IRVINE : Contractors Help Fix Homeless Shelters

More than a dozen contractors have pitched in to help refurbish two 1920s farmhouses owned by Irvine Temporary Housing, which has been facing financial problems since its former executive director was accused of embezzlement.

The agency, which owns or rents 10 homes to provide temporary shelter to the homeless, had to move families out of the two restored farmhouses after septic tanks backed up in January and the roofs sprang leaks.

The financially strapped agency was having trouble fixing the houses when the Building Industry Assn. stepped in to help, said Margie Wakeham, former chairwoman of the agency’s board of directors who took over as interim director last year.

Last June, the board fired its former director, Clyde E. Weinman, who was charged with forging agency checks for his own use. Weinman pleaded not guilty and faces trial on 13 counts of forgery.

As a result of the allegations, the city of Irvine withheld $406,000 in federal grants that had been set aside for the agency to buy condominiums. Public donations to the agency also dipped.

The agency’s financial controls have been improved, and it has hired an outside bookkeeper, Wakeham said. The City Council will consider turning over the grant money to Irvine Temporary Housing at the council’s April 13 meeting.

In the meantime, painters, carpenters, roofers, plumbers, electricians and others have been rehabilitating the two houses.

Most of the labor and materials have been donated, said Greg Johnson, customer service director for California Pacific Homes, which has recruited most of the contractors. Other contractors are providing the services at a discount, Johnson said, with the home-building company picking up the tab.

There would have been no way for the agency to pay for all of the needed work, Wakeham said, adding that the repairs probably will cost more than $25,000.

The farmhouses’ aging septic tanks will be replaced by connecting to the sewer line, Wakeham said. Work at the houses should be done by the end of the month, she said, at which point the houses will reopen to needy families.