Local News in Brief : Irvine : Irvine Co. Taken Up on Offer for Homeless

City officials have accepted an offer from the Irvine Co. to double the number of company-owned apartments it will make available to shelter the homeless--a move they hope will salvage a $496,000 federal grant.

A new application for the money will be sent to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which awarded the grant to the city in October for the conversion of an animal-care facility into a homeless shelter. But the agency later canceled the grant because of concerns about the proposed shelter’s location under the flight pattern to nearby El Toro Marine Corps Air Station.

To keep the money, the city had to find an acceptable shelter alternative and submit a new application by Jan. 25.

Assistant City Manager Paul Brady said the city plans to ask HUD if it can use the money to pay the rent on the apartments, which the Irvine Co. also helps subsidize. The agency already has given preliminary approval for use of the money to expand the apartment program, Brady said.

The city’s homeless program is run by nonprofit Irvine Temporary Housing, which currently houses families for up to 90 days in five apartments in the city.

Mayor Larry Agran said the city also will pursue private efforts to rehabilitate about eight unused Irvine Co. ranch houses to shelter homeless families. The city is also talking with UC Irvine about sheltering the homeless in university-owned apartments during the slow summer months.