Earlier this year, when the city of La Habra proposed the corner of Beach Boulevard and Lambert Road as the new zoning location for transitional housing — temporary housing intended for homeless — complaints flooded in, said La Habra mayor pro tem Tim Shaw.

“No city wants a homeless shelter in their city. I mean that’s the reality,” Shaw said. “If you try to zone for a homeless shelter right next door to a house, that resident’s gonna go nuts.”

In the least, the La Habra City Council members want law enforcement to be notified when transitional housing programs start up.

“And that way our cops would at least know, OK maybe we should drive down that street a little more often,” Shaw said.

Students from La Habra consider the neighborhood’s safety

The city has come up with a new location for the state mandated transitional housing zoning area: in a more industrial area, on Lambert Road near the borders of the city.

This is in the area where Biola sophomore Vanessa Gonzalez has lived all her life. She says she has never had any complaints about the neighborhood. Actually, a few years ago, Gonzalez’s family befriended a homeless man who would stay in nearby motels.

“I do know from experience there isn’t anything, at least where I live, that’s been dangerous,” Gonzalez said.

Laura Shaum, a senior nursing major, has lived in La Habra since August and says she wouldn’t feel comfortable living near a homeless shelter. Though, she thinks Christians shouldn’t view living near a homeless shelter any differently than living next door to someone who has a lower income.

“I know that’s how we should view it, but we don’t,” Shaum said. “I know as Christians in general, we’d rather not live near homeless shelters.”

Christian ministry in La Habra houses unemployed families

Complaints of disturbances from La Habra residents have helped Shaw and James Gomez pinpoint unregistered transitional housing programs in La Habra.

“There are no restrictions [right now],” Gomez said. “They can essentially open up wherever they want.”

One such program is called Come to Him Ministries. CEO James Chambers says he operates like a renter. Leaning on donations, Chambers subleases apartments to families who have nowhere else to go.

Cristeen Foster, 46, who lives in the Come to Him apartments in La Habra, says transitional housing already has plenty of restrictions: Foster enforces rules on other residents in Come to Him. She makes sure everyone follows curfew and keeps their apartments clean. There are weekly meetings and drug tests for residents who come in because of substance abuse.

Last summer, Foster, who has two teenage sons, called about 20 shelters and transitional homes, all of which had no room, before finding Come to Him Ministries.

“[It was] very hard,” Foster said. “There was no help whatsoever.”

Police handle neighborhood disturbances

In the 14 months she’s lived there, Foster hasn’t seen any problems with her neighborhood.

Edie Hurtado, 55, who lives in a neighboring apartment complex, however, complained of trespassing from residents of the Come to Him program.

“As you can see, we have a pool. They came inside and they were swimming in the pool. It was 8, 8:30, they had no permission to be in the pool. It was trespassing,” Hurtado said.

She insists that, like crimes committed by other residents, the police can be notified.

“It’s not really a [problem] because people will call the police,” Hurtado said. “I don’t see it as a [problem] where the police can’t handle it.”

The most complaints come from the denser areas, like apartment complexes, said La Habra Police spokesperson Cindy Knapp. There is currently no way for La Habra police to identify a transitional housing program unless it is registered, she said.

While there have been a few people Hurtado describes as “disrespectful,” Hurtado sees the necessity for transitional housing in any neighborhood, especially, she says, with the increase of unemployed families.

“If people ruin it, they’re going to ruin it for everybody else,” Hurtado said.

City Council wants more restrictions

Gomez is still pushing for future transitional housing residents to be reviewed by the police department.

“We want to know who is going in there,” Gomez said. “Are they sex offenders? To what degree if they have substance abuse? … Do they have a criminal record? Were they violent?”

Yet, at the same time, Shaw realizes the city can’t “smother” parolees and drug rehab graduates as they try to get their lives back in order.

Thomas Crisp, a Biola philosophy professor, visits Isaiah House, a homeless shelter in Santa Ana, every week with a handful of Biola students. He sees a need for better functioning transitional housing programs that are prevalent in more cities.

“In my experience, the homeless are some of the most under-listened to, ignored people in the world. [These] people are really excluded from our society in little ways and big,” he said. “I think it’s one of the greatest acts of mercy you can do for someone to un-ignore them, to listen with open hearts and loving ears.”