Transitional housing project leaves unanswered questions
A former hospital building turned office space has seemingly
turned into clandestine housing for down on their luck
residents
– in violation of city building code. For several months,
pastors from the New Life Family Worship Center, a local church,
have been offering transitional housing at 910 Monterey St. near
Hawkins Street.
Commercial tenants in the building, the original Hazel Hawkins
Hospital site, said they were unaware of the off-hour residential
tenants. At least two people living in the building claim they were
encouraged to say they were using the space for commercial
purposes, at least on paper.
Transitional housing project leaves unanswered questions
A former hospital building turned office space has seemingly turned into clandestine housing for down on their luck residents – in violation of city building code. For several months, pastors from the New Life Family Worship Center, a local church, have been offering transitional housing at 910 Monterey St. near Hawkins Street.
Commercial tenants in the building, the original Hazel Hawkins Hospital site, said they were unaware of the off-hour residential tenants. At least two people living in the building claim they were encouraged to say they were using the space for commercial purposes, at least on paper.
“It’s a violation of the building code to have residential use there,” Hollister City Attorney Stephanie Atigh said, last week. “We’re waiting for the owner to bring the property into compliance. We didn’t give him a deadline.”
The building is owned by Dante Bains, a local developer who owns a dozen pieces of property in the county.
“New Life is buying the building from Dante,” said Wesley Fort, Bains’ brother-in-law and senior pastor for New Life Family Worship Center, last week.
Initially, city staff talked openly about the zoning at the site and a complaint filed about the building. Bains, Fort and Mary Fort-Bains also talked openly about their desire to use the site for transitional housing. But this week city staff and the family both refused additional interviews to clarify details about the building and its use.
A need in the community
In an initial interview, Bains-Fort, Bains’ sister and Fort’s wife, said rent for their transitional housing is $0 to 500, depending on income. Despite that, one resident who has been living in the building said she has been paying $750 each month.
Bains-Fort is a pastor at New Life Family Worship Center and the executive director of New Life Community Development Consulting, an offshoot of the church.
“What we’re providing, and had attempted to provide, was some transitional housing for people who had difficulty finding some affordable places to live,” Bains-Fort said.
Without chasing away current business, Fort and his wife said they want to run from 910 Monterey St. a six-to-12 month transitional housing program that includes vocational training.
“That’s what we are about, making an impact on the city for the betterment of changing the lives of the people here,” Fort said.
Requirements include being clean and sober for at least three months before entry, looking for work during the program and saving money for future housing, Fort said.
In mid-May, Fort and Bains-Fort went down to Los Angeles to visit a transitional housing program called People Assisting The Homeless (PATH), according to an article originally posted on a Web site from PATH Partners.
A few months later Nora Kraft, a 1998 graduate of San Benito High School, moved into a tiny one-bedroom apartment at 910 Monterey through the transitional housing program. In addition to her rent, she paid a $300 security deposit.
“I don’t think it’s that cheap where I can save money, too,” said Kraft, who is an executive assistant at the San Benito Health Foundation Community Clinic. “I don’t see how I can save any money with daycare too.”
Kraft said she pays $750 a month for her apartment, higher than the going rates quoted by Bains-Fort.
She could probably find an apartment in town for $850 per month, but with two children, ages 7 and 3, it would be difficult to afford, Kraft said.
“It’s expensive to keep your kids fed,” Kraft said. “My oldest son just constantly eats. I’m like, ‘I can’t afford your growth spurt.’ Please stop.”
City staff stepped in after a complaint from a resident.
“The original complaint was that somebody was locked in the building,” said Bill Avera, Hollister’s development services director, last week. “Whether that is true or not does not matter.”
Code violations found at the building included improper fire exits and window openings, Avera said.
“We’ve done what we could to relocate the folks who are in the most dangerous area,” he said. “The owner has been working on correction.”
City officials made the first inspection in early July, Avera said.
At that time, 18 or 19 people were living in the building, some with children, he said.
“Certainly these folks, without this particular place, would be considered homeless,” Avera said. “Generally, homeless people are not charged rent.”
In late July, Kraft moved in.
Kraft has large brown eyes and an upbeat demeanor that betrays her present circumstances. Wearing a hot pink Roxy sweatshirt and capris, she does not look like someone who has nowhere else to go.
“My aunt knows the guy who owns this place, so she came and told me about it,” Kraft said. “I think they started out trying to help people…”
Her rooms are barely big enough for a few pieces of furniture. The salmon pink living room walls are decorated with pictures of her boys. Over a small end table is a framed poster of Audrey Hepburn.
Off the living room is a small bathroom. Around the corner is the kitchen area. More of a hallway than a room, the stove and sink face the bedroom.
She has not yet found a permanent place to live.
“I haven’t found anything so far,” Kraft said. “I’ve been looking.”
Vacancy rates should be between 5 and 6 percent in a healthy housing market, said Mary Paxton, Hollister’s planning manager, in an interview for another story.
In 2007, Hollister’s vacancy rate for all housing was 2.1 percent, which could make it difficult for people to find rental housing.
Transitional housing is a huge need in the community, said Doug Emerson, Hollister’s mayor and a member of the Homeless Task Force.
Generally, transitional housing is a six-to-12 month program for people who can afford to pay some rent but cannot afford to get into an apartment, Emerson said.
“If that’s going to be done, it has to be done in accordance with all of our codes and regulations,” Emerson said.
Members of the Homeless Task Force were never approached by New Life staff, said David Huboi, a member of the Homeless Task Force and Hollister’s planning commission who has an office in the building at 910 Monterey.
Some tenants and neighbors said they are adamantly against the building being used as transitional housing for the homeless.
“That’s ludicrous,” said Jim Pleyte, a laywer who lives across the street from the building. “The city is taking the correct action in abating a use that is directly against the zoning. Housing the homeless in dormitories is utterly inconsistent with the historic uses of this area.”
Leonor Fernandez, a tenant who runs Leonor’s Beauty Salon at 910 Monterey, said she would move if the transitional housing program becomes permanent fixture in the building.
“I think nobody who owns a business knows about it or we would be talking about it,” Fernandez said. “If they go ahead with it, I think all the people who own businesses will move.”
Affordable housing for a single person in San Benito County making $27,300 per year would be no more than $682 per month, based on information from Avera.
“It doesn’t really make sense to me,” Huboi said. “I want to know the truth. Is [Kraft] really being charged $750 for a little room?”
Atigh and Bains’ attorney are working together to solve any issues, Bains said.
“My attorney advised me not to comment because the situation is pretty delicate,” Bains said. “There are a lot of people who are telling lies.”
Residential disguised as commercial
Despite not operating a business, Kraft obtained a Hollister business license under the name Kraft Consulting, according to documents from Hollister’s finance department.
“I had to obtain a business license in order to move in here,” Kraft said.
During a meeting with Bains, Kraft’s aunt asked him if it would help speed the move in date if Kraft took out a business license.
“[Bains] was saying that would be okay because it wouldn’t cause any question for concern with [city officials],” Kraft said. “He said they were going to be doing a walk-through, so I didn’t move in any of my personal stuff.”
In mid-July, Kraft moved various office supplies from her storage unit into the apartment. She moved her personal items into the apartment a week-and-a-half later.
“I actually had a sign up on the door but it fell down, and [Bains] made a big deal of it,” Kraft said. “He seemed angry with me.”
Bains declined to comment on the allegations made by Kraft. The next day Kraft called Pinnacle staff and said Bains had approached her and asked if anyone had contacted her from the Pinnacle Newspaper.
“He said, ‘Well, if they do, tell them no comment,'” Kraft said.
A week after Kraft’s alleged encounter with Bains, another resident spoke to Pinnacle staff but asked that his name not be used.
“[Bains is] not a bad guy, from what I know about him,” he said, from his room.
Visible from the doorway was a rumpled bed. Coffee cups were hanging above a sink.
“Dante just gave me all this stuff,” he said. “He’s a very fair guy.”
The resident said he has not been charged any rent.
The out-of-work plumber from Los Banos said Bains hired him to do work around the building.
“I do not want to get on this man’s bad side,” said the plumber who has been living in the building since late August and sleeps there a couple of nights per week.
“[Bains] said, ‘Well, people aren’t really supposed to be living here, but we’ll put you down as maintenance,'” he said.
Hollister’s new zoning ordinance would allow some residential use in the building with a conditional use permit, Avera said last week. The application and approval process would take six to eight weeks.
Doing the work that it would take to bring the building into compliance with residential requirements would probably be a longer process, Avera said.
When city officials made their inspection, some renters did not have a bathroom or kitchen in their units, Avera said.
“There was kind of a little common area where you could use a restroom,” Avera said.
Displacing 20 people is not an easy task, he said.
“But when it comes down to it, we need to make sure that people are safe,” Avera said. “I know that people in the community are trying to do a good deed, but it’s not a good deed if people end up getting hurt. Period.”
