Playhouse auction on display at Irvine Spectrum raises money for real solution to homelessness
A cozy farmhouse hosting stuffed bunnies for tea, a Barbie-themed dream home, a palm-tree-lined beach hut and other whimsical, kid-sized scenes on display at the Irvine Spectrum Center through October invite people to learn more about efforts to create real homes for people living on the street.
The playhouses will be on display beneath the Ferris wheel at the Spectrum through Oct. 5, and were created by teams of home builders for Project Playhouse. The fundraising event benefits Homeaid OC, a nonprofit that helps develop both shelters and permanent supportive housing for homeless people.
“It gets people asking ‘what are these playhouses? Why are they here?’” said Brooke Doi of Shea Homes, one of this year’s five participants. “And then they start reading the signs. It’s a great way to educate the general public about the work Homeaid does.”
Past entries put up for sale during the Project Playhouse fundraiser include a recreation of the balloon-propelled home from animated film “Up,” a spooky farm run by scarecrows and a castle, Doi said. The event began almost three decades ago but went on hiatus in 2012 amid the fallout of the 2008 housing market collapse, Homeaid Executive Director Gina Cunningham said. They decided to bring it back this year both to celebrate the nonprofit’s 35th anniversary and to help address the ongoing need for more affordable housing.
Playhouses have fetched an average of about $23,000 at auction, Cunningham said. Charitable bids peaked in 2001; the most expensive entry that year brought in $75,000.
“I’d like to beat that this year because we need a lot of housing, because we have a lot of people experiencing homelessness,” Cunningham said.
Project Playhouse also offers tours of the entries for a $5 donation. In combination with other fundraising efforts, Homeaid hopes to raise well over $500,000, Cunningham said.
That money is desperately needed as homelessness continues to rise in Orange County and throughout the state, despite a dramatic infusion of funds during the pandemic to help people get off the street. Two of the fastest growing demographics in the homeless population are veterans and the elderly.
Practically all shelters in Orange County are constantly full, Cunningham said. And although shelters are only designed to be temporary, last resort solutions, they often become people’s only source of housing for years at a time.
The communal living arrangements can be especially difficult and may even exacerbate the challenges of those dealing with mental illness or trying to overcome addiction, Cunningham said. That combined with limited availability is often why some of the most chronically homeless people decide to live on the street instead of going into a shelter, she said.
The pressure that comes with trying to survive homelessness can drive some to turn to drugs as a means of escape. Some people battling addiction while living on the street are trying to avoid what they view as an even less stable environment in shelters, as opposed to their own enclosed tent. Many of them are waiting for acceptance into a permanent supportive housing program, Cunningham said.
She said the idea that homeless people are resistant to services or unwilling to get help fails to take into account their humanity and the complexity of their lives.
“I always ask people to just remember these are our neighbors and some sort of traumatic event brought them into the streets,” Cunningham said. “And we can’t judge them because we don’t know their stories. And if we can provide them with a roof over their heads, that’s our ultimate goal at Homeaid.”
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