HOMELESS AWAIT HELP STATE BONDS COULD GIVE FAMILIES SHELTER.

Byline: Heather MacDonald Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - A $2.1 billion bond proposal on November's statewide ballot could provide much-needed funds for the Santa Clarita Homeless Shelter, which faces an uncertain future with no location and dwindling funds.

The bond measure, if approved by a majority of voters, could be one of the best chances for the Santa Clarita Community Development Corporation to build a permanent, year-round shelter to provide job training, social services and transitional housing, city officials said.

``We're always looking for new sources of money, and this could definitely answer some of the questions that we're facing,'' said Adele McPherson, the city's superintendent of community services.

Gov. Gray Davis put the bond measure on the general election ballot this week after the enabling bill passed the state Legislature.

About $195 million of the money would be set aside for the construction, expansion and rehabilitation of shelters for the homeless. New shelter space would be provided for about 31,000 homeless men, women and children, said July Nevis, the chief deputy director of the state Department of Housing and Community Development.

``If the voters support this bond (measure), it will make a big dent in the problem of homelessness,'' Nevis said.

Despite pledges of help from the Santa Clarita City Council to find a permanent location for a local shelter, no agreement has been reached on location, type of services and, most importantly, where the money will come from.

Council members say an ambitious capital-improvement program in recent years has drained Santa Clarita's reserves, making it nearly impossible to finance the construction of a new shelter.

Nearly $1 billion of the state bond money would be used to build nearly 134,000 new affordable, transitional-housing units - mostly rental apartments - to help get people ``back on their feet,'' Nevis said.

The rest of the money would be used to ensure that rental housing for those with low incomes is maintained by landlords and to help low-income families purchase their own homes, according to state officials.

Santa Clarita is one of many communities in which passage of the bond proposal could make a significant difference, Nevis said.

The City Council will take up the issue of sheltering the homeless again on May 7 at a study session. Progress has been made on finding a permanent location, said Mark Young, vice president of the Santa Clarita Community Development Corporation.

At the study session, a city task force on the issue is scheduled to present the results of its assessment of the problem in Santa Clarita and to make recommendations on how to best to serve local homeless people, Young said.

The community development corporation also plans to hold a fund-raising run May 18 at College of the Canyons to benefit the shelter, and plans are in the works for the annual fund-raising golf tournament on Oct. 26.

During the last two winters, the community development corporation set up a temporary shelter in mobile trailers on Golden Valley Road, near the Santa Clarita Sports Complex. The city partially funded the effort.

The shelter served at least 21 families and 50 children this year - the same number as the previous year, but in six fewer weeks. Sponsors spent the last weeks struggling to find funding to keep the families together and out of the cold.

But with the start of construction on a new Aquatics Center and the completion of the teen activities center at the Sports Complex, the temporary shelter was torn down and will have to be relocated before reopening day Dec. 1.