Funding of Irvine’s Homeless Project Blocked by Badham

Under pressure from angry Irvine residents, Rep. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) has persuaded the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development to reconsider its decision to give Irvine $496,000 to convert an animal shelter into housing for the homeless.

Badham’s intervention is a victory of sorts for residents seeking to derail plans for a shelter or “transitional housing” for homeless families on a 20-acre site where an animal shelter is now in East Irvine. Among the options being considered by the city is transforming a vacant dog kennel into a 50-bed shelter.

To build the homeless shelter, the city--along with nonprofit Irvine Temporary Housing--applied for the federal grant, which was approved by HUD earlier this month. But a HUD spokesman Monday confirmed that the agency has put the grant on hold for at least two weeks “to review” the Irvine homeless project. The spokesman declined, however, to comment further on the agency’s review or its implications.

50 Complaints Cited

Badham said in Washington Tuesday that he had asked HUD to delay funding the grant after more than 50 Irvine residents had written or called his office in recent days. He added that he has personal concerns about the “appropriateness” of opening a homeless facility so close to an animal shelter and under the flight path of military jets.

Further, he said it appeared that the grant had been “approved very quickly,” without comment from residents.

The city-owned site targeted by the City Council for a homeless center is in the 1500 block of Sand Canyon Avenue, just south of the Santa Ana Freeway and east of the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

Badham said of the city’s current approach of placing homeless families in five apartments scattered around Irvine: “It’s a lot nicer to live in an apartment than a dog shelter.”

Of the planned new shelter, he said: “I’m not sure this is the best way to help the homeless. Instead of isolating them from society, we should be helping them back into the mainstream, and you don’t do that by shutting them up together in a converted animal shelter.”

The council is scheduled to decide what type of homeless facility to put on the Sand Canyon site on Nov. 24. Members also left the door open to locating the shelter elsewhere in the city, but Mayor Larry Agran has said it will be hard to find a better location than the isolated Sand Canyon parcel.

City Not Notified

City officials said they had not been contacted by Badham’s office or HUD about the decision to review the city’s homeless grant. Despite the HUD review, Asst. City Manager Paul Brady said plans for the shelter are moving forward. Officials hope to open a new homeless shelter by next summer.

“In the short run, this (review) will have no impact on the project,” Brady said. “But if two weeks becomes several months, that is a different story.”

In a letter sent to HUD last week, Brady said the city is seeking a clarification on how the grant money can be used. The city’s original proposal called for converting one of the two kennels at the animal shelter into housing for the homeless. Since then, the public outcry over the idea has prompted the city to consider using modular units, such as trailers, at the Sand Canyon site.

The City Council is expected to discuss the issue at Tuesday’s meeting.

Lou Roberts, an Irvine resident who has been sharply critical of the council’s homeless plan, labeled Badham’s action “very encouraging.” Roberts, who lives less than half a mile from the city animal shelter, said that the “council should realize an awful lot of people are opposed to this.”

At a recent meeting, Roberts told the council that a decision to push ahead with the homeless plan could lead to a court fight or recall effort.