Shelter for Homeless to Be Considered : Anaheim Officials May OK Plan to Convert Apartment Building

Housing officials in Anaheim will consider today whether to approve plans to establish the city’s first shelter for homeless families in an occupied 10-unit apartment building on the city’s north side.

The building, at 626 N. Pauline St., houses eight tenants. Plans call for beds to be made available to the homeless as units are vacated. Housing officials said three more units are expected to become available after December.

A task force composed of social service and religious groups had been searching for a suitable building to house the homeless since January, when a divided City Council agreed to apply for more than $203,000 in state emergency shelter funds.

The issue of locating a homeless shelter in Anaheim has generated heated controversy among residents and city officials alike.

The City Council will meet as the Housing Authority today at 1:30 in the council chambers to consider the Pauline Street proposal.

Plans to house homeless families in part of a Seventh-Day Adventist Church were dropped last year after generating intense opposition from residents who voiced fears about loitering and an upsurge in crime.

Deadlock on Fund Request

In January, the City Council, acting as the Housing Authority, deadlocked on a request for state funds for the housing plan. One councilman was persuaded to change his vote only after a businessman offered to pay all city costs associated with the fund request.

Mayor Ben Bay and Councilman Fred Hunter argued then that taxpayer money should not be used for charity, and Hunter contended that a shelter would invite more homeless to the city.

But county relief groups have documented an urgent need for more shelters for the homeless, according to Mary Hibbard, a member of the task force that picked the Anaheim site and a board member of Anaheim Interfaith Shelter Inc., the group organized to run the shelter.

Hibbard said recent studies have indicated there may be 5,000 to 10,000 homeless in Orange County. Countywide, there are about 10 shelters with 400 and 500 bed spaces. A survey of 22 Anaheim human service agencies last November revealed that more than 900 people were turned away with no provisions for shelter, and 491 others were referred to other county shelters.

“I don’t think anyone questions the need for more shelters for homeless families, for homeless single men and women and for the chronically mentally disabled,” Hibbard said.