A Homey Setting for Homeless to Get Help : In Placentia, when you have nowhere else to go, you go to H.I.S. house.

The 29-bed shelter opened four years ago by the Placentia Presbyterian Church has helped 63 otherwise homeless families get on their feet. Tenants stay 60 to 90 days and are screened for their commitment to find jobs and save enough money to get back into traditional housing.

Far from institutional, H.I.S. (Homeless Intervention and Shelter) House is homey, with a fireplace and typical family furniture.

“I remember the first time I sat here, I said, ‘It’s been almost a year since I sat on a sofa,’ ” said one former resident, who asked that her name not be used.

H.I.S. house offered her son, now 21 months old, his first chance to play on a lawn. It offered her a chance to find an apartment. She is going back to school to train for a job to replace the one she lost because of a disability.

H.I.S. House residents have individual bedrooms, and the rest of the house is communal. Residents take part in weekly “life skills” classes and learn to interact with the world in a new way.

“Sometimes I want to cry when I think of what I lost. But then I think of what I gained,” the former resident said. “I learned to deal with people of all kinds of backgrounds. I learned to accept the situation. I learned no matter what, to not cry and keep going because it’s transitory.”