Coad Wants Foster Kids to Occupy Base Homes

Each year, about 300 foster teens in Orange County reach the age of 18 and are “emancipated” into the real world. But freedom has a cost.

Typically, the teenagers hold poor-paying jobs, have little or no job history and no credit rating. For landlords, especially in Orange County’s tight rental market, those are red flags on any rental application, said Supervisor Cynthia P. Coad, who believes she has a better idea.

Coad, who is backing fellow Supervisor Tom Wilson in his attempt to get the Board of Supervisors to approve use of hundreds of military homes and apartments at the former El Toro Marine base for civilian housing programs, wants to ensure that emancipated youths, ages 18 to 21, have a chance for base housing.

“My idea is to have housing for them but with wraparound services such as on-site job training, counseling and social services, including substance-abuse rehabilitation if they need it but all in a campus-like approach,” Coad said.

The supervisor won approval last week from the board, which directed county staff to develop a housing plan for former foster youths throughout the county with emphasis at El Toro. County officials have 60 days to complete the plan and present it to the board.

Housing advocates argue that El Toro presents an opportunity to generate revenue and use its housing assets until a reuse plan is approved by supervisors, which could take years. The base has 1,183 housing units, including 850 homes in one tract alone, and more than 4,300 barracks or dormitory units.

Jim Palmer, executive director of the Orange County Rescue Mission, said the former base--spread over 4,700 acres in South County--could provide a foothold to former foster youths while putting empty homes and former military dorms to good use.

“I’m a member of the supervisor’s task force on foster care,” Palmer said. “And, we helped Cynthia with the idea. She wants to make sure that if housing opens up at El Toro under Wilson’s plan, that foster kids have a placeholder in the overall plan.”

According to foster-care advocates, housing for more than 1,300 young people leaving their care is at a critical stage. The county has only 70 beds at community-based organizations. A grand jury report issued in February found that housing for those who have left the foster-care system is “almost nonexistent” in the county.

“Housing is a critical piece of the puzzle,” said Gene Howard, president of Orangewood Children’s Foundation, which raises money for the Orangewood children’s emergency shelter. “You can’t do much else without housing because issues with job[s] and school[s] then become impossible.”

Dealing with life issues is already difficult for the average teenager, Howard said. But when teens leave the foster-care system, they must fend for themselves with no family for financial or emotional support, he said.

The county spends $103 million a year, nearly the same amount it does for welfare, for foster care and serves 3,216 children.

It’s only been in recent years that county agencies statewide have begun tracking and focusing on those youths older than 18.

In years past, foster support stopped once the youths turned 18, and problems could begin, Coad said.

“I’ve seen in 18 years of teaching economically disadvantaged adults that if you offer them job training and other skills, it allows them to help themselves,” Coad said. “It’s a small investment but one that can give people loads of self-esteem. With these foster-care children, once we have failure, they can easily get involved in crime, and society will end up paying a higher cost.”

Many foster children have been victims of abuse, have learning disabilities or carry the emotional baggage of being unwanted, said Larry Leaman, the county’s social services director.

Of the 1,389 emancipated youths being served in the county, only 21% were in an independent living program receiving help with such life skills as how to rent an apartment, balance a checkbook and find a job.

Advocates argue that transitional youth housing at El Toro is a good idea. But the county must agree on a lease with the Navy by Sept. 1, the deadline the Navy has set to turn over the property or padlock the base.

“Neither Supervisor Coad nor myself will have any base housing if we don’t sign a master lease by the end of the month,” Wilson said. “I remain skeptical that we’re going to sign this lease, and we may lose every non-aviation opportunity out there.”

Supervisors are expected to talk about the lease and any last-minute problems at their meeting on Tuesday. Originally, the lease was to be approved July 1, but county staff delays prompted supervisors to seek an extension to Sept. 1.

Last week, supervisors publicly acknowledged that county staff had dragged its feet for months on lease preparation that included critical environmental assessments of the former base.

If the Navy has no lease and locks El Toro’s gates, the public couldn’t use horse stables there, or a golf course, child-care facilities and a recreational-vehicle storage facility.