A homeowners association that helped identify a pair of proposed homeless housing sites in Sherman Oaks now says that those facilities should be reserved for seniors and families.

The announcement in August of the two proposed locations, one for emergency housing and the other for permanent supportive housing, was followed by backlash from several members of the Sherman Oaks community.

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The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association released a statement Friday saying that the site at 15314 W. Dickens St. “should be developed for a senior citizens-only permanent supportive housing development,” while the Army Reserve, at 5161 Sepulveda Blvd. should “be developed as bridge housing for families with children only.”

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This could help lessen “community concerns,” the statement went on to say, “not only through good design and site planning, but also by limiting the homeless occupants to certain deserved groups such as our seniors and families with children.”

“We will continue to make our feelings known to the council office and continue to reach out to the Sherman Oaks community for any ideas in handling this crisis in an acceptable manner,” the statement said.

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The statement also emphasized that the two sites still need to be studied to see if it would even be “feasible” to put homeless housing there. Councilman David Ryu announced a motion in August that calls for feasibility studies on the sites, but it has not been approved yet by the full council and the studies have not yet begun.

The statement has been submitted to the councilman, and was also posted on Nextdoor.com, where members of the Sherman Oaks community have been debating the issue, according to Tom Glick, of the homeowners association.

The Sherman Oaks Homeowners Association worked with the Sherman Oaks Neighborhood Council to identify several sites throughout the community, and eventually narrowed the list down to the two that were submitted to Ryu.

Members of the neighborhood council are looking into taking up a similar stance, with the group’s Vision Committee set to discuss a motion on it at its Oct. 4, meeting at the Sherman Oaks Library, 14245 Moorpark St.

Their motion reads: “Responding to the communities concerns, if the proposed sites at 15314 W. Dickens St. and 5161 Sepulveda are found feasible and if council member Ryu chooses to move forward with these sites, we recommend the proposed Permanent Supportive Housing on the Dickens site be limited to seniors or women and children only and the proposed project replace the existing public parking spaces plus have parking for the new units as per code. We recommend the proposed Sepulveda site be Bridge Housing or Affordable Housing that is limited to serving seniors or women and children.”

The agenda for the Oct. 4 Vision Committee meeting can be found here.

The homeowners’ association is a volunteer, nonprofit group made up of Sherman Oaks residents. It is separate from the neighborhood council, which is an official city board that makes advisory recommendations to city leaders like Ryu and the mayor on city policies and development projects. Neighborhood councils also get an annual budget to pay for community projects, which need to be voted on by the board, as well as for meeting space if free ones are unavailable.