Ryan Center Gets 2 New Leases on Life : Rehabilitation: After its shutdown by the state, the facility reopens at residences in Pacoima and Lake View Terrace.

Less than two weeks after the state Parole Department forced the closure of the Ryan Center in North Hollywood over alleged building and safety violations, the residential facility for parolees and recovering addicts has found a new home.

Actually, two homes.

The nonprofit, privately run center is now operating out of a six-bedroom house in Pacoima and a three-bedroom house in Lake View Terrace.

Although the center’s director initially fought the change, she is now pleased.

“This has really turned out to be a blessing,” said Claudia Ryan, who runs the center. “Now we have more of a home than an institution. I’m not a real religious person, but I really believe that God meant for us to be somewhere else.”

Parole agents closed her North Hollywood facility on Feb. 9, forcing the relocation of 30 parolees who were living there.

Frank Marino, field parole administrator for the area that includes the San Fernando Valley, said he ordered the men moved because the property owner told him the building was unsafe. Although parolees are free to live almost anywhere, Marino said he ordered them to move so the state agency would not be held liable for any injuries.

Marino, the parole administrator, said he was not aware that Ryan had reopened her facility, but said the agency will be looking into the operation because of past complaints from neighbors.

“She seems to like a lot of press conferences, which incites the neighborhood, and then we get complaints from the community,” Marino said.

Ryan, a former prison counselor and the granddaughter of a prison warden, said her new neighbors have nothing to fear. The mother of one of the parolees helped her find the Pacoima house that will house as many as 15 men, Ryan said. The three-bedroom house in Lake View Terrace is also in a residential neighborhood and will house six men.

The sprawling Pacoima house sits on two lots on a corner in a neighborhood of mostly small, older, but well-kept homes. It has large front and back yards, a swimming pool and a courtyard.

“We’re going around and introducing ourselves to the neighbors,” she said. “So far no one has complained. We don’t have any child molesters or rapists or violent felons here. It’s a mixed population of men on parole and in recovery programs. We have a clean-and-sober program and a spiritual program.”

Residents of the center said Tuesday they liked their new home.

“It’s a lot more cozier, a lot more ike a home,” said Juan Rodriguez, 28, a recovering drug addict who has been at the center for two months. “It’s not on a main street like the North Hollywood place.”

Anthony Kimberly, 31, a seven-month resident of Ryan Center, said he has been off drugs for more than two years and hopes to move out within six months. One of his goals is to get custody of his 7-year-old daughter.

“This place has helped me to adjust to life in society,” Kimberly said as he unpacked his belongings in his new room at the Pacoima house. “Claudia cared about me when no one else did. I now want to do whatever I need to do to maintain a home for me and my daughter.”

Anthony McLaughlin, 23, is also at the Ryan Center to straighten out his life for the sake of his child, 2-year-old Eddie.

“This place is providing me with some stability and teaching me discipline,” McLaughlin said as he watched Eddie play in the courtyard. “This place also lets me bring my son here and spend some time with him. I never would have brought him to the center in North Hollywood.”