Families Find a Refuge at Private Shelter

When life with an alcoholic and abusive husband finally reached its limit, Michele Johnson simply took her three children and moved out.

Months later, she counts herself fortunate despite the struggles of keeping her family together.

“We’re just trying to do the best we can,” Johnson said Saturday as she spread white frosting on a freshly baked cake. “Besides, there has to be something better than living with an alcoholic husband.”

Johnson, who is living temporarily at the Orange Coast Interfaith Shelter in Costa Mesa, came close to losing her two younger children, ages 11 and 13.

She and her family are together in a private shelter. But many families have been broken up under state welfare regulations that require children to leave their homeless parents before the youngsters can qualify for emergency shelter.

Those rules have been challenged by a coalition of legal aid groups claiming that they illegally force the breakup of families when parents are unable to afford housing.

In May, a judge ruled that the state regulations violate state laws that say needy families should, whenever possible, be kept intact.

The state didn’t change its policy, however, although ordered to do so by the court, and, on Friday, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge held the state in contempt of court for refusing to repeal the regulations. The order gives state officials two weeks to comply before sanctions are imposed.

If the judge’s action is upheld, advocates for the homeless hope that more money will be available to help families like Michele Johnson’s.

Takes Whole Families

The interfaith shelter, where homeless families are eligible to stay for up to 60 days, is only one of a handful of shelters in the county that takes in “whole” families, said Scott Mather, who heads a volunteer group that runs the shelter.

“Our priority is to keep families together and give them time to find their own place and get on their feet again,” he said, adding that the shelter last month provided 1,854 total bed days to homeless families.

Mather said Friday’s court order could be the needed impetus to provide more state aid to shelters housing homeless families. It can cost the state up to $140 a day to house a foster child. But the shelter, Mather said, can feed and lodge a person for only $4.75 a day.

Mather added that perhaps as many as 6,000 people, including 1,500 to 2,000 children, are homeless in Orange County and only about “200 to 400 beds are available for them. And that’s being generous.”

Mather said the interfaith shelter is financed with private donations and receives $180,000 a year in state aid.

“The state has $1 billion in reserve. It is my hope that the new ruling will force the state to release part of that money and put it directly into these (homeless) shelters,” Mather said.

Slept in Car

Before she came to the shelter, Johnson and the children stayed with friends and even slept in their car a few nights. The family had been receiving welfare payments, but not nearly enough to afford an apartment.

“It’s not like I don’t have any income. It’s just that I can’t find affordable housing. I can’t afford $750 for rent. I can’t afford $600. If I hold my breath, I can afford $350,” she said.

At the shelter, two families usually share each of seven apartments. Another two units are set up for emergency shelter of three-night stays. The temporary residents, however, can stay up to 60 days. The time is enough to afford a family a new start, Mather said.

“It’s not uncomfortable and it’s not comfortable. But it’s cost-effective and it beats being out in the street,” he said.

Darrell McDaniels and his family are also is being given time by the shelter to find a permanent home.

He recently found a job as a custodian at a post office facility. But he hurt his legs in a non-work-related accident and missed six weeks of work. In the meantime, he said Saturday, the fellow sharing an apartment with him and his wife, Barbara, and three children, skipped town with the rent money.

Evicted From Apartment

The McDaniels were evicted from their apartment. They spent nine days sleeping in the car until last week when the shelter took them in. McDaniels is back at work and in two months hopes to have enough money to find another apartment.

“These people here are giving us a chance. That’s good enough for me,” he said.

The story is much the same for Ronnie and Linda Stokes and their three children. Four years ago, the family moved to Tacoma, Wash., but Linda finally got homesick and they recently returned to Orange County. Immediately, Ronnie found a job as a night security guard.

But the family car broke down and they couldn’t find an apartment they could afford. They stayed in cheap motels until their funds disappeared.

Through a referral, they found the shelter and “are trying to get on our feet again.” By the middle of September, they should have enough money saved to locate an affordable home.

Linda Stokes said she is grateful that the interfaith shelter had taken the family in and that the children had not been separated.

“This has been a blessing, that’s all I can say. We’ve been able to keep the family together. A lot of things can go through your head when you’re homeless, and you really want to protect your children,” she said.