Option I

A church or combination of several churches 5 or 6 will put an apartment in their name. A homeless family will be allowed to stay in the apartment from 1 to 6 months to help get them on their feet. They will not be tenants therefore there are no eviction problems.

a. The family must work with the case management of the HOPE program to insure the familys ability to continue on their own.

b. The church or churches would pay the rent for the apartment. The congregation can provide food, clothing, or necessities the family may have.

c. During the rehabilitation period, the family will save 75% or more of their money towards a deposit towards their own apartment. The HOPE program will hold the money for the family. Since personal needs will be met by the church: food, clothing, and other personal needs the family should be able to save money for the deposit.

d. Southern California Housing is already providing apartments for transitional housing for up to a year in four or more locations in Rancho Cucamonga and Ontario. In order to utilize the program a family must go thru the Foothill Family Shelter. At this time, although the Shelter is helping families in this desperate situation, it can only help 8 families at a time. We would like to help more families to access the transitional help from Southern California Housing by having the churches provide the apartment and utilize a case management program such as Foothill Family Shelter. If during the time the families show that they will be able to handle the rent of the actual apartment that they are staying in, it may be possible that they will be able to stay in the apartment and transfer the lease into their own name. The apartments can request a deposit in the amount of 2 to 3x the rent in order to protect them in case the family does not pay the rent and eviction occurs. This would be a protection for the apartment.

Option II

We would like to purchase a very large house of 4 to 5 bedrooms. This would be similar in set up to the House of Ruth where families stay for 30 days to get on their feet. The structure of daily living would also be similar as rules for the families that live in the home. Each adult in the family will be given chores to do daily. Curfew also would be required. Participation in counseling would also be required. Each family would go thru the program to assess the needs and to receive aid in those needs. During the 30 days the Home will search for churches to adopt the family. If no adoption of the family takes place the stay may be extended only if the family shows that they are working on the rehabilitation process.

We would also like to purchase another home 3 bedrooms to be used as a group home for homeless without children. It also would be set up with rules and requirements.

Staff

There will be a rotating 8 hour staff member on duty at all times. The staff member will monitor the families to ensure rules are followed and home is in order.

Daycare staff will also be provided for the families while they look for work, work or attend classes. Children of school age will also enroll in school if they are not enrolled.

The staff personnel needed for the home will be at least 6.

One idea for staff is to train adults in the home to actually become a staff member for the Home. This will not be for everyone but it may fit those who qualify.

Option I & II needs:

For adopt a family by churches to house families in an apartment the need will be to find churches to participate and apartments willing to lease to the churches with rotating families staying in the apartment. Most apartments have policies on obtaining apartments based on the tenants credit application. These families will not be required to apply since the church will be responsible for all rent. The also may be a different family every 3 months unless the family show ability to pay rent and extra deposit is set up in case of failure. The HOPE program along with other community services can continue to be available to the family for support as needed.

I have contacted 10 churches that have shown an interest in participating in these programs. There were five churches that actually considered allowing us to build modular units on their property to house homeless families for three months at a time. This idea although good with city fees, contractors and then the cost to purchase the home the cost seems to be more expensive than we originally thought. To purchase homes would be better use of the money in the long run.

For the Home we need to purchase a home large enough to house 4-5 families.

Would like to start of with one house this year and purchase five more in various areas by next year.

We can look to habitat for humanity to build a home to get this program started. They may also have families in need for short stays while waiting for their own homes built.

Option III

Some churches may have congregation members who have real estate property for rent. Some churches have apartments for the pastor. If available it may be possible for churches with these homes or apartments to allow the families to utilize one of these places.

a. Many catholic churches have a place for the priest and nuns. Maybe they can take in the single man or woman who is homeless. The person would still be required to follow the strict rules of the home of the priest or nun. They also would have to participate daily in the case management program.

b. Many churches have a space on their own property that would need a conditional use permit to allow a family to live on the premises as the catholic churches have. It may require some building to turn a space into an apartment, but in the long run it could be used by so many families, maybe with in the churches own congregation.

c. We have considered the use of RV that are self contained to house families for short periods. This idea although very cost effective .(Most RVs can be donated or cost under $5000) The problem is to find out where to set the RV up. In rural more country areas it may be permissible, but in this area it is not. I would like to look into RV parks that would be affordable for short stays of a month or so.

We do have one RV already donated and may have a place to put it in a rural horse property area. We would just need to see if the family will be able to find work, housing and survive in that area in order for it to be a viable idea.

Option need: to find churches that have spaces available to use as apartments.

Option V

Another option to adopting the family and housing them in apartments would be to check on some of the mobile home parks. Maybe we could purchase a mobile home. The upfront cost would be similar to the modular units that we originally suggested without the red tape of contractors and city fees. The church would have to get the approval of the park to allow different families to stay in the mobile home for the 3 to 6 months at a time. We could also look to use a mobile home as a group home. Since many homeless are seniors we may even be able to find a senior group home in a mobile park. Sometimes mobile homes in senior parks are less expensive.

Option need: To find a mobile home and park willing to participate.

Option VI

Look into purchasing a hotel of 70+ units to use as a transitional housing program. The guidelines would be the same as the case management program but would take place onsite. It could house 70+ families and rebuild lives.

Option need would be to purchase such a hotel and to look into the government grants to assist in purchase. Or to get a combination of churches such as the council of churches, the evangelical council of churches, the catholic diocese and other organizations to help build and raise funds for purchase and upkeep.

There are many organizations that do help the homeless in this area: Our House in Pomona, Foothill Family Shelter, and Inland Temporary home in Loma Linda. While these shelters are wonderful they are not enough. My hope is to get the 700 some people 2/3 of them children in Ontario and even more in surrounding areas living in hotels and the streets to find a home. The area is booming and the cost of living is increasing. More and more families are going to find themselves homeless with out affordable housing. While we take care of the bulk of the families on the streets, we also need to look into affordable housing and skill advancement.