Opening the Doors to Housing

Thank you for your very appropriate editorial commending the Building Industry Assn.’s HomeAid program.

HomeAid recently completed its first successful year of activities, which included renovation or construction of five homeless shelters throughout Orange County.

Your suggestion that HomeAid be copied throughout Southern California is fitting. In fact, the Building Industry Assn. of Southern California has recently adopted the HomeAid program and is expanding HomeAid at a regional level, including Riverside, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

HomeAid has been instrumental developing an adopt-a-shelter manual which will be used to assist these regions in establishing shelter projects.

Transitional housing represents the first stage of HomeAid’s efforts, and this will continue throughout the coming year. At the same time we are working with the public and nonprofit sectors to identify and promote long-term, low-income permanent housing.

The editorial also states that the building industry should develop more shelter projects and that permanent housing, like single room occupancy hotels (SROs), should also be developed.

To all of the above we agree, and we are already charting such a course of action. The BIA is working closely with the city/county SRO task force to explore the development of the Orange County SRO projects in the near future.

Again, we thank you for reminding us of our responsibility to provide “affordable housing.”

L.C. ALBERTSON JR.

Chairman

HomeAid Orange Country