ORANGE COUNTY PERSPECTIVE : Opening Doors to Housing

With 8,000 to 10,000 people homeless in Orange County--half of them children--six new apartment units may not do much to meet the need for housing. But to the families involved, they represent a fresh chance to get on surer economic footing in the face of housing costs that are out of sight for many. For that reason, HomeAid, a year-old, nonprofit program sponsored by the Building Industry Assn., is something to be celebrated and praised.

The BIA, a trade association best known for its strong pro-growth stance on development, announced a year ago it would fund a $1-million effort to help the homeless. HomeAid subsequently renovated shelters for the homeless or abused women in Garden Grove, Midway City, San Clemente and Fullerton. Soon, it will open its first newly constructed facility, a $350,000, six-unit complex in El Modena. All told, HomeAid says it has added 114 beds to the county’s low-cost housing stock. The HomeAid projects provide transitional living quarters for people who need help temporarily while they save enough money to get apartments of their own.

But the need is much greater. The county is short by 4,500 transitional units alone, and there’s an even greater need for permanent low-cost housing for people to move into once they are self-sufficient.

While what it has done so far is praiseworthy, Orange County’s building industry could do more. It’s in a unique position to be able to put together public/private partnerships to provide low-cost housing, such as single-room occupancy hotels or inexpensive apartments, for those on the lower end of the economic scale.

Thousands of people in Orange County have lost their homes through illness, job loss, divorce or other setbacks. HomeAid represents the first major effort by private industry to help solve the homeless problem in Orange County. It is a model of commitment worth expanding and following.