Homeless Advocates Assail Santa Ana for Waiving U.S. Grant

Advocates for the homeless reacted angrily Thursday upon learning that Santa Ana’s was one of just five local governments in the nation that declined this year to apply for emergency federal housing grants.

A total of 322 cities and urban counties will begin receiving a total of $50 million in grants this week. Santa Ana’s share would have been $66,000 had city officials applied, according to John J. Flynn, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development spokesman.

Eligible applicants were guaranteed funding if they applied, Flynn said, and Santa Ana was eligible. Most of the applications received were just three to four pages long.

Jean Forbath, executive director of the long-established Share Ourselves homeless assistance program in Costa Mesa, said she was astounded that Santa Ana did not apply because it “probably has the largest concentration” of Orange County’s estimated 5,000 homeless people.

“Orange County has a reputation for not having needs, and when you turn money back like that it just reinforces that image,” Forbath said.

Three of the other four local governments that did not apply are also in Southern California. Inglewood, Glendale and El Monte would have received $28,000 to $32,000 each. The fourth is Palaupalau, a Pacific island territory near Guam.

Special aid for the homeless was approved by Congress in a highly publicized vote three months ago, Flynn said. To qualify for the money, cities had to have populations of at least 50,000 or be the central city of a metropolitan area. Counties with at least 200,000 residents were also eligible.

Anaheim and Orange County submitted applications that have been approved, city and county officials said. Anaheim is to receive $39,000; the county, $79,000.

Gary Blasi, director of the homeless unit for the private Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, said: “What’s shocking to me is that towns in Mississippi, places without community development departments and professional grant bureaucrats, have managed to put together the four pages of paper that are necessary to apply. . . . But these four (Southern California) cities have thumbed their noses at money for people who are in desperate need.”

Santa Ana officials acknowledged a homeless problem and said they intend to apply for a share of additional Housing and Urban Development grants that will be awarded soon as part of the same homeless housing package that included the $50-million emergency program.

City Housing Director Patricia C. Whitaker said Santa Ana is not equipped to run its own homeless shelter and was unable to find a private, nonprofit agency willing to join it in applying for the emergency funds in the time allotted. She acknowledged, however, that just one such agency was approached.

Whitaker said the city first learned about the program in a published report Aug. 14.

“But the city first received actual notice Sept. 1, and the application was due Sept. 28,” she said. “If there was advance warning, we were not aware of it. This whole thing came down rapidly.”

The application required a comprehensive statement of existing services and an inventory of the services available in the area, Whitaker said.

In addition, a statement of need was required, and the need “is always difficult to describe,” she said.

Whitaker said once Santa Ana received notice, the city did approach the YWCA about submitting an application.

But that group was already involved in its own temporary shelter program, she said.

She said she knew that no notice was given to other private, nonprofit agencies and added that she had hoped they would hear of the additional funding through the county’s social service “grapevine.”

Whitaker said Santa Ana contributed $100,000 in federal funds last year to the city’s new YWCA homeless shelter but conceded that it is supporting no homeless program.

Directors for half a dozen temporary shelters in the county said they had not heard about the emergency funding and would have approached the city for more information if they had.

“We weren’t told anything about any $66,000,” said Sunne Dae, Orange County Rescue Mission men’s director in Santa Ana.

Each night, dozens of men gather at the mission because they have no other place to go, he said.

“Santa Ana is getting just as bad as L.A. with the homeless,” Dae said. “You should see this place at sunrise, when we get long lines of men waiting for free breakfasts.”

Jim Palmer, executive director of a private, nonprofit organization known as Irvine Temporary Housing, said: “The city didn’t talk to us. We’re always interested in talking and helping to get a program started.”

Palmer said in the last 3 1/2 years Irvine has allocated $350,000 to help support his temporary housing program.

His shelter is always getting emergency telephone calls from people from Santa Ana, asking for help, he said.

“Although the money was for only one year, it still could have sheltered people for at least that one year,” said Joe Caux, housing director for the Community Development Council, Orange County’s largest anti-poverty organization.