ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE

The pastor of a Buena Park church deserves credit for trying to give shelter to the homeless. But he, the city and some of the church’s neighbors need to keep negotiating over how best to do good work.

The Rev. Wiley S. Drake, leader of the First Southern Baptist Church of Buena Park, has plans to build a 52-bed shelter on church property. That clearly would be preferable to Drake’s practice of letting the homeless camp outside or sleep in cars on church property.

His refusal to forbid the homeless to use the property until the shelter is built has resulted in criminal charges being lodged against him. Both sides unfortunately seem to be sinking their positions more deeply in concrete as the dispute goes on.

Cities clearly have the right to impose zoning restrictions on churches, as they do other buildings, but of course they cannot violate the freedom-of-religion clause of the 1st Amendment. Drake objected to several conditions of the Planning Commission on those grounds, including a proposed ban on proselytizing those receiving shelter. But Planning Commission members, who are due to consider the shelter matter again next month, wisely indicated they are willing to scrap that ban.

Neighbors upset by the shelter are concerned about its effect on their property values and on their daily lives. Those are valid concerns. If the shelter is approved, Drake will have to ensure that it is well run and those being helped do not badger the neighbors, as is reported to have occurred in the past.

Worries that the homeless have been drawn to the church from outside the city because of publicity about its good works underline the need for more assistance to the homeless in Orange County. The estimated number of homeless in the county is nearly 16,000; the number of shelter beds is less than 1,000.

A regional approach to homelessness is the best option. That way one city that does the right thing in trying to assist the less fortunate does not wind up having an undue burden dumped upon it while neighboring communities do nothing.