Countywide : Shelter for Battered Women Dedicated

Interval House II, the county’s fourth shelter for battered women and children, was dedicated Friday, wrapping up a series of events to mark Homeless Awareness Week.

The bright, five-bedroom, three-bath home located in a sunny residential neighborhood will provide shelter to 20 women and children within the next few weeks. The structure was rehabilitated through the joint efforts of Interval House, the county Department of Housing and Community Development, A-M Homes of Newport Beach and Homeaid, the building industry’s program to build and renovate homeless shelters.

The $350,000 project will serve women countywide. It took two years to complete, joining two homes by moving a condemned house onto a lot with an existing building. The shelter includes a communal kitchen, living room, two outdoor play areas for children, and separate offices for public outreach and counseling. Officials have requested that the address of the house not be made public, to protect the residents there.

“We are absolutely thrilled,” said Carol Williams, executive director of Interval House, to a gathering of about 20 volunteers and supporters of the project. “I had heard people talk about a private-public partnership and how it should work. But we have experienced it emotionally and women and children are going to benefit.”

Interval House, a battered women’s advocacy organization headquartered in Seal Beach, runs an emergency shelter nearby that houses up to 32 battered women.

Interval House II is considered “second-stage” transitional housing and will serve battered women who are nearly self-sufficient, but need an additional three to six months of aid.

Williams said her organization turns away 200 women each month whom they cannot accommodate. About 4 million women are victims of domestic violence each year in the United States, she said.

A-M Homes recruited 40 subcontractors, who contributed nearly $100,000 in lights, concrete, tile, alarms, carpet and drywall, as well as labor to the project, said Larry Webb, president of A-M Homes.

Homeaid will donate about $10,000 in beds, cribs and other furnishings. The shelter is Homeaid’s seventh project in Orange County and its 14th in Southern California.