The Orange County Rescue Mission is expected to close this week on two four-unit apartment complexes in Tustin for a reported $533,000 as it plans to pursue a bigger land deal this fall, looking to grow the number of beds it provides by one-third, from about 390 to about 520.
The apartments are two miles from the charity’s Village of Hope headquarters, which sit on part of the former Marine Corps Air Station-Tustin.
The nonprofit organization plans to use them to house 32 formerly homeless military veterans—a growing problem locally with personnel from several recent conflicts returning to civilian life.
Jerry Craig, the city of Tustin’s economic development and housing manager, said the price the mission is paying for the apartments is the same the city gave for the units about four years ago. The city owned them as part of future plans to widen and extend Newport Avenue and had since rented them out.
Rescue Mission Chief Executive Jim Palmer said retired U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. William Lyon is donating the money to buy the apartments. Lyon served in World War II and as chief of the Air Force Reserve in Washington, D.C.
Palmer said, “General Lyon offered to cover the whole thing. He wanted to help veterans.”
He said the new housing is an example of the charity’s “opportunistic” approach.
“We find something that can help, and if it fits, we raise the money for it.”
It’s also a capstone to a 2014 in which the rescue mission:
n Opened a coffee shop in Corona called Restoration Roasters in December;
• Leased space in November for a primary care and mental health clinic in Santa Ana;
• Acquired 12 apartments in September from the city of Corona for transitional housing;
• Added a second mobile “chili van”—think cargo van plus food truck—in August;
• Bought Laurel House in Tustin, a nonprofit, six-bed home for runaway teenage girls, in July;
“Our vision is a ‘continuum of care,’ ” Palmer said. “If someone says, ‘Can you use this?’ we see if we can.”
‘Going Under Bridges’
He said that continuum starts with “going under bridges” to find people for its programs. Entrants become “students,” and many eventually “graduate” from the mission’s programs.
“Everything has to fit with sustainability and self-sufficiency,” Palmer said.
He plans to embark on one of the organization’s most ambitious efforts, involving 57 acres near Ortega Highway owned by the U.S. Forest Service.
The property is the shuttered county juvenile detention facility Los Pinos Conservation Camp.
Linda Barry, a facility planning manager with the county Probation Department, said the county plans to complete about $3 million worth of required deferred maintenance on the property by early fall and return it to the Forest Service.
Palmer could get the permit and begin work once that happens.
“Nothing’s done until it’s done,” he said. “But we’ve done everything we can.”
The rescue mission would renovate 70,000 square feet of building space and move its RR Ranch residential facility for men from 142 acres it owns in Warner Springs in San Diego County closer to home.
Palmer estimated that the newer property, though smaller, could house 150 people. The ranch has 22 men on it.
He said a donor has pledged $1 million toward the $2 million needed to begin operations.
Upkeep will cost $250,000 annually.
The mission would sell its land in Warner Springs, Palmer said.
Supporters
One Orange County couple are longtime supporters of the mission.
Howard and Roberta Ahmanson said they’ve given to the work in one form or another for 30 years.
Palmer’s opportunistic approach fits with their project-focused giving, they said.
“It’s high-quality work, and there’s very little recidivism,” Howard Ahmanson said.
“People get their lives back, it’s a community service, and as Christians it’s what we’re supposed to be doing,” Roberta Ahmanson said.
Symphony, Beauty
The Ahmansons estimated they’d given about $1 million in cash donations over the years—and perhaps twice that, including artwork they commissioned for Village of Hope.
The group’s headquarters—charity offices, dorm-style residences, gym and medical facilities, the cafeteria, an herb and vegetable garden, and a chapel—includes paintings, sculptures, and text-based displays.
The Ahmansons said musicians from the Pacific Symphony have played there for residents.
“Beauty says, ‘You are of value,’ ” said Roberta Ahmanson. “To turn their lives around, this is where they go.”
