Homeless Advocate Not Just a Bureaucrat

When Karen Roper was named to county government’s new position of homeless coordinator 15 months ago, she came armed with a network of resources and deep experience in how to squeeze money out of the federal government.

She discovered right away that jeans and tennis shoes come in handy too.

Her first weekend on the job, authorities told Roper she’d have to do something about two separate homeless encampments, one in Trabuco Canyon and another in Talbert Regional Park near Costa Mesa.

You’re the homeless coordinator, she was told; what’s your plan?

Roper’s “plan” for that weekend defined her approach to her new job. She took teams of private and county resource people who scaled fences and thick underbrush with her to reach the homeless. They didn’t just dissipate the camps; they found housing for those who would take it, food for the others, and discovered which ones were entitled to benefits they weren’t getting.

“Homeless people don’t come to you seeking your services,” Roper said. “You have to go to them.”

Roper has been winning accolades from all corners for her commitment to the county’s 18,000 homeless. But she was hired for her savvy in how to fight through the maze of government bureaucracy to bring the county more dollars for homeless causes.

There’s evidence that it’s working.

In 1997, when the county supervisors applied for federal dollars for local homeless programs, it came up with an embarrassing goose egg. A fat zero.

Supervisor Chuck Smith met with HUD officials in Washington and learned why: Orange County had lots going on for the homeless, but none of it was organized.

The county used to have a homeless coordinator. But that job got the ax in 1994 when the bankruptcy- embarrassed county supervisors wanted to save a few thousand in salary.

Washington made them pay the price for that meager savings.

Roper, working in the Housing and Community Development Department, put together the 1998 grant which brought in $6.5 million for homeless programs. So she was a natural choice for the new coordinator position. In 1999 she got $6.8 million in homeless grants, and expects $7.3 million for 2000. Also, she’s got a shot at a record amount of state funds for emergency shelter relief.

Roper, 37, who has worked for county government since she was 17, talks bureaucratese with ease, her conversation peppered with acronyms for government agencies and talk of “strategic approaches.”

But the biggest challenge in helping Orange County’s homeless can’t be measured in dollars, she said, but in an acronym that everybody knows: NIMBY.

Not in My Back Yard.

“You drive through Orange County, you don’t even know the homeless shelters are there, because they blend in with the community,” Roper said. “But yet, you talk about building a new one, everybody gets upset. They don’t want the homeless near them.”

Which is a shame, because most of the homeless were once our working neighbors. They’re either down on their luck or, because the county has so little affordable housing available, they just can’t swing monthly payments.

That’s why Roper also sits on an affordable housing committee, because it’s so directly related.

“Without affordable housing, many people simply shuttle in and out of the shelter system,” Roper said. “You can do the math; we simply do not have enough shelter beds in this county.”

We’re under 2,500 shelter beds here. We need five times that many.

For all the county’s shortcomings in solving its homeless problems, most see hiring a county coordinator as at least a right step.

Lisa Castaneda, executive director of the nonprofit Shelter & Hunger Partnership, explains it was difficult before to deal with myriad county agencies who might have input on a homeless issue.

“Now we can go to one central location; Karen knows just who to call,” Castaneda said.

The two became friends that first crisis weekend of Roper’s job. Castaneda was one of those Roper called for help. Now it’s become a set routine: When the police report someone homeless, Roper and Castaneda don their jeans and head out together for a preliminary check. Then they split up the phone calls to find the right agency or nonprofit group to assist.

Toni Dwyer, who worked with Roper on the Homeless Issues Task Force, believes the county got more than jut an expert in bureaucracy.

“Karen’s real concern is those who don’t have a voice, who can’t speak up for themselves,” Dwyer said.

The day I interviewed Roper, a sheriff’s deputy called seeking her help with a homeless man in Modjeska Canyon. Roper pointed out two things about that call: Law enforcement agencies are much more sensitive to homeless issues than they used to be (when they’d simply arrest someone). Also, homeless people who set up housing on vacant land never stop to think that there is no such thing as vacant land; it’s always someone’s private property. Someone who’d just as soon they move along.

Roper’s immediate goals: more shelters, and what she calls “more players at the table” to help on homeless issues.

Spreading her network.

“There is no generic homeless story,” Roper said. “Everyone is different. And they all need our help.”

Jerry Hicks may be reached at (714) 966-7789 or jerry.hicks@latimes.com.