A 150-bed homeless shelter near Fullerton Airport started accepting people on Thursday, Aug. 13, as more than 40 moved in from the Independence Park Gymnasium, which has been serving as a temporary emergency shelter for months.
In less than half a year, the nonprofit Illumination Foundation converted a vacant industrial building at 3535 W. Commonwealth Ave., into a shelter, which includes 60 spaces for those recovering from health issues.
The facility will be used by cities across north Orange County, although Fullerton and possibly Stanton will have a priority for the beds. Stanton officials are negotiating an agreement with the foundation to help the city provide beds for its homeless population in case there’s a need for it.
North Orange County cities, including Fullerton, funded homeless shelters in Placentia and Buena Park that opened earlier this year to provide a combined 250 beds and help the region meet a 2018 court settlement.
But saying the city needs more than those two shelters to care for its homeless population – estimated to be 473 in the 2019 Point in Time survey – Fullerton officials approved the Commonweath Avenue shelter in January.
Paul Leon, CEO of the Illumination Foundation, said the two-story shelter will have a medical clinic, a dental office and a therapy room on its second floor to provide services for its clients. A medical team will be working out of the facility, he said.
“We don’t have to send them to a hospital or discharge them because we can’t take care of them,” Leon said. “That’s going to be so nice for the continuity of care.”
Leon said the shelter’s beds are spread out enough to allow for social distancing during the pandemic without having to reduce its overall capacity. He said clients will be screened for high temperatures, and the building has rooms where people can self-isolate.
The shelter will also be accepting clients such as those staying in hotels as part of a state public health initiative Project Roomkey, Leon said.
Counselors will be available to help people find permanent housing, Leon said. Funding from cities, the foundation’s donors and MediCal are among the financial sources that will keep the facility running, he said.
Under the agreement Stanton is negotiating it would pay the foundation around $500,000 from the city’s low-income housing fund to get priority for the facility’s beds, City Manager Jarad Hildenbrand said. The city cleared several encampments in mid-July, but Hildenbrand said having access to more beds will help provide for Stanton’s homeless population if it grows again.
The shelter is expected to be about half-full within a week or so, although some facilities, including the kitchen, need some last touches.
Even without the foundation’s shelter, Fullerton City Manager Ken Domer said his staff will be allowed to enforce the city’s anti-camping ordinance as soon as this weekend because of the shelters opening in Buena Park and Placentia. But that doesn’t necessarily mean people will be arrested, he said.
“We seek to get people off the street and into services,” he said, “because arresting them doesn’t solve the problem.”
