IRVINE : City Deciding Who Gets Housing Funds

Racked with scandal, the future of Irvine Temporary Housing hangs tenuously in the hands of city officials who are debating whether to continue providing funding for the 7-year-old program.

An announcement of the city’s decision is targeted for Jan. 12, City Manager Paul O. Brady said this week.

At issue is a $408,000 grant from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development for affordable housing.

“Who will get the $408,000 is the question that will be answered on Jan. 12,” Brady said.

According to Brady, the city can give the money to one of three organizations--Jamboree Housing, Orange County Community Housing or ITH--divvy the money up among the organizations or send the money back to HUD. The city has a task force looking into the issue and alternatives.

Margie Wakeham, who chairs ITH’s board of directors, said one option is for ITH and Jamboree Housing to consolidate their efforts in order to get the funding. Wakeham said that the two could gain by joining together because they both are housing groups with small staffs.

“I could see sharing an office and I can also see down the road Jamboree going toward developing affordable housing,” she said.

Wakeham said that although both organizations rely on community support, their focus differs slightly. Jamboree, she said, works to obtain subsidized housing for its clients. “We (ITH) work with building affordable housing,” she said. “We could benefit from working with each other.”

Some other differences are that ITH provides social service counseling, a food pantry and has scores of volunteers. Jamboree is basically a one-person office, Wakeham said.

Lila Lieberthal, the executive director for Jamboree Housing, said she wouldn’t mind if the two housing organizations consolidated in order to save the HUD funds.

Both Jamboree Housing and ITH have had at least two meetings regarding a possible alliance, Lieberthal said.

“We are open to working with them and taking care of some of their applicants,” Lieberthal said.

Allen Baldwin, the executive director for Orange County Community Housing, said that there has been considerable damage done to the name of ITH because of a recent financial scandal. He said he favors establishing another similar housing group with ITH’s volunteers.

Last month Clyde E. Weinman, the former executive director of ITH, was charged with forging signatures on agency checks totaling $450,000. Arraignment on the charges is pending.

“The problems with ITH will continue to affect anyone connected with the name,” Baldwin said. “It has to be isolated so that it doesn’t become an uncurable cancer.”

Baldwin also said that the people who work for ITH are the real asset of the company and that their shelter services are still necessary.

“The volunteers who worked for ITH didn’t work for the organization because it’s ITH. They worked for it because they are committed to working for people,” Baldwin said. “This city still needs to provide shelter.”