Countywide : Board OKs Loans to Forestall Evictions

The county expects to start approving up to $1 million in no-interest loans within the next six weeks for residents in danger of eviction. The Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved four nonprofit organizations as disbursers of the money.

One-time loans of up to $2,000 per household will be made available to anyone having trouble making a rent payment or security deposit. The loans are part of a program designed to prevent homelessness in Orange County, Supervisor Harriett M. Wieder said Tuesday.

“Recipients will receive a hand up, not a handout,” Wieder said.

The money will be given out over a period of three years and it should help up to 15,000 households countywide, said Kathleen Campini, a spokesman for Wieder.

The county anticipates it will complete negotiations with the nonprofit organizations in the next six weeks, and residents will then immediately be able to apply for the loans, Campini said.

Ray Havert, founder of Saddleback Community Outreach in Laguna Hills, said the program will help “terrifically” in his organization’s attempt to provide rent assistance.

“We’ll be able to extend the program to far more people than we could on our own,” he said.

In these economically tough times, all kinds of people need help to prevent homelessness, he said.

While no income requirements are necessary to get the loans, a recipient must prove need and the ability to repay, Campini said. A family making $40,000 a year that fell on bad times would be just as eligible as someone who earns less, she said.

Organizations handling the loans will be FISH-Harbor Area Inc. of Costa Mesa; Interval House, a shelter for battered women; Lutheran Social Services of Southern California in Fullerton, and Saddleback Community Outreach in Laguna Hills.