At least 11 people were detained during a homelessness crackdown outside a motor vehicles office in Santa Ana, California, after police and outreach workers carried out a joint operation at an encampment.
The Sunday evening action was conducted by the city’s Quality of Life Team (QOLT), bringing together Santa Ana police, municipal workers and outreach organisations following a public complaint about people living on the street near the Department of Motor Vehicles.
Officials said the operation was intended to combine offers of shelter, addiction treatment and other support with enforcement of laws covering camping, trespassing and other alleged offences.
Santa Ana homelessness crackdown leads to 11 detentions
Outreach workers repeatedly approached people at the site with offers of help. One member of Team Challenge told a person on the street: “Even when it seems dark, it seems hopeless, there’s always light.”
But for at least 11 people, the operation ended with them being placed in police vehicles. One woman was heard asking: “What am I being arrested for?”
Santa Ana police commander Frank Gutierrez said officers were dealing with “municipal code violations, misdemeanours – a few have warrants for their arrest”.
City officials stressed that people were not being arrested solely because they were homeless. They said officers were enforcing laws relating to conduct such as unlawful camping, trespassing and drug use.
Mayor Valerie Amezcua, who joined police and outreach teams during the operation, defended the use of handcuffs when asked about concerns over arresting people experiencing homelessness.
“I would say, want to take them to your house? In all seriousness, it’s not wrong. It’s inhumane to leave them here,” she said.
During one exchange, a woman was asked what was stopping her from getting sober. She replied that nothing was holding her back, but then acknowledged she was “not ready”.
Services offered before and after arrest
Santa Ana says people detained during encampment operations are offered support at least three times: before they are taken into custody, while at the city jail and when they are released.
Those who are not from Santa Ana may also be offered a paid journey back to their home community, according to the city.
City council member Phil Bacerra said detention could provide another opportunity to connect people with treatment and support services after their release.
“Our city’s approach is to take them to jail, then, upon release, offer them services,” he said, adding that the experience might prompt some people to reconsider their circumstances.
Ms Amezcua said the policy continued because some people would not accept help until they reached a point of crisis.
“We keep doing it because when people truly reach the depths of hell, they’ll seek out help,” she said.
Santa Ana’s QOLT is a multi-agency operation involving police, public works, code enforcement, parks and recreation, housing officials and street outreach workers. The city’s official homelessness plan also lists mental health teams and a separate non-police response service among the programmes intended to connect people with shelter, medical care and treatment.
The city opened a 200-bed Navigation Centre in June 2022, operating around the clock for men, women, couples and families. Officials say the facility forms part of a wider effort to move people away from encampments while offering longer-term support.
Encampment cleared after police search belongings
As the operation progressed, officers searched bags and recorded items found at the site, including a hammer, masks and needles. Police also identified what they described as suspected drug paraphernalia.
Mr Bacerra said the city was targeting behaviour that affected other residents and public spaces, rather than homelessness itself.
“Homelessness is not a crime,” he said. “But the crime of using drugs, passing out on our streets, taking over bus stops from folks who need to use the bus, those are the crimes in our city.”
Crews later removed bags, bicycles, pipes and other rubbish as the area was cleared.
Santa Ana expanded its municipal enforcement rules in 2024 after the US Supreme Court ruled in the Grants Pass case that cities could enforce restrictions on sleeping and camping in public places, subject to applicable law.
The city has pointed to a fall in its unsheltered population as evidence that its approach is working. Its 2026 count recorded 714 people living outside, down from 871 in 2024, an 18 per cent decrease.
By contrast, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said the unsheltered population in the City of Los Angeles rose by 7.9 per cent in its 2026 count, to an estimated 29,115 people.
Asked what she believed separated Santa Ana from Los Angeles, Ms Amezcua replied: “We’re addressing the problem. We’re addressing the problem.”
