A Chance to Make a New Start

It is just a temporary way station for a small segment of the San Gabriel Valley’s suburban homeless population. But those who find a place at Our House Shelter in Pomona say it provides them a cushion between the streets and a new start.

“This gives you a chance to set up your goals. Thirty days. It’s a real big help,” said Jackie Hart, 28.

Hart and her husband, Mike Pieters, 40, landed at Our House after Hart called Azusa City Hall trying to get help. She and Pieters had lived in a friend’s van and several motels before they arrived at the shelter in mid-November. Hart was laid off as a telephone operator and Pieters’ construction job offers stopped coming in. They were evicted from their Azusa apartment after they lost their jobs. Their 4-year-old son, Seth, is staying with Hart’s sister in Pasadena.

“When you get laid off, those bills still have to be paid,” Hart said. “And even though you’re out there looking, looking, looking for a job, looking won’t pay those bills. And time does keep moving.

“And then, before you know it, you’re a month behind in this, you’re a week behind in that. People aren’t as patient nowadays as they used to be. And then, all of a sudden, things pile up. First, the lights go. Then, your gas goes. Then here comes the landlord, here comes the sheriff to put you out. Even though you’re trying your hardest to stay afloat, it doesn’t work.”

But, as are many of the residents, Hart is optimistic about her chances of getting out of the shelter and on her feet again. She has had an interview for a job as an operator at a nearby hospital.

“With the grace of the God, hey, we’ll all make it,” Hart said. Under the rules of the shelter, Hart and her husband are allowed to stay for 30 days. By their deadline, Dec. 18, they hope to have found a permanent place to live.

Hart and Pieters are among 22 temporary residents at the shelter, run by the Pomona Valley Council of Churches. Unlike other shelters in Pomona, Our House does not require any religious observances by its residents.

Besides a bed and a roof, Our House provides assistance in applying for and receiving social welfare benefits. It also helps people look for permanent housing and jobs.

The goal of the program, which began in 1983, is to return homeless people to self-sufficiency, said Judith Griffin, associate director of the church council. “Most places are a place to sleep. . . . This . . . is a program,” she said.

In Our House’s main room, second-hand sofas and chairs face a color television. The walls are liberally decorated with pictures drawn by children staying at the shelter. Eight doors lead to bedrooms just large enough to accommodate two cots and a small table each.

During the day, adult residents must leave the shelter to look for work, apply for welfare benefits or seek housing. Children go to a church-run day-care center or to school.

To Griffin’s delight, about half of the 15 families that have left the shelter in the last 60 days have found permanent housing.

“If one family a month goes out and finds permanent housing, I would say we have succeeded,” Griffin said.

Because taking care of their children is a primary responsibility for many families, the shelter arranges for the children to attend local public schools, and volunteers coordinate after-school activities such as homework sessions and arts and crafts. The volunteers, many of whom are students from the nearby Claremont Colleges, also provide the children with one-on-one attention, “something they really need,” Griffin said.

“Parents have a hard time looking for a job with a child on their hips,” Griffin said.

The shelter helps with job referrals and gives its tenants access to rental assistance programs, including some that lend applicants the first and last month’s rent required by some landlords.

It also helps its clients find free, appropriate clothing to wear while job-hunting. And residents use the shelter’s telephone number as an answering service where they can be reached by prospective employers.

Food and clothing are donated by individuals and by the 73 member churches of the Pomona Valley Council of Churches.