North County Homeless Shelter ‘Stuck in Limbo’

By Stephen Curran, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Apr. 10–A self-imposed deadline to open the North County’s first permanent homeless shelter passed almost entirely unnoticed Saturday.

The Economic Opportunity Commission last January penciled in April 8 to open its long-awaited shelter at 965 El Camino Road in Atascadero. With 32 beds, two bathrooms, laundry facilities and a children’s play area, the project is designed to serve what advocates say is a growing homeless population in the region.

Instead, the 3-acre site remained virtually untouched last week as EOC administrators negotiate with the state Department of Housing and Community Development over a string of complex conditions tacked onto a grant.

"It feels like we’re stuck at square one or stuck in limbo until we can get the rest of that money," said EOC Planning Director Lillian Judd. "… It has been very labor intensive and very nerve wracking."

At issue is a more stringent review of the grant the EOC was awarded last June. The new requirements, the details of which Judd said were part of the ongoing review, include the state taking a closer look at the cost and longevity of the project.

The prolonged scrutiny, which Judd said could be finished by early this summer, is part of a lengthy bureaucratic process. The state in 2001 awarded a $481,404 grant for construction but rescinded it in August because the project was held up while trying to secure a permit from the Atascadero Planning Commission.

The delay comes as a separate study completed this month found that about 43 percent of the county’s approximately 2,400 homeless people live in the North County.

Janet Huston, a spokeswoman for the state housing department, would not comment on the specifics of the application but said a decision will likely be made by June.

The nearly $1 million deal, Judd said, begins as a low- interest loan before becoming a grant in an as yet undetermined period of time. It would go toward funding construction of the approximately $1.6 million project. The remainder will come from a mix of public subsidies and private donations.

The EOC, Judd said, will continue working toward securing the money.

"We just kind of ran up against an institutional change that was occurring," Judd said. "It just made it harder to draw the money. But we’re not in it for today; we’re in it for today and tomorrow."

The shelter is expected to offer a reprieve for homeless advocates such as Norma Mueller, who as president of the El Camino Homeless Organization operates a temporary shelter at First Baptist Church, 6370 Atascadero Ave.

That shelter, Mueller said, is a welcome resource for area homeless but lacks amenities such as family rooms and separate sleeping quarters for men and women.

"We never think of it in terms of being permanent, because we can’t," she said. "I’m so anxious to have a permanent place."

—–

Copyright (c) 2006, The Tribune, San Luis Obispo, Calif.

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

For information on republishing this content, contact us at (800) 661-2511 (U.S.), (213) 237-4914 (worldwide), fax (213) 237-6515, or e-mail reprints@krtinfo.com.