Thumbs Down : 3 Days After Hands Across America, Shelter for Poor Is Blocked

Three days after thousands of Orange County residents linked hands with millions of people across the country in a symbolic gesture of good will toward America’s homeless and destitute, about 100 Anaheim residents successfully blocked the opening of a shelter in their neighborhood.

Planning commissioners voted Wednesday against Project HOPE (Helping Other People to Endure) following testimony from residents who worried about the safety of their children, transients loitering near their homes and an upsurge in crime.

Christian Temporary Housing Facilities Inc., which proposed the emergency shelter, does not plan to appeal the commission’s decision to the City Council, Michael Elias, the group’s executive director, said after the meeting.

Elias said he will take “on faith” commission Chairwoman Charlene LaClaire’s commitment to a shelter in the city.

LaClaire, while expressing her opposition to the location in a predominantly residential neighborhood, said “it’s time we took an active role” in finding a site for a new shelter. “Let’s find a place for them,” she said to the applause of the audience, almost all of whom opposed the project.

Elias conceded, however, that if the group does find another site, it probably will encounter the same opposition. “They (city residents) don’t want it in their neighborhoods,” he said.

Meanwhile, “they’re all sitting across the country holding hands,” Elias said of the Hands Across America event in which millions of people, including Anaheim residents, joined hands Sunday in support of the homeless.

The shelter was proposed for an existing 1,400-square-foot classroom that is part of the Anaheim Seventh-day Adventist Church at 900 S. Sunkist St. Its emergency overnight status would have been a pilot program for the coordinating group, which already operates a home in the city of Orange offering the homeless a longer stay.

Fran Holland, one of the residents in the Orange facility, urged commissioners to support the program that has housed her and her two children since her finances went awry and her husband left.

“Eight weeks ago, I didn’t know shelters existed. . . . I had no idea whatsoever that I would one day be residing in a shelter,” Holland said.

But following a “rapid succession of events . . . we found ourselves without a roof over our heads.” Many of the people she has met at the shelter experienced similar circumstances, she said.

‘Not the Dregs of Society’

“We’re not the dregs of society. I don’t know if there are any dregs of society,” Holland said, adding that each individual has his or her own “story,” a need for help and a desire “to contribute in a valuable way.”

The Christian Temporary Housing Facilities group planned to house up to 20 people--families, not individuals--in the Anaheim shelter each night. The program would have provided emergency shelter, food, guidance and counseling to families for up to five days, Elias said.

The group had planned to keep the Anaheim center open from 8 p.m. to 9 a.m. Transportation to and from the Orange facility, work or other locations was included in the program. Elias said a security guard would have ensured that no one remained in the area while the center was not in operation.

Doubts About Families Leaving

However, residents said they doubted that the shelter’s families would go elsewhere during the daytime. Resident Tom Kornely asked: “Where are the children going to go after 8 a.m.?”

Many of the residents who spoke against the project said they had either assisted or currently worked in the area of helping the homeless. They said the idea is a noble one but that the location is a bad choice.

In voting against the proposal, Commissioner Glenn Fry called the program “a Band-Aid” solution in the wrong location. The area surrounding the proposed shelter is near several elementary and secondary schools.

Elias said he looked forward to working with the community on finding a new site but added that finding another affordable location such as the building that the Anaheim church planned to lease would be difficult.

The group has $20,000 from community development block grant money, but a building’s rent and operation costs for one year typically are much higher, he explained.

The demand to house the county’s homeless is great, Elias said. Between January and March, the Christian group received 7,788 calls for temporary housing help, Elias said, adding that the group found shelter for only 260.

In Orange County, Elias said, Anaheim is second to Santa Ana in the number of homeless. According to a 1983 study, Anaheim had slightly less than 4,000 homeless, he said. Today that number is probably around 5,000, he added.