Here’s how much each north Orange County city will contribute toward building homeless shelters
More than a dozen north Orange County cities are expected to contribute a combined $1.2 million toward building two homeless shelters in Buena Park and Placentia.
Leaders of three cities – Fullerton, La Palma and Yorba Linda – this week approved the agreement that would fund the two 100-bed shelters. City councils in Los Alamitos, Orange, Stanton and Villa Park are expected to vote next week, with other cities to follow.
The two shelters were agreed on in the settlement of a federal lawsuit filed by those evicted from Santa Ana riverbed homeless encampments last year.
Officials estimate getting the two shelters online – including purchasing the properties – will cost $14.3 million. But $13.1 million would be paid for by state grants and a $75 fee imposed by the state on a certain real estate transaction to fund affordable housing.
That state funding leaves $1.2 million to be covered by the cities. The proposed agreement bases each city’s contribution on population, number of homeless counted in the community and the number of shelter beds that already exist in each city.
“Some cities don’t have homeless, but it’s a regional problem that needed a regional solution,” La Palma City Manager Laurie Murray said of why a city’s overall population affected how much that city would contribute toward opening the shelters.
Many cities, including Fullerton, Orange and Yorba Linda, plan to tap into their affordable housing funds. Some cities such as Stanton may use Community Development Block Grant funds awarded each year by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.
The cities also estimate it will cost $3 million a year to operate the two shelters, but more than 90 percent of that would be funded by the county and state.
In the meantime, Buena Park and Placentia have been working on finalizing the locations of the shelters.
Aaron France, assistant to the Buena Park city manager, said the City Council could make a decision on April 9 whether to convert a vacant furniture store at 7101 Lincoln Ave., acquired by the city last year, into a 100-bed shelter.
Placentia Mayor Rhonda Shader said before making a decision the city plans to have another community meeting, in Spanish, about a proposed 100-bed shelter at 527 Fee Ana St. The city held two community meetings in February.
The could vote in April on purchasing the property, Shader said.
The breakdown
Here is how much each city in north Orange County is being asked to contribute toward purchasing property and building the two shelters. The figure could change based on shifts in construction costs and other factors:
- Brea: $58,571
- Buena Park: $151,669
- Cypress: $58,892
- Fullerton: $309,931
- La Habra: $89,514
- La Palma: $22,905
- Los Alamitos: $19,102
- Orange: $250,196
- Placentia: $90,269
- Stanton: $75,386
- Yorba Linda: $63,841
- Villa Park: $5,221