A budget crisis at EHC LifeBuilders will not force South County
homeless into the cold this winter, but many people remain anxious
as the region’s primary shelter and temporary-housing provider
braces for multimillion-dollar cuts.
Morgan Hill – A budget crisis at EHC LifeBuilders will not force South County homeless into the cold this winter, but many people remain anxious as the region’s primary shelter and temporary-housing provider braces for multimillion-dollar cuts.
Officials with the San Jose nonprofit, which operates the National Guard Armory shelter in Gilroy and the John H. Boccardo Family Living Center in San Martin, announced Tuesday they must reduce their $13 million operating budget to $7 million.
The agency has amassed a $6.5-million operating deficit due to underfunding in the past five years, according to a press statement, which blamed the shortfall on efforts to expand services in a time of declining government and private funding.
“For programs that we’re keeping, we’re not thinning staff,” said Jennifer Loving, EHC’s interim chief executive officer. “We’re not going to shortchange the (Gilroy) armory or Boccardo … The reality is we’re working to transfer existing services to other providers. My goal is to do this in as graceful a way as possible.”
The agency predicts the cutbacks will affect about 1,000 of the more than 14,000 people served each year.
In South County, Loving could not predict the fate of the armory shelter after a three-year grant from the county runs out this year. EHC had originally hoped to discontinue that program and transition the homeless population to the Sobrato Transitional Center planned for north Gilroy. Construction on the $6.6-million project was delayed in 2006 after a downturn in the housing market made it difficult for homebuilders to make good on pledges of materials and manpower.
EHC officials had planned to recast the project as a blend of overnight beds and permanent housing, a model that many homeless advocates view as the new frontier in dealing with support services.
“The one project we will need to keep on hold is the transitional shelter,” Loving said. “We anticipate once we’ve stabilized the agency and are operating sustainably, that would be the first project that we begin a capital campaign on.”
The state of affairs struck deep at the Boccardo Center in San Martin, one of EHC’s best success stories.
The facility on Monterey Highway has 25 multi-room apartments, eight of which double as emergency shelter and migrant worker housing depending on the time of year.
Patricia Vazquez, manager of the Boccardo, broke down in tears over the news about EHC. Vazquez moved from Mexico 20 years ago and found herself in one of EHC’s shelters. After learning English and becoming a volunteer for the agency, she graduated to lifelong commitment to helping homeless families get back on their feet.
“I feel like EHC is more than a job, more than housing,” Vazquez said, sobbing. “It’s a school, it’s a program that really builds lives. To see this agency having that kind of debt is devastating to me, because it will make many people unemployed … Where are homeless families going to go in the winter?”
The same question troubled Rachelle Myrick Grigg, a 42-year-old resident who spent last Christmas in a car with her two kids. Grigg arrived at the shelter after separating from her husband and falling behind on her rent. She now works at Blockbuster part-time and is saving money to obtain permanent housing.
“Staying here gives the opportunity to keep my priorities straight and keep my family together,” Grigg said. “Without places like this, I don’t know what families would do.”
Loving would not specify which programs are on the chopping block or being “transitioned” to other nonprofit providers.
The first phase of their budget reductions will likely involve selling off EHC’s aging transitional apartments in San Jose or converting them to permanent affordable housing, predicted Dina Campeau, co-chair of the South County Collaborative, a consortium of nonprofit health and human service providers.
But a long-term solution to the homeless issue requires some real soul-searching on the part of city and county leaders, she said, suggesting that the $7 million planned for the Sobrato Transitional Center might be used more effectively.
“We as a community need to decide, would we rather have a $7 million emergency shelter with some permanent housing, our could we better use those resources for strategic wrap-around outreach, paired with permanent supportive housing.”
