Center for Poor Faces Closure as Costa Mesa Denies Lease Renewal

A major source of food and clothes for an estimated 20,000 homeless and poor people in Orange County may be forced to close because of the refusal by the Costa Mesa City Council to renew its lease, center directors said.

The warning that the Share Our Shelves (SOS) center may close permanently came after the council, siding with neighboring homeowners who argued that it attracts undesirables, voted 4 to 1 to give the program six months to find another location.

“Some people call it a reprieve,” said Jean Forbath, SOS founder and director. “We call it a stay of execution.”

Forbath said SOS has operated in Costa Mesa continuously since 1971 and out of the Rea Community Center on Hamilton Street for eight years. She said it was one of the largest such nonprofit aid programs in the county, providing food and other essentials to about 6,000 families, or about 20,000 people in all.

Forbath Hopes for Resolution

Forbath said SOS is not likely to find a suitable place to move to within the city, but she held out hope that a resolution can be found.

“Six months is a long time,” she said. “Who knows what’s going to happen?”

Forbath rejected the idea of moving to another city, saying SOS needs “to make a statement that an organization will not be pushed out because of the ‘not-in-my-backyard’ syndrome. We really feel there is no justification for us to leave.”

Forbath said the center spent about $600,000 last year, most of it from private donations. The city contributes $25,000 a month to the food and clothing center and another $10,000 monthly to the center’s medical clinic, which will remain open for at least another 18 months.

The council action came after more than four hours of debate in which dozens of people packed the council chambers.

Supporters of the center, 661 Hamilton St., left City Hall dejected after trying to convince council members that SOS was in the best possible location to serve its community. They warned that the homeless and other poor people who rely on the center to survive will have no other place to go.

“We gave it our best shot,” Forbath said. “They don’t believe us.”

The vote against renewing the lease came after the council came under heavy attack by residents in the area, some of whom complained about vagrants rummaging through garbage in the neighborhood.

“We’re tired, we’re worn out,” said resident Janice Davidson, who urged that the center be moved. “We have the right to save this neighborhood.”

Called Harmful to District

Councilman Orville Amburgey argued that the presence of SOS at the community center is hurting the neighborhood.

“I don’t think you have to be a rocket scientist to drive around and recognize the impact it has on the community,” he said. “It’s a real detriment to the community. . . . It just breeds people coming to it.”

He also questioned SOS’s need to shut down if it has to move.

“That’s like saying, ‘If you don’t play my game, I’ll take away my toys.’ ” he said, drawing jeers from some in the packed council chambers.

Voting with Amburgey against a new lease were Mayor Peter F. Buffa and council members Ed Glasgow and Sandra L. Genis. While stressing that they are not against SOS’s program, they said the concerns of homeowners must be heard and acknowledged that the issue is difficult to decide.

“If you won’t help, you have no heart, but if you don’t see the problem, you have no brains,” Genis said.

Gives in to Minority

Mary Hornbuckle, the only member of the council voting to keep SOS where it is, countered that the council had given in to a vocal minority.

“What I see happening is that a small group of people who have kept this issue stirred up too long have managed to put a rift through Costa Mesa,” she said.

Then looking down the dais she added, “And some of them are on this council.”

A motion by Amburgey for outright nonrenewal of the lease was defeated, 3 to 2. Buffa, expressing support for keeping the program alive, then suggested that the lease continue for six months while SOS and the city try to relocate the center to another area.

“I have not been convinced that the Rea Center is the best location for SOS,” a weary Buffa told the council after midnight. “There is no ideal location.”

Residents near SOS on the city’s west side said they are satisfied with the vote.

‘Fair on Both Sides’

“It was a fair vote,” said Janice Bence, wearing a yellow ribbon to show her support for moving the center. “The council voted fair on both sides.”

The morning after the raucous meeting, which Buffa stopped briefly twice because of jeering and booing in the standing-room-only crowd, Forbath was back at her desk at SOS, speaking about the future of the center above the din of clients waiting in line.

She noted that the 20-member SOS board voted last month not to move the center if it is forced to vacate its home of eight years.

“We could not afford the rent or meet other restrictions we would encounter if we tried to move to another location,” she said.

Forbath said people called throughout the morning to support keeping the center where it is. A brown paper grocery bag, signed by dozens of SOS clients as a petition, was on her desk.

Clients, some of whom fall between the cracks of government aid programs, showed up at the center Tuesday, worried that life would be rougher without SOS.

She Would Need 2 Jobs

“If SOS closes, I would have to get two jobs,” said a 38-year-old woman who needs $120 a month in medication, most of which comes through SOS aid. “I just don’t know. . . .”

Others, such as another woman who did not want her name used, can breathe a little easier. The council decided that the SOS medical clinic may remain open for at least the next 18 months.

But those who rely on SOS and its 200 volunteers for groceries or clothing have no such option.

Sheila Warner of Costa Mesa said the center helped get her off the street. She met her husband there two years ago.

“There is no other place like SOS,” said Warner, now a center volunteer. “The council will learn that the hard way.”

Although Buffa called the decision a “fair compromise,” SOS supporters were rattled.

“We’re very disappointed,” SOS chairman Scott Mather said after the meeting. “It’s hard to fathom why they decided to do that.”

“Nobody deals with people like we do,” he said. “We’re the court of last appeal. We’re a stabilizing force in the west side.”