Mercy House Will Run Year-Round Homeless Facility in Anaheim

LOS ALAMITOS, CA — The Orange County supervisors today selected nonprofit Mercy House Living Centers Inc. to run a year-round homeless facility in Anaheim, which is slated to open next year.

Mercy House will also manage the armory locations in Santa Ana and Fullerton, which will remain available until the new facility is ready to open late next year at 1000 N. Kraemer Place.

Larry Haynes Jr., executive director of the nonprofit, heaped praise on county officials for their efforts to combat homelessness.

"It thrills me that on the same morning we're talking about establishing a year-round emergency shelter ... that we're also talking about permanent, supportive housing," Haynes said. "This tells me that the county, under your leadership, is an agency that gets it. This is a complex issue that requires immediate emergency services and sometimes life-saving services."

Haynes singled out Supervisors Todd Spitzer and Shawn Nelson for their advocacy of local transients.

"I have been amazed with you two time and time again for doing the right thing that is not necessarily popular or will get you re-elected," Haynes said.

Spitzer asked Haynes if there's any way to get the Anaheim facility open sooner than late next year.

Haynes said it depends "on how cooperative a partnership we have in the approval process ... We will not be a delay, I can guarantee that."

Nelson encouraged Haynes to call his office to let him know personally whenever a request is made of staff so he can be sure it gets done.

"I need to know personally when you submit something for approval," Nelson said. "The best way to guarantee the people here can help you is you need to let me know personally the day you've submitted something for approval and then I can do my job."

Jennifer Muir, general manager of the Orange County Employees Association, raised concerns about Mercy House being granted authority to do tasks already being done by county workers.

"How will the county ensure it's not double paying for services we already provide?" Muir asked.

Supervisor Andrew Do said newly hired "homeless czar" Susan Price needs to deliver a report to the board "sooner rather than later" to address issues raised by Muir's union.

"We've been waiting too long. We've been going on four months already," Do said.

The details of Mercy House's contract for running the shelters will be hammered out and approved by the board at a later date. Negotiations are expected to take two to three months.

The county paid $4.25 million for the Kraemer Place property, with the cities of Anaheim, Fullerton and Brea chipping in a total of $1.1 million.

The focus of the Anaheim facility will be getting transients back on their feet.
Haynes said he will tell his staff on their first day, "This is not a shelter. This is a staging for permanent housing. Every day we don't house someone is a day we fail."

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