Homeless in the foothills

IT’S TOO EARLY TO KNOW how real it is, but the attention being paid to skid row and homelessness by Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, the county Board of Supervisors and many other community leaders is encouraging. Now comes the first major test of this supposed new resolve.

Last fall, Union Rescue Mission, a large skid row service provider, paid $7.5 million for an abandoned retirement community at the foot of the Angeles National Forest outside Sylmar. The mission is hoping to use the site to open Hope Gardens, a project that would give as many as 275 women and children — who currently sleep on skid row — apartments and support services for two years. The campus would offer job training, counseling for mothers and more than 71 acres of land.

In short, it is a far different world than the violent, rat-infested streets where these women and children spend their days and nights. The project would accommodate more than half of the estimated 400-plus single parents and children who live on skid row today.

This plan may fail, however, because a handful of neighbors who live nearly three miles from the property don’t want anything to do with Hope Gardens. They say they’re worried about crime and the possibility the children will set fires in the dry brush nearby. The real reason is that they don’t want these women and children living anywhere near them.

Homeowners have every right to worry about their safety. But they’re not really in danger here. Transitional housing such as Hope Gardens has worked well in the Salvation Army’s Transitional Village in Westwood, where 40 formerly homeless families live, and elsewhere across the country. Many of the women aren’t on skid row because they want to be or because they are incapable of becoming a part of normal society. They just need a break.

But it looks like they won’t be getting one anytime soon. The mission must obtain a permit from the county to use the land to house families, and the county supervisor for the area, Mike Antonovich, appears cool to the idea. His office says he’s concerned that the mission bought the land before getting enough local support, but that’s disingenuous. What Antonovich really seems to be afraid of is feeling the political heat from a small but vocal group of constituents. The fate of Hope Gardens is now in his hands.

Most Angelenos see the city’s homelessness problem, and skid row in particular, as a national embarrassment. They are right. But it’s necessary to do more than simply acknowledge the problem. We must be willing to make hard choices and embrace opportunities such as Hope Gardens. And our elected officials must be held accountable when they put their own political benefit above the benefit of us all. Antonovich, who has spoken eloquently of late about homelessness, should show some leadership and help these families find a home.