La Habra : Council Will Be Asked to Aid Homeless Shelter

Creators of the La Habra Community Resource Shelter for the homeless will ask the City Council tonight for help in finding money or property to keep the shelter alive.

If they cannot find a new home by June 20, supporters say, 67 adults and children may be returning to the streets, cars or motels from where they came.

Since February, the shelter has housed 600 homeless singles and families--most of them from Orange County--in the abandoned Valencia Elementary School in Brea. The temporary arrangement, made through the La Habra City School District, was to end June 15 since the school buildings had been promised to the La Habra Children’s Museum. The school board extended the deadline to June 20 so that children at the shelter could finish school without disruption.

The shelter’s supporters, mostly volunteers, have collected at least 600 signatures on a letter of support, said Beverly Glines, chairman of the La Habra Community Resource Council, a private citizens’ group that opened the shelter.

So far, the shelter has obtained $28,000 from the federal Emergency Shelter Program, but supporters have no leads on affordable sites. They looked at a $4-million gas plant on Imperial Highway, but the monthly lease was a prohibitive $30,000, she said.

They will ask council members for advice on funding sources and use of city computers to locate unused buildings, Glines said.