Santa Ana leaders and some local residents are opposing the proposed conversion of a youth guidance center into a county-run adult reentry facility, arguing the city already hosts a disproportionate share of the region’s social services and was left out of discussions for the facility until plans were already moving forward.
Read more Top auto regulator opens special probe after a Tesla slams into a Texas home, killing a 76-year-old
Opponents, including Santa Ana Police Chief Robert Rodriguez, contend that converting the youth guidance center on Hesperian Way near the 5 Freewayinto a coordinated reentry center, which would be a 24/7 facility with temporary housing and case management for formerly incarcerated individuals, could further strain the city’s already stretched Police Department and negatively impact surrounding businesses.
City leaders noted that Santa Ana already hosts hundreds of shelter beds and other county programs without receiving additional public safety funding to manage the impacts.
“We were not invited to the table,” Santa Ana Mayor Valerie Amezcua said.
Local leaders said they plan to appear at Tuesday’s OC Board of Supervisors meeting, June 23, to present their case during the public comment period and have encouraged residents to attend in person or submit letters demanding the facility be sited elsewhere.
Their campaign drew support from Second District Supervisor Vicente Sarmiento at a community meeting last week. Sarmiento echoed their frustrations, telling the at least 50 community members gathered that he learned of the Santa Ana site only after county staff had moved the project forward. He pledged to push his colleagues on the Board of Supervisors for an “indefinite stall” and to redirect the county to evaluate sites in other cities.
“If you don’t have somebody advocating for you, they’re gonna go ahead and place it in your jurisdiction,” Sarmiento said.
The project falls under the county’s AB 109 Public Safety Realignment program, which provides dedicated funding for local custody and reentry services. Passed in 2011, the state law shifted responsibility for lower‑level, nonviolent offenders from California’s overcrowded state prisons to county jails and local probation departments.
Read more Prosecutors allege that mob hitman turned councilman in New Jersey has returned to crime
Districts that keep those inmates close to home receive a dedicated stream of revenue from vehicle license fees and sales tax to pay for housing, supervision, and reentry programs. The Orange County Community Corrections Partnership, the county’s governing board for these restricted dollars, approved roughly $141.5 million in related funds for the coming fiscal year.
Its six-member executive committee, created under state law and composed mainly of county agency heads, includes Chief Probation Officer Daniel Hernandez, Sheriff-Coroner Don Barnes, District Attorney Todd Spitzer, Public Defender Sara Nakada, Health Care Agency Director Veronica Kelley and Garden Grove Police Chief Amir El-Farra.
Notably absent is any representative from Santa Ana, one the county’s largest cities and the single biggest recipient of local law enforcement realignment funding.
A resident attending last week’s community meeting said they spoke with two businesses near the site, a fire production company and a fence company, that said they were surprised by the proposal and already deal with homeless encampments in the area. Both planned on writing letters opposing the proposed project.
County documents say completion of the reentry center is anticipated in July 2027, but opponents argue the specific Santa Ana site is not yet a done deal.
The OC Board of Supervisors meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. on Tuesday at 400 W. Civic Center Drive in Santa Ana.
Read more Pentagon seeks $80 billion from Congress for Iran war