Homeless May Find Shelter at Tustin Base

Several local homeless agencies are planning to stake claim to property at the Tustin Marine Corps Air Station under a federal law that gives homeless agencies first crack at surplus military bases.

Officials with local homeless agencies have expressed a wide range of interest in the Tustin facility, indicating that they might convert storage space into warehouses for county food banks and Marine housing into much-needed shelter for homeless and low-income people.

On Thursday, representatives of at least six Orange County groups that serve the homeless will tour the facility with Marine and city officials before formulating specific plans for some sections of the base.

The Tustin base, which opened in 1942 as a ground facility for blimps, is scheduled to be closed in 1997.

Under a 1987 law that bears the name of its sponsor, the late Rep. Stewart McKinney of Connecticut, the first crack at surplus military bases must go to agencies that serve the homeless. The McKinney Act requires the Pentagon to make available to the Department of Housing and Urban Development a list of surplus property. HUD publishes the list, and nonprofit groups that provide homeless services apply for the free use of all or part of the property, through the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Although the McKinney Act provides preference to homeless people, officials with the city, the Pentagon and local social service providers say that any reuse plan for the Tustin facility could also make provision for low-income Orange County residents who have difficulty finding affordable housing because of high rents and prohibitive real estate prices.

Both Tustin and Pentagon officials said the city is obligated under federal law to solicit the opinions of local social service agencies in planning for base conversion.

Tustin and the Pentagon are presently putting together a plan to convert the 1,600-acre helicopter base into a mixed-use community of industries, businesses and homes that would support the local economy for years to come. They expected to recommend such a plan to the Pentagon by May, 1994.

Hoping to avoid a confrontation with local homeless agencies over the base’s prized assets, officials recently invited local social service providers to state their interest, if any, in the Tustin facility.

Homelessness “is a countywide problem,” said Christine Shingleton, the deputy city manager in charge of putting together the city’s reuse plan. “To ignore these groups and go ahead with our plan would have been irresponsible,” she said.

The relatively harmonious environment in which a reuse plan for the Tustin base is being formulated contrasts with plans involving the future of the nearby El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, which is also scheduled to be closed in four to six years.

Some South County cities are unhappy with the county’s plan to involve them solely in an advisory capacity and have demanded “a joint powers authority” that would give them a voice in deciding how the 4,700-acre site will be developed. County government has insisted that it should be the sole arbiter of El Toro’s future.

Officials with agencies that serve the local homeless population say they are excited by the potential of the Tustin facility to help solve an acute housing problem.

Orange County’s homeless population is estimated at 12,000, but local shelters can accommodate only 1,000 people. Local shelters receive some additional support during the winter when the county opens its two national Guard armories--in Santa Ana and Fullerton--to homeless people. Each facility can accommodate up to 125 people.

The Tustin base has 1,539 family housing units, which officials said could be converted to housing for low-income people. Additional bachelor units, which house 1,104 enlisted personnel, may be suitable for a homeless shelter.

“We can’t pass up this opportunity, considering that affordable housing is almost nonexistent in Orange County,” said Tim Shaw, executive director of the Orange County Homeless Issues Task Force, an Irvine-based group. “The McKinney Act gives us a fighting chance of accessing some of these units.”

Scott Mather, a director of St. Vincent de Paul Society, which operates 25 Orange County centers for low-income and homeless people, said he believes the Tustin base and the McKinney Act provide homeless groups with “a once-in-a-lifetime chance” to acquire affordable housing units for residents who cannot afford the county high rent and real estate prices.

“The homeless should have their fair shot,” Mather said. “The only responsible thing for us to do is to go after (these units.)”

Apart from Shaw and Mather, representatives of the Community Development Council and the Westminster-based Shelter for the Homeless, which operates 22 local shelters that house 104 people, will participate in Thursday’s tour.

Tustin City Manager William A. Huston said Monday that residents need not be concerned that the entire Marine base would be converted into “a giant homeless shelter.”

Rather, said Huston, “the federal government is interested in taking big chunks of land and turning it into (profitable) enterprises.”

* EL TORO CONTROVERSY: Compromise is in the offing in debate over Marine base. B1