Valleywide : Plans Underway for Women’s Shelter

Leaders of a San Fernando Valley women’s group said plans are underway to build what will be the largest long-term shelter for battered women in Los Angeles County.

“At most emergency women’s shelters, you can only stay between 30 to 60 days,” said Melissa Hilario, a board member of Women Advancing the Valley Through Education, Economics and Empowerment, or WAVE.

“Our transitional shelter is going to be the second stage. Women and their children can stay up to 18 months,” Hilario said.

To be called Harbour Community, the shelter will be located somewhere in the Northeast San Fernando Valley and should be completed before the end of the year, said Pauline Ledesma, president of the agency’s board.

The shelter will add about 110 beds to the existing Valley inventory of about 62 beds, divided between women’s shelters run separately by Haven Hills Inc. and Jewish Family Services of Los Angeles.

In February, Haven Hills opened the Valley’s first transitional shelter for battered women, a 26-unit complex. The locations of such shelters are kept confidential for the safety of the residents.

WAVE’s planned facility will be designed to create a community environment consisting of 39 apartment units surrounded by a courtyard, a recreation room, library and private and group counseling rooms.

The shelter will offer parenting classes, job training and placement, educational opportunities, nutrition classes, fitness programs, financial management courses, computer training and medical and legal aid, according to WAVE officials. Payment will be determined on a sliding scale.

Construction of the facility, which will be financed partly by low-income housing funds from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, is scheduled to begin soon, Ledesma said.

For information, call (818) 776-WAVE.