Laguna Beach is taking a long look at the future of its homeless services, and at least for now, the alternative sleeping location in the canyon owned and funded by the city will continue to run as it has.

A large crowd inside City Council chambers waited nearly three hours for the topic to come up on the agenda, one that at first blush left the door open for the closure of the shelter.

City Manager Dave Kiff got out in front of the discussion, saying he would not be recommending closing the alternative sleeping location (ASL) — located at 20652 Laguna Canyon Road — resulting in a round of applause just before the council went to break.

When the panel returned, though, Kiff opened the item by saying it was one of several tough discussions the community could expect to have as the city sorts out its priorities ahead of the next fiscal year.

“I don’t think our shelter resources need to be the region’s resources,” Kiff said. “We’ve already stepped up well, as Laguna knows. We’re home to a youth shelter, the Friendship Shelter and the ASL, which is over 70 beds, if my count is correct, and I worry that we genuinely can’t afford to be anything but Laguna-focused in the long term.

“Why have this discussion now? I think part of our approach today is to be prepared for something we think is likely going to happen, and that is an increase of arrivals of unhoused residents from other areas that are heavier on enforcement [of anti-camping ordinances] than we are, and who don’t have a shelter or day program services.”

Kiff recommended sunsetting the daytime program at the ASL, which operates between noon and 3 p.m. daily. During that time, individuals not enrolled in the overnight program can have immediate needs met, including food, laundry and a shower. They can also receive case management services. Jeremy Frimond, an assistant to the city manager, said the program serves an average of about 13 people a day.

The daytime program was introduced in February 2019, discontinued because of the coronavirus pandemic, and then brought back in 2023. Approximately 30 new participants that were not enrolled in the overnight program used the daytime services during the last quarter of 2024 and the first quarter of 2025, among the lowest of any quarter since the program’s inception.

(Andrew Turner)

Frimond anticipated that expenses would increase. “Funding is uncertain, so we were not planning on federal funding coming through in the ways that it has the past several years,” he said, suggesting the cost of the daytime program could go from $100,000 to more than $250,000.

Data shown in a presentation noted the city saw an increase in unsheltered individuals in the most recent Point-In-Time counts, from 28 in 2022 to 46 in 2024.

“It’s staff’s opinion that that’s an overstated number for this community,” Frimond said. “When we spoke to the county about it, they said they did a lot of estimating, and there is a margin of error across the entire county on that.”

The City Council voted unanimously to continue operating the ASL in its current capacity beyond June 30. It also authorized staff to extend the contract with Friendship Shelter, which operates the facility, for up to six months. The ASL has been operating with 30 beds and five emergency beds for those enrolled in the overnight program.

Additionally, the council directed staff to complete a homeless needs assessment within 60 days, to bring back criteria for placing people in the ASL, and to request information regarding the operation of the shelter.

Mayor Alex Rounaghi and Councilwoman Sue Kempf will also be part of an ad hoc committee to work with staff on issues related to homeless services.

There was ample frustration from the council that more is not being done by neighboring cities in the southern part of Orange County to address homelessness.

“So far, we’re pulling it off, but we have more needs now,” said Kempf, tackling the issue from a financial standpoint. “If you expect every city to do something about this, it’s not going to happen, and that’s what we’ve seen happen. It doesn’t happen, except for here. It frustrates me to no end that the county is not helping us more with this because they can have wraparound services, and they can provide much more robust support than we can in our little town.”

Laguna Beach Mayor Alex Rounaghi, center, asks questions of staff at the alternative sleeping location in the canyon on Tuesday.

(Andrew Turner)

Kempf noted that keeping the community safe means keeping it safe on multiple fronts. Kiff brought up a couple of costs that need to be accounted for: fuel modification and utility undergrounding for fire safety.

Police Chief Jeff Calvert said the city’s park rangers have documented over 50 new homeless individuals in the community since October.

“Through interviews, we’ve learned that many of these individuals were directed to our ASL by neighboring cities, rehabilitation centers, social service agencies and organizations like City Net and Telecare,” Calvert said. “Word of our ASL services is clearly spreading, leading to an influx of homeless individuals from surrounding areas. Furthermore, since the Grants Pass [v. Johnson] ruling, both proactive and reactive enforcement calls have increased by 54% at the ASL, and over 30% in the surrounding area. This surge is placing a strain on our resources.”

Mia Ferreira, director of services for Friendship Shelter, pointed to data presented by city staff to state that the discussion was being built around a hypothetical scenario.

“If people are coming because of Grants Pass, or coming in general because people are telling them to come here, we would see an increase in numbers,” Ferreira said. “We’re not seeing an increase in numbers. I just want to dispel that myth here.”

Dawn Price, executive director of Friendship Shelter, focused on the impact of the ASL in helping to transition people into housing.

“I want you to remember we’ve housed hundreds of people during the life of the ASL,” Price said. “Since 2019 alone, it’s been almost 300, but we housed people before that, too. …Last year, we achieved an unbelievable statistic in that 100% of the people that we had in our housing stayed in our housing that whole year. We are wrapping services around so tightly that we are losing very few people.”

Councilwoman Hallie Jones said the city shouldn’t have to make a choice between compassion and community safety.

“I think we’re developing a little bit of a false and binary choice between being safe and really treating our most vulnerable community members with dignity and respect and giving them the resources that they need,” Jones said. “I don’t think that’s a choice we have to make. I think we get to do both.”

Laguna Beach also contracts for homeless services with Be Well OC. That contract is set to expire in September, though city staff expect to be in front of the council concerning the feasibility of an extension in May.

Councilman Bob Whalen said that while the city will have to make decisions about what to fund, he had a “gut” feeling that homeless services needed to remain on the list.

“Nobody else is carrying any water on this in south [Orange] County,” Whalen said. “They haven’t for years, for decades it’s been all us, but the fact that it’s all us and the fact that others aren’t doing their fair share shouldn’t change the outcome on what we should continue to do.”

Mayor Alex Rounaghi hoped to bring leadership in surrounding communities to the table.

“We need to solve homelessness. We could put our whole general fund into this issue, and we would not make a dent,” Rounaghi said. “What we really need is regional collaboration. I think it’s time to bring all the south [Orange] County mayors and city managers here — in this room, in Laguna Beach — and let’s just have a conversation about how they can play a role in helping to collaborate.”