by Mick Rhodes | editor@claremont-courier.com

After more than four years, the day has arrived: Larkin Place, the much debated 32-unit permanent supportive housing facility for formerly homeless people with special needs is complete.

On March 11 Larkin Place’s owner Jamboree Housing will host an invite only grand opening for  mucky-mucks from the state, county, city, and supportive housing community and cut the ribbon at 731 Harrison Ave.

Larkin Place, the new 32-room permanent supportive housing facility in Claremont, is now open, ending a four-plus year saga that saw detractors fighting to keep the project from moving forward. Photo/by Juan Tallo

On Tuesday, Jamboree’s Executive VP and Chief Development Officer Michael Massie gave me a tour of the sparkling new facility. At four stories the building is certainly outsized for the neighborhood, but it’s clean design and unifying color palette help it blend. Inside it’s comfortable, all clean lines and lots of natural light, materials, and colors. A common room houses desktop computer stations, a foosball table, an upright piano, and a TV. The only slightly posh amenity I saw was a third story deck with views of the San Gabriel Mountains. All in all Larkin Place brings to mind a crisp and well-maintained mid-level hotel in any town U.S.A.

Our conversation began with the obvious: Larkin Place’s well-publicized detractors throughout its four-plus year gestation. Many nearby residents put signs in their yards that made their opposition clear, and most of Claremont’s City Council was opposed for various reasons.

Massie said resistance to permanent supportive housing projects like Larkin Place, which Jamboree has built throughout California over the past 15 years, is to be expected.

“And I get that, and I respect that,” he said. “I always go into these processes with a full respect of people who … see this as a threat to their homes, and I am empathetic to that. Home is where your security is, where your family is, often where your wealth is. So we want to be as responsive as we can to that, because we think that we are not actually a risk.”

Michael Massie, Executive Vice President and Chief Development Officer at Jamboree Housing, pictured Tuesday at Larkin Place in Claremont. Courier photo/Andrew Alonzo

Larkin Place was about 75% occupied as of Tuesday. When it’s full, which Massie anticipates happening within the coming weeks, he will share tenant demographics and we will report on them. This is important because some critics feared the facility wouldn’t directly benefit Claremont’s own homeless population.

“Even as we’re opening this facility, there are still a number of unhoused that people in the Village and along the Foothill [Boulevard] corridor,” said one of those detractors, long-time Claremont City Council member Corey Calaycay. “How many people are we taking care of from here in Claremont before we’re bringing folks from outside of Claremont to help them through this housing?”

Massie explained Jamboree’s directive for admitting tenants to Larkin Place comes from the LA County Continuum of Care, with instructions to “serve those with the highest acuity from a special purpose area,” which includes Claremont and other San Gabriel Valley communities.

“We are focused on people that have a tie to the [special purpose area],” Massie said. “They lived here, worked here, have some other sort of tie to it. Those are the people that we are serving. Typically what happens is because we are pretty proactive in our outreach to local folks … we end up getting a lot of people that are from Claremont or in Claremont, or homeless in Claremont, or have a work tie to Claremont.”

A primary concern of those opposed to Larkin Place was security, as it sits adjacent to Joslyn Senior Center and El Roble Intermediate School, in a “senior zone” neighborhood, and its possible impact on property values in the surrounding area. Larkin’s operating budget includes contingencies for increased security during the first two years, if needed.

Larkin Place, the new 32-room permanent supportive housing facility in Claremont, is now open. Photo/by Juan Tallo

“We don’t see a real need for the security yet,” Massie said. “Like I said, the folks that have moved in, everything’s gone very, very smoothly. But if issues arise we’re ready to respond to that. There are going to be issues, but we have an entire staff in place that’s going to address the issues.” Massie said the most common problems from past projects have been noise complaints. “So we have ways of addressing that on an individual basis, on a community wide basis, and the last resort is we have to find a different housing solution for this person.”

Larkin Place got built despite Claremont spending significant money on outside counsel — I asked the city for the total amount this week but have not yet heard back — to push back against the “by right” project, and years of opposition, again for various reasons, from Council members Calaycay, Ed Reece, and Sal Medina.

But now that it’s here, supporters, including Mayor Jennifer Stark and especially Larkin’s most vocal champion on City Council, Jed Leano, could not be happier.

“Anything worth having is worth fighting for,” Stark said. “When I think about just the idea of taking unutilized land and transforming it into a home with 32 units for people who have been struggling, I think it is really something to celebrate. When we sit and reflect about our own humanity and the humanity and dignity of others, being able to have a door to close and being able to have a place to be able to have privacy, I think that that’s something that I couldn’t imagine living without and I’m just really happy that Larkin Place is going to provide that for people.”

The third-story deck at Larkin Place. Photo/by Juan Tallo

Leano, who is in the home stretch of his second and final term as a City Council member, has been focused on homelessness and affordable housing from day one.

“I’m so excited that it’s finally open, and walking the hallways and touring the grounds give me so much pride that we were able to get this done,” Leano said. “And when I think about the impact that this development will have on people’s lives, it’s an immense source of pride. I think the project looks beautiful. And I hope that it serves as an example of what’s possible when we put together a lot of resources from different government agencies, different levels of government, coming together to solve one of our biggest policy problems in Claremont, in California, which is housing for people who don’t have homes.”

Meanwhile, Calaycay, once among Larkin Place’s most vocal critics, is striking a somewhat conciliatory tone.

“There were a lot of other concerns that residents had about how this was going to be managed and so only time will answer those questions as far as if those will become issues or not,” Calaycay said. “But at this point I’m prepared to step back and allow this to move forward and see how things progress. Obviously the most important thing for the good of our town is that I hope that it is a positive addition, whatever the case.”