Bogged Down : Salvation Army Occupies Tight Quarters as Renovation Drags On

It’s not easy running an army out of a trailer.

So Maj. Eddie Patterson just keeps thinking about the day when the Salvation Army will open its newly renovated Ventura headquarters.

But after two months in a cramped temporary trailer, it sometimes seems as if the mid-December completion date may never arrive, Patterson said Thursday, surrounded on three sides by piles of files and scattered papers.

“We just take it one hurdle at a time,” he said.

It was in 1991 that the Salvation Army first approached the city with the idea of transforming the charity’s aging headquarters at 155 Oak St. into a shelter for homeless single women and families. It has taken nearly two years to raise the $628,000 needed to modernize the 6,000-square-foot building, Patterson said.

The project was also slowed down by the need to obtain special construction permits. And when builders found asbestos-laden insulation while tearing out walls in the 1950s-era building, work stopped so specialists could be called in to remove it, Patterson said.

Construction supervisor Mike McConnell said work began about two months ago. The old kitchen area was nearly demolished to make way for a larger, industrial-style galley, he said.

A 3,000-square-foot annex is being added to the rear of the building, providing eight apartments to house homeless families. Other major changes include a dormitory to house 31 single women and extra laundry and storage areas, Patterson said.

On Thursday, a lone mason could be seen mortaring cement blocks onto the building’s new facade. The rest of the building was a shambles, with walls ripped out, wiring exposed and floor tiles pulled up.

While construction continues, Patterson and other Salvation Army employees are sharing space in a 400-square-foot trailer parked beside the old headquarters. Visitors streamed through the trailer’s front office Thursday to pick up free sack lunches while Patterson juggled phone calls and searched for writing space on his cluttered desk.

In addition to the free lunches, the Salvation Army provides counseling, chapel services and vouchers for homeless people to stay at local hotels.

The city of Ventura agreed to give the Salvation Army a $200,000 grant for the expansion project; the remaining money came from state grants and donations, Patterson said.

If construction stays on track, the new homeless shelter will open for business in January, Patterson said. A $1.3-million federal housing grant will cover operating costs through 1999, he said.

Single homeless women and families will be welcome to stay at the shelter for up to six months, Patterson said. The center will provide clothing, child care, counseling and transportation to help the shelter’s residents get back on their feet, he said.

Residents of the small apartments will be charged a minimal rent, which will be returned to them to be used as a security deposit on an apartment or house when they move, Patterson said.

“The idea is to get them back into permanent housing and to provide some job skills,” Patterson said.

The Salvation Army will contract with other charity organizations to provide some services, he said.

The center will not be open to single homeless men because they would have to be housed in a separate facility and there was not enough money to do that, Patterson said.

Patterson’s wife, Ann, a part-time bookkeeper for the organization, said she has given up trying to enter figures on balance sheets while at the office. There is simply no room on her desk, which is shoved up against her husband’s.

“I’m moving to the family room at home,” she said. “It’s just not practical to try to do any of that here.”