Homeless people: they exist. But what to do about it? On one extreme of the spectrum, you could try to ban them. Equally extreme, you could try to give them a place to live. "Try" being the operative word here. Costa Mesa, for instance, had hoped to build a complex with up to 50 units in their Civic Center Park, just across from the OC Fairgrounds, to house the area's homeless people (there are about 130 with ties to the city), but the neighboring home-full have now pressured the city council to look elsewhere, the LA Times reports. The development included plans for on-site mental health professionals, residents would have been selected through an interview process, and city officials have been quick to emphasize that this is NOT "a homeless shelter, a shelter for the mentally ill or a one-stop mental health center that would attract homeless people into Costa Mesa," in reply to some of the many fears voiced by NIMBYs in opposition to the development. With the city-owned park no longer the "primary option," the project's supporters are wondering if there's money to build anywhere else.
· Costa Mesa Reconsidering Site Of Homeless Housing Project [LA Times]
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