HUNTINGTON BEACH : Bulk of HUD Funds to Go for Housing

The city has received $1.2 million in federal funds which it will use mainly for housing rehabilitation, Oak View-area street improvements and social programs.

The City Council allocated the largest slice of the Department of Housing and Urban Development funds, $372,072, for housing rehabilitation.

Another $200,000 will go toward improving curbs, gutters, lighting and other improvements in the blighted Oak View area, a chief focus in the city’s 1990-91 spending plan. In addition, $99,680 of the grant money will go toward Operation Logos, an Oak View-area youth employment program.

About $167,550 will be divided among 18 social programs. The top grant recipient is the Huntington Beach Community Clinic, a low-cost health center, which will get $30,000. The Legal Aid Society, which provides legal assistance for low-income residents, will receive $27,000.

City officials originally had planned to earmark $20,000 of the funds for a planned homeless shelter, which would be the city’s first. However, council members, at the urging of Councilman Don MacAllister, trimmed the shelter contribution to $12,500, funneling the other $7,500 instead to the Huntington Beach Boys and Girls Club.

MacAllister said he opposed allocating the full $20,000 for the shelter because he is not convinced that firm plans are in place for the temporary housing facility.

The Rev. Jim Miller, who operates other homeless shelters in Orange County, said he has tentative plans to set one up in Huntington Beach for $20,000. MacAllister said that once Miller submits official plans for the shelter, he will back the council in reallocating block-grant funds to replace the $7,500.

The remaining 1990-91 HUD funds will be distributed among Project Self-Sufficiency, a single-parents aid program; the Fair Housing Council; land-use enforcement; administration costs and a contingency fund.