Creating a ‘pathway for reintegration’ for Anaheim’s homeless
A number of Orange County cities have sought to deal with the spiraling homelessness crisis by opening emergency shelters in the last few years.
The effort has taken place largely in response to a decision in a lawsuit launched by homeless advocates after the removal of a tent city near Anaheim’s Angel Stadium.
However, advocates contend that the shelters are not a solution to homelessness but are a short-term fix to get people off the street.
The Salvation Army is looking to do something different with its Center of Hope in Anaheim. In addition to providing temporary housing, the organization is looking to offer a host of services on one campus to reintegrate homeless people into their communities.
“The Center of Hope will serve as the hub to an innovative strategy to move the homeless from shelter to permanent housing to work, rehabilitation and sobriety — really with the aim of fully reintegrating them into society,” said Ben Hurst, the Salvation Army’s director of operations in Orange County. “That, to us, is the uniqueness of the space. It’s not just a shelter, and it’s not just homeless housing. It’s a pathway for reintegration.”
Once complete, the Center of Hope campus will comprise the emergency shelter, a 72-bed supportive housing facility, a wellness center, a 175-bed drug and rehabilitation center and a research and innovation center — the first of its kind for the organization.
Some elements are already operational. The emergency shelter opened in 2019 as Anaheim rushed to fulfill the obligations of a settlement related to the tent city lawsuit that required it to provide 325 beds. The rehabilitation center is also open.
Hurst said the center will take four years to complete. The other facilities have been in the design and planning stages for the last couple of years. Once it’s up and running, the center will be able to serve up to 575 people at a time.
Hurst said the center will be guided by the Salvation Army’s Homeless Throughput System, which seeks to get people off the streets and “reintegrated” into the community. The goal is for people to spend about three to six months going through the facilities.
The system is organized around a classic baseball diamond, where first base is the emergency shelter. Homeless residents are expected to spend 60 to 90 days in the shelter before being placed in supportive housing, or second base. During this time, residents will be enrolled in a “life transformation program,” which is third base, focusing on achieving sobriety and work training.
“That’s the reason capacity is capped at 575 — it’s not supposed to be a gigantic project housing; it’s a triage and rehabilitation center,” Hurst said.
The center will primarily serve Anaheim’s homeless population, but it is a countywide resource, Hurst said. Sixteen permanent supportive housing units are sponsored by Orange County.
According to the last Point in Time count in 2019, there were almost 7,000 homeless people in Orange County. In Anaheim, there were 1,202 homeless people — 694 of whom were unsheltered.
Hurst said 30% to 50% of homeless people are chronically disabled and need housing assistance because they cannot hold a full-time job or take care of themselves financially. The Center of Hope is seeking to help the rest of the homeless population that doesn’t qualify for federally subsidized housing.
“We feel like in Orange County, we’re in a race against time,” Hurst said. “There’s a real sense of urgency that we’ve got an opportunity to get ahead of the wave that could be coming. That’s why we focus our attention on a throughput system, knowing that there is no local government that has the ability to house all the homeless.”