REGION: Interfaith seeks volunteers to finish Oceanside housing for vets

By GARY WARTH - Staff Writer | Wednesday, June 18, 2008 12:21 PM PDT ∞

OCEANSIDE ---- To everybody who says they support veterans, grab a paint brush.

Interfaith Community Services is under the gun to put the finishing touches on three refurbished Oceanside apartment buildings that will provide rooms for 72 homeless veterans.

The nonprofit group is looking for volunteers to paint, clean and do other handy work at the buildings at 1234 Division St. in Oceanside before June 23, when the Veterans Administration inspects the rooms. If they pass inspection, veterans can move in within a month.

"We need volunteers to come out and just help us clean this stuff out," said Interfaith Director of Development Greg Anglea, standing in one of the kitchens where a previous tenant had wallpapered cabinets with a tacky floral print that covered every door, panel, even the knobs.

Except for cabinets, however, the rest of the kitchen and most of the two-bedroom apartment seemed almost ready for its four tenants. Other rooms still have drywall and sinks to install, tiles to lay and walls to paint.

The buildings will double the number of rooms Interfaith Community Services has for veterans. In Escondido, 44 veterans live at the dorm-style building Merle's Place at 550 W. Washington St., Interfaith's main office, and 28 more live in an Aster Street apartment building on the corner of Rose Avenue.

The Oceanside buildings, which will have 18 apartments for clients and one for a resident manager, cost $3 million to buy and about $1 million to refurbish, Anglea said. Interfaith borrowed the bulk of the money, and the Veterans Administration provided a $1.1 million grant for the project, he said.

Interfaith hopes to pay back some of the loan by selling naming rights to the building for $500,000, Anglea said. It also can pay down the mortgage over time with some of a $33 per diem the Veterans Administration will provide for each client, he said. Veterans themselves may be charged up to $160 a month in rent if they can afford it.

Years of being poorly maintained and mismanaged left the light orange-colored buildings in serious need of a makeover, said Guillermo Martinez, program manager for Interfaith's Veterans Transitional Housing program.

Anglea said Interfaith bought the buildings earlier this year from a private party.

Martinez said workers descending on the building with paintbrushes and brooms earlier this month were a welcome sight to members of the neighborhood's Crown Heights Community Service Center, who soon were offering to help.

"Since we're moving into their neighborhood, they were curious about what was going on," he said. "We improved the aesthetic of the building, and I think they appreciated that."

Each apartment will house four veterans who can stay up to two years. The program is open to any veteran who did not receive a dishonorable discharge from the service.

In Escondido, veterans have found housing through Interfaith since 1999, when it opened an apartment on Aster Street, said John Kaskurs, director of Veterans Services for the nonprofit group. Interfaith opened Merle's Place, which focuses on disabled veterans, in 2006, he said.

Interfaith also operates a bunk house that provides emergency shelters for 10 veterans.

"Quiet honestly, I don't know what I would have done (without the program)," said Kaskurs, 64, who used to work in a nuclear-test program that was phased out. "I sent out hundreds of resumes. I wasn't getting any nibbles."

Kaskurs, an Army veteran who served in Vietnam, said he found a home and work with Interfaith. With a bachelor's degree in social science and a master's degree in public administration, he said he was a good fit at the nonprofit organization and now helps fellow veterans with programs funded by the Labor Department's Homeless Veterans Reintegration Project and the Work Force Investment Act.

Anglea said the Oceanside project needs volunteers to help and donations of linens, kitchenware, personal hygiene items and other household items. Cash donations also are welcome, he said.

To volunteer or make a donation, call Interfaith at (760) 489-6380. Veterans interested in the housing program or any other services at Interfaith can call the same number for information.

Contact staff writer Gary Warth at (760) 740-5410 or gwarth@nctimes.com.