Day-Care Project Is Established

Shelter for the Homeless in Westminster has established a Day Care Assistance Project to provide help for low-income families with children younger than 14 years old.

“Typically, people think of the homeless as the people who come into the armories and sleep on the cots for a few days,” said Jeff Hamaker, who developed the day-care assistance program. “In Orange County, the homeless population is different than what people think. There are a lot of families, women and children,” Hamaker said. “More and more women are entering the ranks of the homeless.”

Single mothers and children today make up 60% of the homeless population, according to Shelter for the Homeless.

A study by the shelter showed that lack of day-care assistance was a major factor in parents’ failure to get and keep jobs. More than 80% of the women have children. Once the women find jobs--even with the new income--it’s hard to pay for day care, Hamaker said.

“Typically day care costs $550 a month per child. Even with a conservative budget, day care takes between a third and a half of the income,” Hamaker said. “This is the real problem.”

The shelter will pay 50% of the cost of a day care of the woman’s choice for six months, and the $28,080 grant for the program came from the Orange County Community Foundation.

Information: (714) 897-3221.

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Louise Roug can be reached at (714) 966-5977.