By Clarence Cromwell
Six developmentally disabled adults who live in an Allendale Avenue house may find a new home in Saratoga, thanks to a grant from the city for Tri-Aegis Residential Services Inc.
The City Council on March 20 allocated $160,000 in community development block grants for human services and housing assistance projects. The grants included a $50,000 boost to help Tri-Aegis modify a house it plans to buy.
Tri-Aegis Executive Director Diane Marcus said Tri-Aegis began renting its current home, a little pink house with lemon and orange trees in the front yard, five years ago. The clients who live there, and at Tri-Aegis' seven other group homes in the county, learn independent living skills such as how to cook, go out for a hamburger and other ordinary tasks, said lead staffer May Whitton. Some of them have jobs at local work programs. In sum, the group home helps the residents become workaday members of their community.
The nonprofit organization could get ahead financially by housing its clients on its own property rather than renting, Marcus explained. It got $50,000 from the city in last year's round of block-grant allocations to use as a down payment on a house.
Tri-Aegis has its eye on a particular home for sale in the northern part of the city, but hasn't made an offer yet.
Marcus asked the city for another $50,000 this year to modify the prospective new house. It will need a few special amenities for the disabled residents: a fire alarm and sprinkler system, ramps instead of steps up to the porch and wider doorways and hallways for wheelchairs, among other things.
During the meeting, the City Council gave funding to four other agencies.
The city met all of the requests it received in the housing-assistance category, including the one from Tri-Aegis.
The Emergency Housing Consortium received $10,000 from the city. The consortium plans to install smoke detectors, repair windows, buy kitchen equipment and make pavement repairs at three homeless shelters in San Jose.
Fellowship Plaza got the $14,560 it requested to install new gas valves, generators and thermostats for 75 furnaces. All the furnaces are in apartments occupied by disabled or frail low-income senior citizens.
InnVision received the full $5,000 it requested for repairs to the Commercial Street Inn, a night shelter for homeless women and mothers. The building needs heating and ventilation upgrades, floor repairs and improvements to the children's play area.
Human-services funding, on the other hand, was in short supply.
The Saratoga Area Senior Coordinating Council received the full $35,625 of human services money available for a senior day-care program. A contribution of $19,225 from the city general fund will pay the senior council's operating costs.
Four organizations that asked for a total of $22,115 in human services grants were turned down: Catholic Charities, Second Harvest Food Bank, Teen Counseling, and Family Services Association.
"Once again, we are faced with big hearts and small wallets," Councilmember Ann Marie Burger said before voting on the funding.
Saratoga Public Services Assistant Paula Reeve said she recommended that the senior council get the entire human services pot because it serves so many Saratogans.
The block grants are handed out by cities annually, under the federal Housing and Community Development Act. The Department of Housing and Urban Development administers the program.
Because Saratoga's population is less than 50,000, it receives grant money by way of Santa Clara County. The City Council's allocations must receive final approval from the county Board of Supervisors before organizations receive funding.
The county is expected to receive $3.5 million from HUD to give out in block grants. Saratoga's share was about $160,000. The city can spend up to 15 percent of the money on human services grants.
All the grants must benefit low-income residents of the county.
This article appeared in the Saratoga News, April 3, 1996.
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