Partnership to Build Shelters for Homeless

Hundreds of beds for the homeless will be built in Orange County over the next five years thanks to a $10-million partnership between nonprofit groups and the Children and Families Commission.

HomeAid Orange County--a charitable arm of the Building Industries Assn.--other nonprofit organizations and the commission plan to build several shelters; the number and locations have not been determined.

The partnership between the commission--which gets the money from a 50-cent state tobacco tax--and the nonprofits underlines the trend toward increased regional planning of desperately needed shelter beds.

A 2000 report estimated that there are 18,000 homeless people in the county but only 2,400 beds.

The commission, which focuses on health and education, decided to fund shelters in an effort to stabilize many families that move from motel to motel and sometimes sleep on the streets, spokeswoman Kelly Pijl said.

“There’s a better chance they can be in the mainstream at school and receive the health benefits they need if they are at a shelter. We don’t have brick and mortar yet, but there will be some real success stories in the coming year,” she said.

Officials believe the partnership will encourage other funding sources to direct money to Orange County projects.

“It’s a very, very exciting opportunity. It will help leverage resources from other places to get things built,” said Karen Roper, Orange County homeless coordinator. “If you have money, you can get more money.”

The new shelters will cater to parents with children under 6 years of age. Roper estimates that 60% of the county’s homeless are families.

The housing costs here make these families’ plight worse; Roper notes that in less-affluent counties, these families might not even be considered poor.

The money comes from Proposition 10, a measure approved by the voters in 1998 that levied a 50-cent tax on tobacco products sold in California. Counties receive an annual allocation of Proposition 10 funds based on the number of births.

“Since this is a new source of funding, there’s an opportunity to make a greater difference,” said Scott Larson, executive director of HomeAid Orange County.

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The Orange County Children and Families Commission entered into the partnership with HomeAid Orange County toward the end of 2000. HomeAid will receive $2 million from the commission per year over the next five years for family shelter development.

Those who have tried to promote low-income housing for workers who make less than $10 an hour applauded the partnership.

“It’s a good thing for the money to be permanently invested in the community. It will be manifested in beds and structures to help people trying to become self-sufficient,” said Allen Baldwin, executive director of the Orange County Community Housing Corp., which has been unable to build new affordable housing units because of a lack of approval from local governments. “This helps the working poor who can’t afford to live in Orange County.”

“There is a huge demand. The question is going to be: Who do we develop for? Any care provider that gets involved will need to have the capacity to run them,” Larson said.

HomeAid Orange County, which has completed 32 homeless shelters in the last 10 years, accepts shelter proposals from nonprofit groups and then acts as a developer for the project.

HomeAid is currently building Emmanuel House, a shelter for AIDS patients in Santa Ana, and Precious Life, a shelter for homeless pregnant women in Los Alamitos.