Voice of OC87%
Stanton Continues To Crackdown On Homelessness 16%
By Sara Leon21%
7/21/2026, 4:59:39 PM
BS Summary: This article contains 16 faulty reasoning types, including Framing Effect, Representativeness Heuristic, and Biased Writer Voice, with Optimism Bias as the most egregious example at 20.2% saturation with 133 hits. Analysis detected 569 faulty-reasoning hits from 657 analyzed words, generating a BS Score of 32.1% and a BS Rank of 16% (16,527 of 19,471 articles). This article is better (less manipulative) than 84.90% of the article peer group.
Stanton officials are continuing to declare homelessness as a crisis in one of OC’s smallest cities almost two years since they deemed it an emergency.
Last month, Stanton City Council members voted to continue their state of emergency on homelessness, a declaration city officials say helps them get resources from county, state and federal agencies to address the crisis.
The continuation comes despite officials saying they have made progress to address the issue.
City Manager Hannah Shin-Heydorn said there was a significant decrease in the homeless population in Stanton and many of those still on the streets have refused to go to a shelter.
“The majority of those counted remain unsheltered, reinforcing the importance of maintaining collective outreach, connecting individuals to shelter and supportive services, and coordinating closely with county and regional partners,” Shin-Heydorn said at the July 14 meeting.
According to Shin-Heydorn, 99 individuals are experiencing homelessness in Stanton – a 51.6% decrease from the first report given in November 2024.
The report also found a significant decrease in fentanyl use among the population.
In June, outreach coordinators identified 124 contacts requesting homeless assistance.
Of those, 113 declined shelter.
Council members asked staff why people that requested shelter could not attain it, with staff responding there not being enough beds, a shelter being unavailable in the client’s preferred area, shelters lacking accessibility or accommodation needs and more.
The city first declared a state of emergency in November 2024.
“Declaring a local emergency would provide the City with greater flexibility, increased ability, and streamlined systems to address the City’s homelessness crisis with necessary urgency,” a Nov. 26, 2024 staff report reads.
At the time, Stanton’s homeless population was ranked as the fifth largest within the North Orange County Service Planning Area, which consists of the cities of Anaheim, Brea, Buena Park, Cypress, Fullerton, La Habra, La Palma, Los Alamitos, Orange, Placentia, Villa Park, Yorba Linda and Stanton.
Stanton was ranked the 11th city in Orange County with the highest homeless population with over 200 people living on streets.
In order to combat the crisis, the city hired two full-time Homeless Outreach Coordinators in 2024 to engage with the homeless population, matching individuals with services catered to their needs.
Public Safety Services Director James Wren said the city hired the full-time outreach coordinators because creating a relationship with the homeless population helped get more people to accept outreach services.
“We were having different outreach coordinators kind of cycle through our operation, and then I made the determination that there was value in establishing long-term relationships with members of the homeless community,” Wren said.
“We would be better served, as with the homeless folks, by having stability in those positions and being able to create a base of knowledge with each individual and utilize that to figure out the best way to help them.
That’s why we brought it in-house.”
The outreach coordinators make contact with everyone on the street, identifying individuals by phone calls from business owners, the Orange County Sheriff’s Department and more, while also driving around the city looking for people in need of assistance.
“For example, outreach coordinators could show up and they will already know that an individual is a veteran or an individual has mental health issues or has drug issues.
A lot of their work, not in the field, kind of behind the scenes, is analyzing what services are available for folks,” Wren said.
In an effort to address homelessness, officials in Stanton funded three permanent supportive housing projects under Project Homekey – a state program that helps local governments convert motels and hotels into housing for homeless people.
Councilmember Donald Torres said the biggest hurdle to Stanton’s homelessness population is that people aren’t able to afford housing on their own.
“We need the state to do their part and provide affordable houses for these people who want to basically just reintegrate into society,” he said.
Analysis
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