Newport Beach officials are asking residents and visitors to refrain from giving money or goods to the homeless and to donate to the city’s own services instead.
City Manager Grace Leung wrote in a May 7 column in the Newport Beach Independent newspaper that good-intentioned donations such as cash, food, or camping equipment may “inadvertently undermine the city’s efforts” to help the homeless find solutions such as housing.
Officials are instead encouraging donations to the city’s Good Giving Campaign, which can be accessed on the city’s website, that more effectively directs resources and support, Leung said.
Newport Beach City Manager Grace Leung. (Courtesy of the City of Newport Beach)
“This fund provides homeless, formerly homeless, and housing insecure people in Newport Beach with resources and support that will help them on a path to finding and maintaining permanent housing,” she wrote….