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San Bernardino officials report on homeless efforts at roundtable
VOL. 11,
AutoNation settles consumer protection lawsuit in Riverside, other counties
By Joe Taglieri
By City News Service
joet@beaconmedianews.com
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an Bernardino County officials and members of local faith-based organizations gathered earlier this month for a roundtable discussion on efforts to increase housing, add shelter beds and enhance outreach efforts to help house people experiencing homelessness. District 5 Supervisor Joe Baca Jr. hosted the Feb. 20 meeting with leaders from the city of San Bernardino’s faith-based community, county officials announced Wednesday. The roundtable also featured officials from the San Bernardino County Office of Homeless Services and the Community Development and Housing Department, San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran. Representing the faithbased community were pastors and leaders from Temple Missionary Baptist Church, Grace Chapel, 16th Street Seventh Day Adventist Church, the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Bernardino, Mary’s Mercy Center, Faith Advisory Council for Community Transformation, Ecclesia Christian Fellowship’s Angels of Hope program, Our Lady of Hope, Our Lady of the Assumption Catholic Church and the San Bernardino Community Seventh Day Adventist Church. Baca’s opening remarks highlighted the challenges of addressing homelessness and noted the county’s
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national seller of used vehicles, AutoNation Inc., will pay $650,000 to counties throughout California to settle a consumer protection lawsuit filed by the Riverside County District Attorney’s Office and other agencies, it was announced Wednesday. AutoNation reached an agreement that was certified Tuesday in Santa Clara County Superior Court. Along with Riverside County, district attorney’s offices in Los Angeles, Santa Clara, San Francisco and Ventura counties joined in the civil action that was filed last year. “Our office is committed to holding businesses accountable for any violations of consumer protection laws,” Riverside County District Attorney Mike Hestrin said. “We will work diligently to ensure that consumers are treated fairly and the laws are followed.” AutoNation did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Prosecutors said the suit stemmed from the company’s San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran speaks about addressing homelessness at a roundtable discussion Feb. 20. | Photo courtesy of San Bernardino County
investment in affordable housing. “San Bernardino County is committed to creating shelter beds and supporting affordable housing,” Baca said. “For example, in Rialto, the county provided $2.1 million as a gap fill to fund the construction of the Rialto Metroview affordable housing community. Additionally, we’re in the process of adding 30 beds to our Kern facility in Muscoy, which serves our justiceinvolved population aiding them with reentry into society. The challenge we face is that it takes time to develop affordable housing and add more shelter beds. It can take five to ten years to complete one project.”
During Tran’s remarks, she echoed her commitment to addressing homelessness and spoke about the challenges of addressing the issue. “For cities like San Bernardino, we are absolutely committed,” the mayor said. “San Bernardino makes up the largest number of homeless in the county, and we are taking action to address this issue. It’s not an easy fix, and it is a slow process. But with partners such as the county and faith community we can get there.” CDH Director Carrie Harmon and OHS Chief Marcus Dillard followed Baca and Tran’s openers with an update on efforts to decrease homelessness while increas-
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ing shelter beds and affordable housing in the city. Harmon shared details about her experience working with homeless veterans and the support she received from the faith-based community. “Twenty years ago, when I was working with Veterans Affairs, there were hardly any shelters in Southern California,” Harmon said. “When I had a veteran who was ready for treatment and needed a safe place to stay for the night, I would go to churches, and they never turned any of our veterans away. Not only did my veterans get a place to stay for the night, but they also
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Teachers urged to apply for $500 grants for class projects By City News Service iverside County teachers with innovative ideas for class projects were encouraged Tuesday to apply for grants through the North Island Credit Union Foundation’s spring Teacher Grant program. Ten grants of $500 each will be awarded to area teachers in April. The grant program is available to full-time teachers in Riverside and San Diego counties, or credit union members teaching in California, looking to fund special learning opportunities for their students. Projects must have clearly defined learning objectives tied to students’ academic needs, display creativity and benefit a significant number of
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