City grants programs’ wishes

Deirdre Newman

FISH-Harbor Area works to prevent homelessness and hunger by

intervening before these conditions occur.

On Monday, the Newport Beach-based organization received $35,000

from the city in the form of a Community Block Development Block

Grant for its work.

FISH was one of 21 agencies that got grants disbursed by the City

Council in a 4-1 vote, with Allan Mansoor dissenting because he did

not feel enough funding went to seniors.

As a Housing and Urban Development entitlement city, Costa Mesa is

automatically eligible to receive the grants and “HOME” funds. These

two programs provide more than $2 million to the city a year and a

variety of services to assist low- and moderate-income people and

prevent blight in deteriorated neighborhoods.

Many agency representatives expressed gratitude for the funding.

“It means quite a lot to FISH to get the money. We certainly

appreciate it,” said Wendy Ingham, FISH’s fund developer. “The

homeless prevention program helps families in Costa Mesa for whatever

reason -- if they have a large medical or car repair bill and can’t

make all their payments.

“[It] can help them perhaps with paying child-care and keep them

in their home so they don’t become homeless, because once they do,

it’s difficult for them to get out of it,” she said. “It’s just

one--time assistance.”

The decision was not without detractors, with some residents

suggesting the city should shift its funding priorities. One of the

existing guidelines is that 40% of the grant funds can be allocated

to homelessness prevention and homeless assistance programs.

“It appears that the city is helping the homeless instead of

trying to prevent it,” Judy Berry said. “I believe we should spend

more money on senior and youth services and less on the homeless.”

The block grant funding comes out of a grant of approximately $1.7

million for the 2003-4 fiscal year.

In addition to the 18 agencies recommended by staff to receive

grants, three others benefited from HUD’s generosity, thanks to

Councilman Gary Monahan.

The Dayle McIntosh Center, which helps the disabled become

self-sufficient, received $6,000; Assessment and Treatment Services

Center, which provides youth and family counseling got $5,000; and

Youth Employment Service of the Harbor Area, which helps about 1,200

students and young people with life and job skills annually, received

$6,370.

“I was disappointed that the three were left off the original

grant recommendation,” Monahan said. “And I was very satisfied that

my colleagues were willing to agree with me and fund a couple of

services that are very important for some people in our society that

need a helping hand.”

At the request of Councilwoman Libby Cowan, the council also

approved fully funding the Costa Mesa Senior Corporation Preventive

Health Program to the tune of $15,000 and adding $1,000 to the

funding for the corporation’s Social Services Program, bringing its

funding to $6,000.

The city will also receive about $800,000 from HUD that an only

be used to increase housing opportunities for low-income residents.

The council also unanimously approved its annual action plan, an

overview of how it will distribute all the HUD funds, and approved

reallocating leftover block grant funds of about $168,000 from

previous years to the Whittier Street Improvement Project.

In approving the action plan, however, the council directed staff

to review the issue of drainage on Hamilton Street and have

information available at its next study session about how agencies

are scored in relation to their block grant funding.

At that study session, the council will also review its action

plan and get an update from the Costa Mesa Police Department on the

crime statistics it provided for the agencies that requested funding.

During council discussion, there was some question about how

relevant the statistics were since, for some of them, calls were

shown from various offices within a single property, making it hard

to tell which, if any, were directly caused by the agencies that had

requested funding.