Salvation Army at work on 190K sf “Center of Hope” in Anaheim

The partially opened, $60M complex will include emergency shelter, supportive housing, rehab, employment training

Salvation Army Center of Hope 1340 S. Lewis St., Anaheim (Salvation Army)
Salvation Army Center of Hope 1340 S. Lewis St., Anaheim (Salvation Army)

The Salvation Army will soon provide “wrap-around services” for homeless residents at a $60-million center in Anaheim.

The faith-based nonprofit agency is building a 190,000 square-foot Center of Hope at 1340 S. Lewis St., according to the Los Angeles Times.

The 6.9-acre project, now under construction, will serve up to 575 residents during a six-month program of intervention, transition, and re-integration in four buildings organized like a baseball diamond around a central courtyard.

“The Center of Hope will serve as the hub to an innovative strategy to move the homeless from shelter, to permanent housing, to work, rehabilitation and sobriety, really with the aim of fully reintegrating them into society,” said Ben Hurst, Salvation Army director of operations in Orange County. “That to us is the uniqueness of the space. It’s not just a shelter and it’s not just homeless housing. It’s a pathway for reintegration.”

The front of the Salvation Army center will feature a series of giant concrete columns that elbow into a glass fronted gable.

A 325-bed emergency shelter will serve as one section, complemented by a 72-bed supportive housing apartment complex, and a 175-bed drug and alcohol rehabilitation center at third. The center will include onsite dental, medical care and work training.

A 600-seat multi-purpose center will also serve as a chapel. Some of its components are already open.

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The Center of Hope is the result of a public-private partnership with the City of Anaheim, with funding from the County of Orange County and related agencies.

The emergency shelter opened in 2019; the rehabilitation center is also open.

In Orange County, nearly 7,000 individuals were without homes in 2019, including 4,000 without shelter, according to the most recent count. In Anaheim, there were 1,200 homeless people, including nearly 700 who were unsheltered.

In 2018, the Salvation Army sold a 12-story office tower in Long Beach for $36 million. https://therealdeal.com/la/2018/08/24/salvation-army-sells-long-beach-office-tower-at-deep-discount/

[LAT] – Dana Bartholomew

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