-based organizations, provide services to the homeless population by directly contacting and recruiting individuals and families at shelters. One-Stops also receive clients through referrals from city community services departments and other community service providers. In addition to JTPA, the One-Stops provide job placement and other educational and vocational opportunities, and offer job preparation workshops, job counseling, and hands-on training and motivational counseling for the hard to serve. The Community Services Agency's programs also provide information and referrals in the areas of housing, physical and mental health, and family and legal problems, and offer assistance with food, bus passes, gas vouchers, clothing, and utility payments.

The Community Services Agency provides funds collected via a portion of County marriage license fees and fines paid by domestic violence offenders to local domestic violence shelters to support the Motel Voucher Program. In the event that all shelters are filled to capacity, the Motel Voucher Program will ensure that all individuals in need receive temporary housing at a local motel or hotel through a voucher payment system. Victims and their children are sent to a participating motel/hotel that has been selected based on its commitment to confidentiality, where they stay for an average of two to five days or until there is an opening at one of the County's four shelters. While in this temporary placement, the women are seen daily by a domestic violence shelter counselor who provides them with counseling services, as well as vouchers for food and transportation.

The Motel Voucher Program, formerly "The Safety Net," is administered by three of the four County-funded shelters (Human Options, Laura's House, and the Women's Transitional Living Shelter). From 1995 through June 1998, when the program was administered by the YWCA-Santa Ana, a total of $55,000 of the $165,000 allocated was spent to support clients using motel/hotel vouchers. There were 62 clients served by the program from July 1, 1997 to June 30,1998. These clients spent a total of 148 days in motels/hotels, an average of 2.38 days per client. The new allocation for the four shelters is $25,000 a year for three years.

Motels then, are a major source of emergency shelter for women and children fleeing domestic violence. However, while motels may serve as a way to separate and protect the abused from the abuser and the victims from the perpetrators, motel living does not protect children from exposure to many social ills found in a motel environment. This continual exposure coupled with the lack of stable housing, can significantly impact child development.

The mission of the Orange County Health Care Agency (HCA) is:

"To maintain and protect the health of the County’s citizens through the organization and coordination of public sector and community efforts to provide a safe and healthful environment and to prevent the occurrence and spread of disease."

The Health Care Agency has not specifically identified children and their families living in motels as a unique targeted group to which they provide outreach, nor do they treat their interactions with this population any differently than those interactions with other segments of the population.

Many of the Agency’s programs are targeted to children, the poor and under-served, and would include these motel families, where possible, in their client population. The interaction the Agency's Behavioral Health Care component has with motel families is on a limited basis and usually in a crisis situation. More often, the Agency’s interaction with motels and the families that live in them is accomplished via the Environmental Health Division and through the nutrition, medical, and substance abuse programs, among others.

The Environmental Health Division of the Agency is charged with controlling harmful conditions in the environment in order to promote the well-being of those who live in or visit Orange County. On a continuous basis, this component enforces mandated health and safety standards in the areas of food sanitation, housing and institutions, consumer protection, public swimming pools and spas, recreational health, and waste management for all cities and unincorporated areas of Orange County.

According to the Environmental Health Division, there are 486 hotels and motels in Orange County, with 48,518 rooms. In addition to task force work with various cities, staff routinely inspect all hotels and motels in the County two times per year at which time 10 percent of the rooms are inspected. During task force or target inspections, all rooms are inspected.

Inspectors also respond to complaint calls and in working with city officials, may give citations or close a facility if necessary. Based on a log dating back to July 1, 1997 (Appendix 3), the Environmental Health Division received a number of verified complaints from three residential motels - all located in Anaheim. The Golden Forest Inn received five, the Captain’s Quarters four, and the Arena Inn & Suites three. Most of the substandard conditions in motels are detected through routine inspections since motel guests are reluctant to complain about living conditions when they have no other shelter alternatives.

In the past two years, inspectors have worked with city or county building officials to have seven motels permanently closed per procedures outlined in the State Health and Safety and Uniform Housing Codes. The reasons for closure included: poor sanitation, safety hazards, and criminal activity. In addition, these particular sites had suffered such severe deterioration that rehabilitation of the structures would have been cost prohibitive to owners. Most of the owners subsequently structurally upgraded the motels which were issued Notices of Violation. Owners were required to develop better management practices to prevent the substandard conditions from reoccurring. The issuance of Notices of Violation are often coordinated between HCA and the city. A team made up of representatives from the county Agency and city conduct follow-up visits to enforce the notice.

As motel businesses age, they tend to become the last refuge for that segment of the population that would otherwise be homeless. The workload of the two Environmental Health staff who are responsible for hotel and motel housing inspections has sharply increased as a significant number of older motels have converted to weekly rentals and become attractive to socially and economically distressed individuals and families. In the last two years, more staff time has been dedicated to targeted task force investigations at these weekly rental motels.

Unfortunately, the target inspections are very time consuming and have the effect of reducing staff’s ability to perform routine inspections at the rate desired to prevent deterioration at marginal standard hotels and motels. If the present trend continues, the increasing lack of available staff time for routine inspections may negatively impact the effectiveness of the hotel and motel inspection program, the goal of which is to provide a safe and sanitary environment for all hotel and motel guests in Orange County.

Health Care Agency programs targeted to the County's families and children that are available to motel families include:

WIC provides outreach aimed at improving the health of pregnant/postpartum women, infants, and children up to five years of age through the placement of informational flyers in stores and other neighborhood locations. The flyers informing residents about the availability of the program have not historically been posted at residential motels.

These two programs provide consultation and technical assistance to community providers to ensure low-income infants, children, and adolescents receive regular and routine preventative services and necessary medical care. Although the services are provided throughout the community, clinic services have not been provided in motels.

This program provides comprehensive services to seriously emotionally disturbed wards and dependents of the Juvenile Court who require mental health services, to educationally handicapped minors referred by the local school districts, and to minors eligible for services under a federally funded Early and Periodic Screening Diagnosis and Treatment program. Crisis intervention, treatment, case management and community outreach services are provided to these minors and their families. Primary referrals for these services come from the Social Services Agency as these children enter Orangewood and from the child’s school. Although the Agency has not tracked motel children in particular, the Court Evaluation Guidance Unit estimates that they may represent approximately five percent of the ongoing open caseload.

The Public Health nurses are charged with improving the community’s health by providing preventative health care and treatment programs, offer nursing assessment, health teaching, case management, referral and follow-up services to the segment of the population at highest risk of health problems. The Public Health Field Nursing services are provided to the motel population in a manner consistent with those provided to any other population residing in the County who have an identified health need. When asked by Social Services Agency staff to visit and evaluate a motel family due to failure to thrive concerns or to document circumstances that may necessitate removal of a child from the home, staff usually go to the residence accompanied by law enforcement.

Substance abuse services are designed to prevent and treat problems, particularly for the poor and under-served population. Although substance abuse problems are likely widespread among the motel population, the Agency does not specifically target residents there. The alcohol and drug abuse programs available to assist children and their families living in residential motels range from those targeted to pregnant women to services for individuals requiring residential care. They include:

• Residential Treatment for Women and Children: Provides a contracted six-month residential recovery program for pregnant women and women with young children.
• Perinatal Treatment Support Services: Provides specialized outpatient programs, including individual and group counseling, as well as parenting education and child development services.
• Prevention Programs: Provides school-based and environmental programs for children and adults; mentoring services for children in shelter programs.
• Outpatient Services–Adolescent: Provides individual and group counseling at clinics, the Probation Department’s Youth and Family Resource Centers, and the juvenile facilities.
• Residential-Adolescent: Provides long-term recovery programs that meet educational as well as therapeutic needs.
• Outpatient Services-Adult: Provides outpatient treatment for men and women, including individual and group counseling and narcotic replacement services.
• Residential-Adult: Provides detoxification programs, 90-day recovery programs, and long-term residential treatment services.
• HIV/AIDS Outreach: Targets primarily homeless adult substance abusers and provides testing for HIV and referrals for treatment services.

The mission of the Orange County Housing and Community Development Department (H&CD) is:

"To provide affordable housing, infrastructure, community facilities and employment opportunities through rehabilitation, redevelopment, community development and economic development programs in the lower income areas of Orange County and to provide subsidized rental assistance, emergency and transitional shelter, and affordable housing opportunities throughout the County."

The Housing and Community Development Department administers funds which support a variety of programs that provide emergency and transitional shelter and permanent housing opportunities that are alternatives to living in residential motels. The agency's programs are funded primarily through three sources:

The County receives Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funding based on a formula related to population, poverty, and substandard housing. The program serves 14 unincorporated target areas, 12 subrecipient small cities, and two metropolitan contract cities. Funds are used for a wide variety of housing and neighborhood improvement and infrastructure projects including: neighborhood revitalization, economic development, improvement of community facilities, and various housing and supportive services designed to aid very low, low, and moderate income persons. These supportive services include public works, infrastructure, public services such as community center and shelter operations, affordable housing acquisition, rehabilitation, new housing and shelter construction, and homeless prevention projects.

The Home Investment Partnership Act (HOME) program is designed to strengthen public-private partnerships to provide affordable housing by funding acquisition, rehabilitation, and new construction, and by offering rental and other forms of financial assistance.

The Emergency Shelter Grant (ESG) program is designed to improve the quality of existing emergency shelters and to increase the number of shelters for the homeless through the rehabilitation or conversion of buildings. The program also provides funding for certain shelter operating costs and homeless prevention activities.

The Department of Housing and Urban Development annually makes funding available on a nationally competitive basis for homeless issues through a Super Notice of Funding Availability (SuperNOFA). Funding is allocated to specific applicant projects proposed by public and non-profit agencies to assist the homeless. Projects may include: acquisition, rehabilitation of transitional housing, operation and maintenance of transitional housing, child care, and housing vouchers for mental health clients.

The OCDA administers the Neighborhood Development and Preservation Project (NDAPP) which was established to secure a funding source that would compliment County CDBG funds and/or replace CDBG funds if funding levels declined. NDAPP projects are designed to remove blight, preserve or increase affordable housing and promote economic development within target areas. Public Housing Authority Operating Reserve funds identified as the Housing Support Services (HSS) Program are administrative savings from rental assistance programs operated by the County's Housing Assistance Division accumulated in the form of operating reserves when OCHA's administrative costs are less than the administrative fees paid by HUD to operate its rental assistance programs. These funds have been used for emergency, transitional and permanent housing-related activities.

From these two main funding streams, allocations are made to specific projects through a competitive process based on the Agency's five year needs assessment and identified goals and objectives. Funded projects include some that are managed directly by H&CD staff, such as acquisition and construction of affordable rental units, creation of jobs, and rehabilitation of low and moderate income owner or rental housing units. Additional projects are undertaken by other County agencies or non-profit organizations and the funds are administered by H&CD through contracts.

The Orange County Housing Authority (OCHA) serves all unincorporated areas of the County and 28 of the County's 31 cities. The cities of Anaheim, Garden Grove, and Santa Ana have their own housing authorities. Via Section 8 Rental Assistance Funds, the housing authorities provide rental assistance to low income seniors, families, and other qualifying persons, and provide housing-related assistance for special populations such as the mentally ill, disabled, and homeless. The program requires tenants who meet the eligibility requirements to apply up to 30 percent of the fair market rent for the housing unit and the landlord accepts the certificate/voucher for the remainder of the rent. Cumulatively, the four public housing authorities operating in Orange County currently provide Section 8 rental subsidies to 13,905 households. Unfortunately, the availability of federally funded certificates/vouchers is limited to a fixed number per housing authority. Consequently, a new household cannot be assisted until another client household is terminated from the program. As a result, collectively the four housing authorities have over 15,200 households on their waiting lists. The main reason there are such long waiting lists is that this federal program has no time limit or work/employment requirement. Therefore, a family on Section 8 assistance may stay on assistance indefinitely. The certificates/vouchers that do turn over on a monthly basis are assigned in waiting list order. Because of waiting list priorities, the most likely applicants to be assisted are low-income senior citizens and families, some of whom may be part of the residential motel population.

Legislation that will significantly increase the availability of affordable housing, fight homelessness, and reform current housing policies recently passed both the House and the Senate. The measure contains $975 million to fight homelessness, and an $80 million increase for the Community Development Block Grant. The legislation will expand the supply of affordable housing by offering 90,000 more families access to Section 8 rental assistance vouchers, including 50,000 for those families moving from welfare to work. The bill authorizes the issuance of another 200,000 vouchers - 100,000 in year 2000 and an additional 100,000 in year 2001. The legislation also implements needed housing reforms by: encouraging and rewarding residents who work; requiring improved public housing management and increased program efficiency; and permitting well-run housing authorities to operate with less HUD oversight and more flexibility. The measures are part of a larger Veterans Affairs/HUD Appropriations bill which is currently awaiting the President's signature.

HUD has introduced several new policies to address the critical issue of homelessness in the United States. Their new approach known as the Continuum of Care, is designed to encourage the development of a comprehensive, long-term approach to addressing the contributing factors that push people into motels and shelters by assisting individuals and families in becoming self-sufficient and moving to permanent housing. The approach consists of two key elements: a) a coordinated community-based process of identifying needs and building a system to address those needs, and b) a doubling of the HUD homelessness assistance budget to provide communities with resources to carry out needed tasks.

The Continuum of Care model is based on the understanding that homelessness is not caused solely by a lack of shelter, but involves a variety of factors. Therefore, the best approach to alleviating homelessness is through a coordinated community-based process that provides a comprehensive response to the differing needs of homeless individuals and families. HUD has identified four fundamental components. Although, all homeless will not necessarily need access to each of these, all four are necessary to the effectiveness of the system.

1. Outreach and assessment to identify an individual's or family's needs and connect them to facilities and services.
2. Immediate (emergency) shelter as a safe, decent alternative to the streets.
3. Transitional housing with appropriate supportive services, such as job training/placement, child care, substance abuse treatment, mental health services, and instruction in independent living skills.
4. Permanent housing or permanent supportive housing arrangements.

In order to receive SuperNOFA funding, Orange County designed a comprehensive and coordinated housing and service delivery system in accordance with HUD's Continuum of Care model that responds to the different needs of the region’s homeless individuals and families. Authorized by the Board of Supervisors in May 1998, H&CD submitted a consolidated application for 1998 Continuum of Care homeless assistance programs to HUD on behalf of the County, cities and non-profits.

Many organizations played a key role in the design and development of the County’s Continuum of Care strategy and system. Representatives from over 70 public, and non-profit organizations participated in identifying the number of homeless in Orange County, assessing the housing and service needs of the homeless and sub-populations, taking an inventory of the existing resources available, identifying gaps in the region’s Continuum of Care system, and determining priority needs for funds made available through the NOFA. The County's 31 municipalities were key players in this effort to develop a regional approach to address the issues of homelessness. These communities provided critical information on the types of resources they have and strategies and programs they currently fund that are aimed at meeting the needs of the homeless. These activities are identified in each jurisdiction's respective Consolidated Plan and Annual Update. The planning and implementation of the Continuum of Care system was developed and is directed keeping in mind the local housing and economic conditions as well as the goals of each community's consolidated plan.

In creating a coordinated community-based process that provides a comprehensive response to the differing needs of homeless individuals and families, Orange County’s service providers identified key strategies to incorporate and develop as part of the County’s Continuum of Care system.

• Sufficient Outreach and assessment to identify an individual's or a family’s needs and connect them to appropriate facilities and services.
• Emergency shelter facilities and programs which serve as a safe and decent alternative to living on the streets.
• Transitional housing programs which demonstrate strong outcomes with appropriate supportive services such as job training, job placement, education, child care, substance abuse treatment, faith-based programs, mental health services, and instruction in independent living skills.
• Availability and development of permanent and supportive housing opportunities as the last step toward self-sufficiency and the Continuum of Care system.
• Identification of new resources to assist the homeless and to close the gaps in the County's system of care.

The fundamental components of Orange County's Continuum of Care system are supported by a network of public, private, faith-based, and non-profit service providers. County agencies such as Health Care, Social Services, Community Services, and Housing and Community Development provide direct services for the homeless and/or significant resources for non-profit agencies serving the homeless.

The County's non-profit community plays an equally significant role in providing services. Hundreds of agencies throughout the County provide programs ranging from feeding the homeless on the street to permanent supportive housing. These services are available to homeless individuals and families with children, as well as the special needs populations: victims of domestic violence, veterans, the disabled, and youth.

Homelessness prevention is a critical component of the region's Continuum of Care system. By providing emergency assistance such as food, medical care, transportation, or one-time rental/utility payment, a household can be stabilized and prevented from slipping into homelessness.

There are several avenues available to reach the County’s homeless, assess their needs, and provide appropriate information, services, or referrals. Many non-profit and governmental agencies work in the streets and shelters to identify the homeless with special needs and assist them with access to appropriate services and/or housing.

Within the Continuum of Care development process, emergency shelter is defined as housing with a stay limited to 90 consecutive days. According to a recent survey conducted by Info Link Orange County, 33 emergency housing facilities are available in Orange County for homeless families, single adults, youth, the disabled, victims of domestic violence, and other special homeless population groups. It is estimated that these facilities provide 1,420 emergency shelter beds. In addition to furnishing emergency shelter, providers offer assessments and valuable support services as part of a strategy to prepare individuals or households for appropriate transitional housing and for a life of self-sufficiency.

Included in the County's emergency shelter component is the Armory Shelter Program. Since 1987, two local State National Guard Armories have been opened during severe winter weather conditions providing 250 shelter beds per night. The armories are staffed by volunteers and thus have very little administrative overhead. However, their use conflicts with the National Guard's schedule and these buildings were not constructed to house hundreds of people. For these reasons the State, although authorizing their availability an additional year, terminated funding to support their use. The Housing and Community Development Department is currently is exploring alternative facilities and resource to replace these beds.

Transitional housing which limits individuals and families to a stay of no more than 24 months, may be accessed through an emergency shelter program, an agency providing outreach and assessment, or through direct contact with a service provider. Transitional housing is a key component of the Continuum of Care system because it is the interim step between homelessness and self-sufficiency. The extended time period of time in which individuals remain in transitional housing allows for intensive case management and is often coupled with job training and placements and other support services. With free or reduced cost shelter, individuals may save a portion of their wages earned to facilitate their move into permanent housing while they focus on overcoming the issues that caused their homelessness, including substance abuse, domestic violence, or a lack of employment skills.

It is estimated that through various service providers, 772 transitional housing beds are currently available to Orange County's homeless. Several transitional housing projects are in various stages of planning throughout the County including the creation of 400 new transitional housing beds at the recently closed Marine Corps Air Station-Tustin.

There are segments of the homeless population, those that are mentally ill, physically disabled, or afflicted with AIDS, who will always need assistance through permanent supportive housing blended with appropriate services. Those preparing to leave transitional housing programs and move into permanent affordable housing often find the deficiency of such units a major obstacle. Although many cities and redevelopment agencies have developed lists of rent restricted housing projects located in their jurisdictions, Orange County's Continuum of Care system currently only has an estimated 20,885 permanent affordable and/or supportive housing units. The County, in its commitment to providing and maintaining affordable housing for all sectors of the population, is involved in the construction of new affordable rental units for extremely low, low and moderate-income categories as well as for persons with special needs. One of the goals identified in H&CD’s Business Plan is to decrease the size of the waiting list for rental assistance by: 1) providing additional affordable housing opportunities; 2) increasing the amount of housing and rental assistance available to target populations; 3) increasing the number of affordable owner-occupied and for-rent units; and 4) increasing the number of families who transition from housing assistance through enhancement of the Family Self-Sufficiency Program.

Family Self-Sufficiency is a voluntary program for families receiving Section 8 assistance that allows them to save money while they access available education, job training, and supportive services. Families enter a five-year contract with a housing agency. As the family’s income increases, the housing authority matches a portion of the rental increase to an established savings account. The family may access the funds once they successfully complete their family self-sufficiency contract and discontinue welfare support.

Several agencies including non-profit, faith-based, and community and governmental entities provide thousands of support service slots for the region’s homeless. Info Link's survey identified 175 individual providers that offer some type of service: case management, employment assistance, health care, food, clothing, substance abuse treatment, and shelter, among others.

The county’s past approach to homeless services has been fragmented and the coordination of the Continuum of Care system has been limited. However, a few groups which have been meeting regularly to discuss homeless issues on a regional basis have come together and served a critical role in the development of the County gaps analysis and in the establishment of priority projects. In addition, 31 cities have agreed to partner with the County in addressing regional homeless issues and improving service delivery coordination. The following goals and objectives have been established by the Board of Supervisors to improve the coordination of service delivery:

• Develop and maintain a comprehensive homeless needs analysis.
• Identify gaps in the region's system of care for the homeless.
• Recommend innovative approaches to meeting the gaps in the continuum of care system.
• Investigate opportunities to leverage private and public resources to close gaps in the county's continuum of care system.

The SuperNOFA application contains a Continuum of Care gaps analysis chart which identifies current needs and gaps in Orange County's system of care for the homeless and indicates the relative priority of these needs. (Appendix 4) There are an estimated 11,946 homeless persons in Orange County. Based on an inventory of existing homeless programs and services from a database of 4,150 non-profits, local governments, religious/community agencies, and County welfare and assisted housing programs, the needs of 2,192 homeless persons are currently being met by Orange County's system of care. There remain a total of 9,754 homeless adults and children whose shelter and services needs are unmet by the County's Continuum of Care system. In their 1995 Consolidated Plan, H&CD outlined a five-year strategy to address housing and community needs including those which fall within the Continuum of Care system. They provided an assessment of needs by type of activity, and developed a strategy to address those needs. Although emergency and permanent housing as well as outreach services are important elements of the Continuum of Care, there is a current need in all those areas. Transitional housing programs for eight homeless populations were identified by H&CD and other service providers as some of the highest priority needs. Those specific populations are:

• individuals in need of substance abuse treatment;
• individuals in need of mental health treatment;
• families with children that are victims of domestic violence;
• families with children in need of substance abuse treatment;
• seriously mentally ill;
• chronic substance abusers;
• dually diagnosed;
• homeless youth.

If secured, SuperNOFA funding will increase transitional housing capacity by 900 beds and will augment existing supportive services with over 5,000 slots in the areas of: employment assistance, case management, life skills training, child care, substance abuse treatment, and mental health care. Over $13 million in mainstream resources including CDBG, HOME, Section 8, and other federal, state, local and private sources, will assist the homeless in Orange County through support of other continuum of care components – emergency shelter, homeless prevention, permanent housing, and regional planning. (Appendix 5)

The mission of the Social Services Agency (SSA) is:

"To administer federal, state and county social service programs with cultural competence, integrity, courtesy and efficiency by: providing services with respect to individual and community needs and diversity, identifying areas of success and of unmet service delivery needs, promoting collaborative public and private efforts to meet service delivery needs, and influencing policy and decision making."

SSA administers a variety of programs and services to protect children and maintain stable families. The services include child welfare programs and programs which enhance the ability of clients to achieve self-sufficiency, achieve and maintain economic self-support, and improve their nutrition. There are several specific programs administered through the SSA that provide an effective avenue to assist families, particularly those who may live in a motel setting.

Children and Family Services provides mandated services to families and children for the protection of children endangered by abuse, neglect or exploitation. Children and Family Services can only intervene with families if there is a child abuse report filed and the case has been accepted for services. CFS has no authority to provide services without a child abuse report. However, efforts to increase community capacity to serve families voluntarily seeking parenting and other help has been on-going for several years.

Mandated services include the following:

• Child Abuse Registry (CAR) and Emergency Response (ER) - CAR is a child abuse reporting hotline that is staffed 24-hours by Senior Social Workers who evaluate reports alleging child abuse and refer them to ER staff to investigate the allegations.
• Preplacement Preventive Services - Social workers provide services to assist families to stay together when there are allegations of child abuse, neglect or exploitation.
• Emergency Shelter Services - Orangewood Children's Home and emergency shelter foster homes provide short-term, 24-hour residential care and supervision to children under the age of 18 who have been removed from their homes as a result of alleged abuse or neglect.
• In-Home Services - Family Maintenance Non-Court services are preplacement preventative services which are time-limited and designed to address issues or situations that may lead to abuse or neglect. The purpose is to prevent the separation of children from their families while at the same time insuring their safety.
• Dependency - Court related services include Family Reunification, Family Maintenance, and Permanent Placement Services.

Child abuse and neglect is defined by California law. (Appendix 6) The law does not permit removal of a child from parents solely due to lack of adequate shelter. Homelessness and inadequate housing, however, are often primary factors in the increasing incidence of abuse and neglect.

In FY 1997/98, an average of 2,816 child abuse reports were made monthly which resulted in 2,742 Emergency Response dispositions. Dispositions are categorized as substantiated, unsubstantiated, or unfounded. Of these 2,816, about 190 children entered the dependency process of the Orange County Juvenile Court each month. An additional 228 children per month received Family Maintenance services on a voluntary basis to address the problems and conflicts that resulted in the filing of a report of child abuse or neglect.

At any one time, there are approximately 3,200 children in out-of-home placement. This foster care population is composed of some children whose parents are receiving services to aid in the reunification of the family. When reunification is not possible within the statutory time frame for family reunification, a permanent plan must be developed for the child. Although a permanent plan can be adoption or legal guardianship, in most of the cases the children remain in long-term foster care. The number of children reunified from long-term foster care is expected to increase with the implementation of new legislation which requires on-going assessment for return to parents at each six month court review, even after long stays in foster care. This change could well lead to an increased number of families in need of adequate housing to accommodate children returning from foster care. Any delay in getting children and parents back together whether it is due to a lack of housing or other reason, makes reunification more difficult.

One of the greatest barriers affecting timely reunification is adequate and affordable housing. Since a child’s living environment can have a major effect on their health, safety and well-being, the maintenance of adequate housing is a major factor in child welfare case plans. The family's living conditions and environment are always evaluated to ensure that they are not contributing to or perpetuating situations that endanger the child. Many children could be reunited with their families earlier, and more families could initially remain intact if adequate and appropriate housing was available.

Within each of the CFS mandated service delivery systems, there are specialized programs which could be of particular benefit to the motel family population. Such programs include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Family Unification Program

• Family Preservation

A wide variety of services are available to CFS clients via contract providers. These services include in-home parental aide services, parent education and counseling services. Relative caretaker support services are also provided to relatives who are caretakers of dependent children. Maintenance of these placements is critical to both benefit the minor dependent child and also lessen the use of scarce foster home resources.

In-home parental aide services include housekeeping, budgeting, teaching basic parenting skills and accessing community resources. . In office parent education classes are often supplemented with home visits. Topics include development of self-esteem, child growth and development, safety, nutrition, health, problem solving and positive disciplinary techniques. Counseling services are available in individual, family/conjoint and group in-office settings. A family assessment is done and a treatment plan is developed. Treatment groups may include anger management, domestic violence, victims of abuse and support groups

For purposes of this report, data was collected by the CAR hotline staff on the number of reports received for the period beginning August 13, 1998 to September 8, 1998 on children living in motels. There were 24 child abuse reports received from 16 different motels throughout the County. Nine of those cases were substantiated, 10 were inconclusive, and five are still pending. Of the substantiated cases, six had one or more prior CAR referrals and in five, children were taken into custody. Seven of the 24 cases remain open, and five are pending. (Appendix 7)

Children from motels coming into contact with CFS have also been identified via the Agency's cohort study. Every year the children admitted to Orangewood Children’s Home in the month of June are identified and followed for one year to understand their needs and CFS service utilization patterns. In recent years, the list of children has been produced from the Client Information System (CIS), and basic information is gathered by looking up each child on the computer. A chart review is completed on these children to learn more about the problems they and their families face. (Appendix 8)

The following information is specific to children admitted to Orangewood in June 1996 whose chart indicated they had lived in a motel:

• Eleven percent of the children admitted had notes on their charts indicating that they had lived in a motel at some time before their admission.
• Of those 24 children admitted, they ranged in age from eight days to 16 years, and came from 11 families.
• For 11 children this was their first time to Orangewood. Twelve children had between one and three prior admissions. One child was admitted in June of 1996 for the eleventh time.
• The length of stay for these children from their June admission ranged from three days to 105 days, with an average of 46 days per child: 33 percent of the children were there less than 30 days, 42 percent were there 30-59 days, 8 percent 60-89 days, and 175 over 90 days.
• Two children were released to a parent under the Court Release Intensive Supervision Program. One was released to a relative. Two went into an emergency shelter home, 11 to a foster home, and six to a group home. Two children ran from Orangewood.

Formerly known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children, CalWORKs provides temporary financial assistance to enable low-income individuals and families to become self-sufficient through employment. Specific programs include the following:

• Diversion - Provides qualified applicants with an up-front, lump-sum payment to help them pay for an item of need necessary to obtain or maintain employment. Diversion is offered as an alternative to public assistance and payments could be used for rent.
• Homeless Assistance - Since February 1988, a Homeless Assistance component has been available to applicants that meet CalWORKs eligibility requirements. The Homeless Assistance Program provides individuals with children 18 years of age and younger with money for temporary shelter for up to 16 consecutive days while they look for permanent housing. In addition to assistance for temporary shelter, payments are available for housing and utility deposits when the family finds permanents housing. A family may receive Homeless Assistance once in their lifetime unless they are a victim of domestic violence, are suffering from physical or mental illness, or the former residence was uninhabitable due to sudden and unusual circumstances.

• Welfare-to-Work - Provides participants with means to secure and maintain employment leading to self-sufficiency. Each client has a plan developed for them that encompasses one or more activities to help prepare them for and find work. All participants are required to take part in a wide range of activities that could include: job search and job readiness assistance, work experience, on-the-job training, vocational training and education, and mental health, substance abuse, and domestic violence services.
• Support Services - Provides child care, transportation, and ancillary expense assistance to families receiving CalWORKs who are employed or engaged in a Welfare-To-Work activity.

Since clients are encouraged to use an address other than those of the district offices when they are homeless and receiving assistance, the Agency does not have a mechanism for tracking or identifying a definitive number of homeless clients nor a count of those homeless who reside in motels that are being served. A search of payments issued to the addresses of several "known" motels identified an approximate 160 CalWORKs families on assistance. Almost 50 percent of the known motel cases reside in Anaheim, with the remaining cases dispersed throughout the County in several other cities.

A search matching client addresses to three motels revealed 14 active CalWORKs cases at the Golden Forest Inn, 43 active cases at the El Dorado Inn, and nine active cases at the Fire Station Motel. An additional investigation using the names of individuals mentioned in the Orange County Register article, identified eleven families with CalWORKs records, seven active cases, three closed, and one pending. Most of the cases involve single parents with several children and extensive time on aid. The clients were either sanctioned due to lack of cooperation, have no work history, or are enrolled and participating in CalWORKs Welfare-To-Work. Children and Family Services has had contact with many of these families.

A review of the Agency’s records of homeless assistance payments revealed that over the past year from July 1997 to June 1998, a total of 574 temporary and 114 permanent homeless assistance payments have been issued. There are currently only 80 open homeless assistance cases. The numbers are small relative to the Agency’s larger caseload due to the restrictive criteria of this program.

Adult Services and Assistance Programs provide resources and services which protect the aged, blind and disabled from abuse and exploitation and ensure that they live in a safe environment. ASAP administers federal, state and county public assistance programs, determining eligibility in a manner which promotes program integrity. ASAP programs include:

The Medi-Cal Program provides medical assistance to clients who are receiving assistance through cash grant programs or who meet specific eligibility requirements.

A relatively new program, Healthy Families Program provides health, dental and vision insurance to children who do not have insurance and are not eligible to no share-of-cost Medi-Cal. Parents may select coverage from a combination of plans and pay a monthly premium based on the number of children, level of family income, and plan selected. Application booklets are available at various locations including county welfare and public health departments, local community-based organizations, providers' offices, and schools.

The Food Stamp Program improves the diets and raises the nutritional levels of low income households by enabling them to obtain more food than they would otherwise be able to purchase. Under the California Food Stamp Program, certain legal non-citizens who are ineligible to receive federal food stamp benefits are eligible to receive state-funded food stamp benefits.

The educational development of homeless children is severely impacted by shelter and motel living environments. Among other things, school attendance for these children is constantly interrupted by the transient life-style of their families. A report released by the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty in 1997 found that almost 50 percent of homeless children were not attending school regularly. Short stays in shelters mean that students often move from school to school, and there is often little or no time for teachers and administrators to do any sort of comprehensive educational evaluation. Delays in the transfer of school records, the lack of a permanent address and immunization records also may prevent homeless children from accessing an education. The lack of transportation poses an additional barrier to these children. Once in a classroom environment, some of the children face additional difficulties. Some feel a lack of belonging or are stigmatized by their peers. Because shelter/motel environments do not offer a place for them to complete homework, some of these children fall behind and are unable to achieve in a classroom.

Amendments to the McKinney Act in 1990 specified in greater detail the obligations of states and local educational agencies in assuring the access of homeless children and youth to public education. The amendments specifically required state homeless education coordinators to look at all the barriers preventing children and youth from attending school. The law expanded the responsibility of states to eliminate the barriers by reviewing and revising policies, laws, and regulations that could impede the ability of children to enroll, attend or succeed in school. The amendments also required states to offer grants to local educational agencies for the purpose of implementing the law. In 1994 additional amendments specified the rights of homeless preschoolers to a free and appropriate public preschool education, gave parents of homeless children and youth a voice regarding their children's school placement, ensured children access to extracurricular activities and transportation if needed, and required educational authorities to coordinate with housing authorities.

Discussions with several principals serving elementary schools in the Anaheim Unified School District who have had experience serving homeless students, revealed the specific nature and extent of the barriers facing motel children in an educational setting. For school-age children in Orange County having difficulty in main stream schools, there is Project H.O.P.E School that offers a smaller class environment and more individual attention.

Principals from four of the Anaheim Unified School District schools who regularly interact with many motel children and families, estimated that they currently have between five and ten motel children at any one time in their respective institutions. At one point, one elementary school was providing services to 45 or 50 motel children. The schools provide these students with free breakfast and lunch. Many children are able to obtain clothing through the Assistance League’s Operation School Bell program. If the students need counseling or mental or physical health services, the schools provide their families with referrals.

Although in and out of various schools due to the transiency of their parents, most children once in a motel regularly attend school. In the limited number of cases when students are chronically truant or absent from school, the district’s School Attendance Review Board investigates, at times with the principal of the school. Students may not be attending school because their parents keep them out for unexcused reasons, or more often because their parents did not wake them or the children do not have appropriate clean school clothes.

The difficulties the schools have in providing educational services to the children of motel families are two-fold:

• The transient nature of the population makes it difficult to provide an educational experience with any continuity. Typically children will attend school for two to six months, disappear for a few weeks or a few months, only to return for another few months.
• The year round school schedule that the district employs makes it difficult to serve all children in the family on the same schedule. There are four educational tracks starting and recessing at different times. It is often a challenge for school principals to place the children of one family on the same track so that the siblings are all attending school at the same time especially when they are entering school in the middle of a session.

According to the school administrators, access to school records and residency requirements rarely keep children from attending school in their district. Although many of the children move from one school to another or are in and out of the same school, the records follow them. If children are not immunized, the schools make referrals to health clinics that provide that service free or at minimal cost.

The administrators agreed that there are a multitude of things that the parents of these children need including: intensive training in parenting, life skills, and proper hygiene; substance abuse counseling, and job training. One school offers a nine-week parenting program that covers a wide range of topics including: communication, discipline, and drug and violence prevention and information on available support resources. The classes were highly attended by parents from every socioeconomic level and communicated the message that despite economic backgrounds, children can achieve with hard work and an adequate support system around them.

These children need a stable home environment, one that they know will remain fairly constant. According to the school administrators, most of the children attend school regularly and have no problem functioning in a classroom. They are not often identified by their peers as being different nor are they incapable of social interaction with other students. These children are generally well-behaved and surprisingly resilient given the great number of unknowns with which they are confronted every day. Who will be in the motel room when they arrive home from school? In what chaotic state will that room be? How long will they be there before they move again? For most of these children, school offers a safe, comfortable environment where they enjoy interacting with other children. One school offers a Peer Assistance League (PAL) program which is a student support group where children trained with communication skills reach out to other children. However, there are children who have behavioral problems which limit their ability to interact with other students. The combative attitude they display at school is often a reflection of what they see and hear every day in their home environment. Many of these children are referred to the Project H.O.P.E. School.

The Orange County Department of Education in collaboration with the YWCA of Central Orange County and the First Presbyterian Church of Orange maintain Project H.O.P.E. School which provides a safe, supportive educational environment for homeless school-age children in Orange County. Most of these students are referred to the school by private agencies, school districts, and service providers. Families also discover the Project H.O.P.E. School by word-of-mouth. The program serves over 30 kindergarten through eighth grade children who reside in shelters, motels, or other living arrangement and allows them to remain in one school while their families move from one living situation to another. The Orange County Department of Education directs this free program in a small classroom environment with a certified teacher and two aides. The First Presbyterian Church provides the classroom space. The YWCA provides free transportation for children to and from the school, meal service, recreational programs, clothing assistance, school supplies and access to medical and counseling services. Project H.O.P.E. School plans to further improve their access to health care services by informing their parents about the Healthy Families program .

Children living in shelters and motels have no continuity in relationships, receive little influence from positive role models, and lack any sense of community outside those created by their transient living environment. While experiencing homelessness, children may find that one of the few stable, secure places that helps them maintain their identity and their sense of self-esteem is school. An opportunity to have an educational experience that offers some stability will enable these children to acquire the skills they need to break out of the cycle of poverty.

Orange County is fortunate to be home to over 2,400 non-profit organizations which support many segments of the community including: seniors and youth, the disabled, the poor and the homeless. Non-profits, often backed by private funding and able to leverage their resources with government funds, fulfill an important role as major service providers to the homeless and are a necessary support to the County’s Continuum of Care system. (Appendix 9) This section will provide: 1) a description of the role several major non-profits play in the Continuum of Care system to provide support and assistance to the homeless population and to motel families; 2) the extent of the contact some of the community-based organizations have had with the motel population; 3) the services these families use most; and 4) the barriers some of the providers have in delivering services to motel clients.

Several programs are available County-wide which provide homeless prevention services. Share Our Selves, Salvation Army and Episcopal Service Alliance are some of the agencies that provide assistance with food, money for prescriptions, and bus passes to help individuals through an emergency situation. The Community Development Council (CDC) provides multiple services such as a food bank, mentoring, and utility assistance. A key component to the region’s homeless prevention activities are the food banks and food providers. The Orange County Hunger Coalition meets on a regular basis to discuss and address regional issues and also develops an annual directory for food resources which is widely used by the County’s homeless service providers. FISH's "Rent to Prevent" program provides one-time rent and/or utility payments to prevent eviction or utility shut-off. The Irvine Transitional Housing's "Reach" program provides classes in money management and consumer awareness. Countless other faith-based and community and private groups also provide food, clothing, financial assistance and other forms of support to prevent homelessness.

Several of the region's homeless providers operate street services. These agencies go to areas where homeless congregate and provide meals and toiletries. Serving People in Need (SPIN) program staff serves the homeless in the County's streets and parks. The face to face communication enables them to assess the needs of an individual or household and to provide them with information and resources. The Mental Health Association of Orange County is another non-profit that provides needed outreach services.

Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter and Shelter for the Homeless are a couple of the agencies providing emergency shelter and service for Orange County's homeless. Through United Way, many organizations are allocated funds for housing-related projects and use this funding for motel vouchers. In limited situations and on a case by case basis, vouchers are provided for one to three days when: 1) a family is expecting funding that will allow them to move into long term housing or 2) a family has a communicable disease such as chicken pox and they are unable to access an emergency shelter.

Mercy House Transitional Living Centers, Irvine Transitional Housing, and Veterans Charities Transitional Housing are a few of the agencies currently providing transitional housing services in Orange County. There are four primary non-profit agencies in Orange County that provide transitional housing for victims of domestic violence: Interval House, Human Options, Women's Transitional Living Center, and Laura's House. These groups have developed an extensive network of telephone hotlines, confidential referrals, and shelters to provide a non-threatening means to reach victims of domestic violence. Human Options has developed a resource center which provides referral, counseling and housing placement services for victims of domestic violence or family and friends of victims.

Examples of permanent supportive housing include Hagen House, a 24-unit AIDS hospice program that provides shelter, medical care, and counseling for persons afflicted with AIDS; Helping Our Mentally Ill Experience Success (HOMES) Newport Beach, which offers permanent supportive housing for mentally ill adults; and the Dayle MacIntosh Center for the Disabled which operates Mariposa Villa in Irvine providing permanent supportive housing for disabled homeless individuals.

Programs such as SPIN's Guaranteed Apartment Payment Program (GAPP) is one agency's response to the barriers that keep individuals from accessing permanent housing. GAPP provides households ready to move from a transitional housing program into permanent housing with financial support for the first month's rent and security deposits. Redevelopment agencies, HOME Participating Jurisdictions, and cities also utilize their resources to develop new, long-term affordable housing that is accessible to the homeless and formerly homeless.

• Orange County Emergency Food and Shelter Board

• Orange County Rescue Mission

The Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, comprised of service providers, advocates and community volunteers, has played a role in regional coordination for over a decade. Since 1986, this group has addressed the issues of homelessness by: educating the community on the causes and needs of the homeless, advocating the need for services, and encouraging the development of affordable housing in Orange County. The Task Force is in the process of developing a web site which will eventually link the region's homeless service providers together and provide a mechanism for communicating the availability of shelter beds and service slots on a daily basis.

The Interfaith Shelter Network operated by H.I.S. House and the Orange County Employment Action Network run by Salvation Army, are examples of two other existing service coordination projects. The former consists of representatives from churches throughout Orange County that open their facilities to feed, house, and serve the homeless. Currently, 54 churches actively participate and affiliate churches meet on a monthly basis to discuss issues and logistics of the network and needs of the homeless. The Employment Action Network provides employment development skills and job training for homeless persons enrolled in a transitional housing program.

The Orange County Rescue Mission recently received a $331,500 two-year grant from the California Endowment to fund the Shelter and Hunger Partnership of Orange County. This funding will help establish a technical and program support network to increase collaboration and strategic planning among organizations working to promote the health and well-being of homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless. Info Link Orange County currently provides a data base for resource referrals and has recently partnered with the Orange County Rescue Mission in preparing an Emergency Directory Survival Guide listing approximately 125 services for families living in the motels which includes information on accessing food, shelters, health care and substance abuse services, child care, employment, and other critical resources. The Rescue Mission will be distributing the brochures as part of their Operation Hope project.

The Orange County Shelter Provider Forum is made up of shelter board members, executive directors and professional staff dedicated to the improvement of service delivery for the homeless throughout Orange County. The group produced the Shelter Guidelines Handbook, a document which outlines service level standards for program operations, and provides information on personnel administration, the maintenance of shelter equipment and environment, and service delivery procedures.

The County and cities are also encouraging the use of coalitions and collaboratives to improve the coordination of service delivery, as these partnerships have proven an efficient means to maximize resources and meet a broad range of a homeless person's needs.

Discussions with several community organizations serving the homeless from various components of the Continuum of Care system provided information about their services and their level of interaction with the motel population. There were 30 stakeholders identified and contacted including 20 community-based organizations and 10 shelter providers.

Of the 20 community-based organizations contacted, 15 reported providing direct services to children and families living in residential motels. The remaining organizations indirectly serve these families by supplying donations of food and medical supplies to other groups for distribution. Of those that provide direct services to these families, half provide outreach or on-site services. Most of the providers offering direct services provide assistance to both adults and children. They believe motel families use their services often, and they also feel that more than half the families residing in motels that they serve are aware of their services.

Most of the motel families being served by these groups discovered the services either by word of mouth or by referral from another agency of organization. The services in which these families are primarily interested are food, clothing and housing assistance, followed by physical and mental health services, transportation, job counseling, education, and child care.

Although many of the families willingly accept services, most of the organizations identified several challenges that often prevent them from being completely effective in a motels environment. A few mentioned the instability and constant transience of the population and a few others the issue of safety when on-site providing services. The biggest barriers to overcome are: 1) creating an awareness within the motel population that assistance to address many of their issues are available; 2) the fears many of the adults have that their children may be taken away from them if their conditions are viewed by mandated reporters such as police, doctors, nurses, teachers, and social workers.

Of the 10 interviews completed with shelter providers, seven reported providing direct services to children and families living in residential motels. Eight of the 10 shelters indicated that they had specific criteria for providing services to clients, i.e. women over 18 who had to be drug-free for 60 days with children under 10.

Seven shelters indicated that the primary way clients access their services is through telephone contact, and nine indicated that most of the families discovered the shelter services via word of mouth or through a referral from another agency. Again the services in which families were most interested in were food and housing assistance, followed by mental health and job counseling assistance.

The barriers shelter providers encountered when serving motel families is the resistance many adults have to altering their lifestyle, including their substance abuse.

In terms of services that organizations felt children need most, both those providing support services and the shelter providers felt that a stable home environment that provides a sense of "normalcy" and routine was the most important thing, followed by counselors providing emotional support and mentoring situations. Providers felt that the parents living in a motel situation needed a variety of intensive and coordinated services that could include substance abuse treatment, counseling, life-skills and parenting skills training, and job placement and training.

Motel living exposes children to multiple risk factors that can have a significant impact on their physical, social, and emotional development. Exposure to these factors is also associated with the appearance of antisocial or delinquent behavior later in life. Intervening in the lives of these children and their parents through early intervention and prevention programs could reduce negative outcomes. The support of an agenda that makes prevention of delinquency and antisocial behavior a priority could potentially result in at least two sources of savings to society: 1) reductions in crime and justice system costs; and 2) gains in workforce participation by youths who are less delinquent and by parents, who through involvement in programs, have increased their education and job skills. This section will focus on the scientific findings that link early childhood experiences and cognitive development to later life experiences, the impact early intervention and prevention programs may have when targeted at families, and the implications these findings have with respect to the motel family issue.

There are several childhood risk factors that impact later development including: low socioeconomic status, poor or harsh parenting, parental substance abuse and criminality, a violent neighborhood environment, a child’s low cognitive ability, and neurological and biological factors. Many of these risk factors are the reality for a substantial number of children living in motels. In addition to poverty, the motel families highlighted in the Orange County Register article demonstrated multiple problems including substance abuse, poor judgement, and child endangerment, abuse and neglect.

In general, people who experience any type of maltreatment during childhood—whether sexual abuse, physical abuse, or neglect—are more likely than people who were not maltreated to be arrested later in life.

Furthermore, research clearly reveals that a childhood history of physical abuse predisposes the survivor to violence in later years and that victims of neglect are more likely to engage in later violent criminal behavior as well. Using carefully developed methods for eliciting retrospective reports of childhood abuse and neglect, a new study of inmates in a New York prison found that 68 percent of the sample reported some form of childhood victimization and 23 percent reported experiencing multiple forms of abuse and neglect.

Quoting from the Little Hoover Commission Report on Child Care (September 1998):

It is evident that children living in the motel environment depicted in the Orange County Register article are living in an environment that may possibly lead to deviant and violent behavior in later years. This is a population where the children are certainly at risk.

In addition the potency of a single risk factor can be increased by the presence of a second risk factor. Therefore, many of these motel children who are exposed to multiple risk factors, may be more prone to later delinquency and other dysfunctional behavior than those exposed to a single factor.

Children have no control over the environment in which they grow up. Whether a child lives in poverty or not is determined by the economic circumstances of their parents. Much of the research on the relationship between poverty and child outcomes supports the notion that family income can have significant effects on child and adolescent well-being. Of the various measures of child well-being, cognitive ability and emotional and behavioral outcomes will be highlighted here.

Studies that measure the relationship between poverty and cognitive ability found that poor children are 1.3 times more likely as non-poor children to experience learning disabilities and developmental delays. In one study that compared children in families with incomes less that half of the poverty threshold to children in families with incomes between 1.5 and twice the poverty threshold, the poorer children scored between six to 13 points lower on standardized achievement tests. Research has shown that the duration of poverty is significant in terms of the level of impact on cognitive ability as is the age at which the children experience poverty.

Although some studies have determined that poverty is a factor affecting children who suffer from emotional and behavioral problems, most found that family income has a greater influence on childhood well-being in terms of achievement related outcomes and a child's cognitive abilities than it does on their emotional health and stability. However, the potentially negative impacts of poverty on emotional health may be exacerbated if children are poverty stricken for an extended period of time, if they experience poverty during their preschool and early school years, or if poverty is coupled with additional risk factors.

There are four major forms of maltreatment - physical abuse, sexual abuse, neglect, and emotional abuse - all of which have been found to effect the physical, cognitive, emotional, and social development of children. The effects of child maltreatment are unique to each child's specific situation since the damage resulting from maltreatment often depends on what type of abuse the child has suffered, the length of time the abuse was sustained, and at what stage in the child’s development he/she experienced the abuse. A significant amount of evidence suggests that children who are maltreated experience disrupted growth and development. Many show signs of psychological problems that manifest themselves through aggressive behavior, an inability to trust others, and feelings of being unwanted.

There are several factors that impact the likelihood that a child will suffer from maltreatment, two of which are the character of the caregiver and the family's socioeconomic situation.

Parents that have abused their children have often been found to have low self-esteem, suffer from anxiety and depression, and/or are substance abusers. According to several researchers, between 50 percent and 80 percent of families involved with child protective services are dealing with a substance abuse problem. If a child’s caregiver is a victim of abuse, that may also contribute to the possibility that a child will be psychologically abused by witnessing violence. The child may also become a victim themselves.

Poverty has often been identified as a contributing factor to child maltreatment although the connection between the two are not clearly understood. A child living in the stressful environment that often accompanies pervasive poverty sometimes becomes the target of physical abuse. More often a family's inability to meet basic needs of food, shelter, and clothing may result in neglect. Child abuse and neglect exists in families of all socioeconomic levels, and most poor do not abuse their children. However, it is more prevalent in lower-income families, especially in the presence of other risk factors such as domestic violence and substance abuse.

Early education and family support programs provide a range of educational, emotional, and informational support to infants, children, and their families in an effort to: improve their lives, lessen the impact of risk factors, and decrease the incidence of delinquency and antisocial behavior. There are two main program types, early education and family support. Early education programs are center-based, provide an educational curriculum to preschoolers and toddlers, and may provide other services including preventative health care, parenting and child development information, and emotional support. Family support programs promote the well-being of children and families through services directed at basic life skills, crisis intervention, parenting skills, employment, etc. These services are generally community-based and often conducted via home visits. They may contain an educational child care or child-focused component.

A review of 40 studies of child focused, parent focused, and combination programs in the United States and Canada that addressed populations with multiple risk factors and provided service between the prenatal and preschool age periods, assessed the effects of the various programs on risk factors for antisocial behavior or chronic delinquency.

The studies determined that early childhood prevention programs that buffer the effects of childhood risk factors are effective in preventing chronic delinquency. Preventing chronic delinquency, in turn decreases overall youth crime rates. Programs that combine early childhood education and family support services to address multiple risk factors were shown to have the greatest long-term impact on crime and antisocial behavior.

The studies also identified key characteristics of effective programs. In terms of scope and intensity, the programs that were found to be most effective provided quality family support to adults in a peer group and family setting, and educational child care along with weekly or monthly home visits and four or five-day-a-week half or full day childhood educational components. The successful programs exhibited strong theoretical bases for their center-base and home visiting curricula, provided a low home visitor to family ratio, provided a low staff to child ratio in educational child care and preschool programs, and provided extensive training and ongoing supervision of staff.

The County has already committed itself to an agenda that places an emphasis on preventive programs. Last year under the direction of then Chairman Supervisor William Steiner, the Orange County Board of Supervisors communicated through a report titled "Preventive Agenda for Children and Families," an interest in funding preventative programs which would effectively address the County’s most pressing social needs. County Departments and Agencies were directed to inventory programs, identify those that were most cost effective, most easily contracted, identify new programs and new funding opportunities, and to reprioritize to direct resources to those programs.

As the report noted, significant efforts and millions of dollars are expended to remediate problems that threaten the quality of life in Orange County. Intervention and prevention programs that focus on strengthening the family are the most effective strategy to breaking the cycle that pushes families into poverty and perpetuates the substance abuse, physical abuse, delinquency and crime that often accompany the absence of a stable home.

The families who live in residential motels, like the greater homeless population, find themselves there due to a variety of circumstances. The Orange County Register article on motel families raised the community's awareness of the existence of this particular segment of the homeless. However, there is great diversity among the characteristics of the residential motel population and among the motels themselves, and the story focused primarily on families suffering the most serious and extreme problems. At the same time, the issues these families face are ones that confront many poor individuals and families, not just those that are homeless and may be living in a temporary living arrangement.

Based on the input given by a number of community-based and faith-based organizations, county and city governments, shelter providers, professionals working in the community, and motel families, the issues facing this population besides a dearth of affordable low cost housing, include: domestic violence, substance abuse, hunger, physical and mental health issues, child neglect and abuse, unemployment, and social alienation.

While there are a variety of services available to support these families, there are some barriers that limit a provider's ability to offer services as well as impede a potential client's ability to access them. This population is transient and its needs are diverse. Issues such as a lack of awareness and motivation, and fear on the part of the families to use services limit the effectiveness of the interventions. Often times the only way the families hear of available services is through a friend, and the only way they may access the services is if the organization comes to their motel since many families lack transportation.

The children living in motels are exposed to numerous childhood risk factors which are detrimental to their health and future development. There is adequate evidence that supports the link between early childhood development and later life outcomes. There is equally convincing evidence that early intervention and prevention programs may buffer the long-term negative impacts of many of these risk factors.

There is no one entity that can resolve the problems these families have. However, if their issues are going to be successfully addressed, the Orange County community will need to build on already existing strategies and initiate the development of others. Efforts to pool resources and coordinate service delivery must be collectively approached to provide effective outreach that will help maintain families and ensure the future health and development of our County's children.