LA HABRA : State Balks at Funding Women’s Shelter

After more than five years of planning, a shelter for women and children might not be built after all because of limits on state funding.

The City Council approved the 28-unit project, Mary’s Home, two years ago as transitional housing for the poor and homeless. Women and their children would be able to live there no longer than two years.

But the state has balked at the length-of-stay restriction and might refuse to lend the project’s developers, the St. Vincent de Paul Society, $1.2 million unless the limits are removed, said project manager Donald F. Averill.

The length-of-stay restriction is one reason City Council members voted for the project. They said last week that if they are forced to remove that condition, they probably will kill the project.

Mary’s Home opponents had urged the council to make the two-year maximum stay a condition of approval. But their main concern is the existing traffic and parking problems on Marian Street, next to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church. The shelter will be built on church property behind its school.

Although critics and supporters alike call Mary’s Home a worthwhile project, Marian Street residents said last week that they still oppose it because it might exacerbate parking problems.

Council members said they will wait until November to make a decision on the issue. Meanwhile, Averill said Mary’s Home will ask the state to relax its rule regarding shelter loans.