Homeless Could Get Houses to Be Razed

Thirty-five houses slated to be torn down to make way for widening a road in Costa Mesa could be saved and relocated to provide low-income housing and temporary shelters for the homeless under a proposal to be presented to the Board of Supervisors today.

A report from the county Environmental Management Agency, drafted at the request of board Chairman Don R. Roth, says it would cost about $1.5 million to rehabilitate the houses but that the county could probably find state or federal funds to pay for most of the work.

Actual moving expenses would run another $1 million and would be paid for jointly by the city, the county and the housing authority, under the EMA proposal.

The houses are on Victoria Street, which the city of Costa Mesa wants to widen from two lanes to four at a cost of about $25 million. Most are three-bedroom stucco and wood-frame houses built in the 1950s, a city official said.

County administrators are recommending that about half of the 70 homes slated for demolition--only those that need no major repairs--be saved.

“Basically, when folks move in, it looks like a brand new house,” said Rick Efker, who heads new housing development at the EMA. “The benefits to the county come from a higher quality of life for some of its citizens and the recycling of some of these older but livable houses.”

Roth asked county planners to look into saving as many of the homes on Victoria Street as possible after the board voted last Tuesday on a proposal that would have relocated only five of them.

Under the EMA plan, the county would seek federal and state help to pay for rehabilitating the houses, estimated to cost a total of $1,575,000.

In large part, that money would be used to provide low-interest mortgage loans to low-income families who would be given the houses on condition they reimburse the county for repair costs.

Many of the homes could eventually be relocated to 15 low-income housing areas throughout the county that have been designated eligible for federal housing money. The county has already successfully relocated a few houses to these so-called target areas, Efker said.

If the board approves the plan today, it will then be up to the Costa Mesa City Council to give its approval.