Santa Ana Considers Letting County Volunteer Center Break Its Lease : Nonprofits: The group says the homeless harassed its staff and visitors. The city cites financial hardship and is expected to forgive $24,000 in owed rent.

SANTA ANA —  The county’s leading volunteer organization is prepared to move out of city-owned offices without paying four months’ back rent, but officials differ on whether the relocation is an indication of the organization’s financial difficulties.

By the end of the month, the Volunteer Center of Greater Orange County is expected to move its headquarters from the Santa Ana Regional Transportation Center to another office building in Santa Ana.

The private, nonprofit organization organizes an estimated 30,000 volunteers for county projects, and provides seminars and resources for about 1,200 nonprofit organizations. Volunteer Center President Carol R. Stone said the move would not affect services.

But the reasons behind the move have sparked a debate between the group and its current landlord, the city of Santa Ana, which said the organization is experiencing financial difficulties.

As a result, the city said, it would forgive the $24,000 in rent the organization owes and allow it to break the 10-year lease four years early. The City Council is scheduled to consider the agreement Monday.

A city staff report recommends that the city release the organization “in order to replace it with a more financially able tenant.”

“In recent years, the Volunteer Center has found it increasingly difficult to meet rent obligations due to constrictions of traditional funding sources; and, this year, it has fallen increasingly in arrears,” the report said. “Staff has assessed the center’s financial viability and questions its continued ability to meet these obligations.”

Robert Hoffman, the city’s redevelopment and real estate manager, said he received his information from Volunteer Center staffers.

“There’s no way to sugarcoat this,” said Hoffman, later adding, “Staffers did not know if the organization could continue functioning as well at that location with that rent.”

When asked about the city report, Stone replied, “We certainly have downsized but we can meet our obligations.”

In recent years, the group, which has an annual budget of $1.7 million made up of government and private grants, has scaled back some programs, turning over a meals-on-wheels and home-cleaning service for senior citizens to another agency.

But Stone nevertheless disagreed with the city’s report, saying the move was prompted more by public safety concerns than economics. Stone said the organization began searching for a new location a year ago because Volunteer Center staffers and visitors were being harassed by the homeless and others.

The group found larger quarters with a rent below the $6,000 it pays the city each month for the slightly more than 6,000-square-foot space. She declined to discuss the terms of the new seven-year lease, but said the new offices will be 7,200 square feet.

The city has found a replacement tenant, a multi-agency career center, which includes the city of Santa Ana among its partners, which will move in by December.

Stone said the group had withheld its rent to pay for moving expenses.

“While we were thinking about moving out,” she said, “we did not want to pay.’

Although the tactic did not sit well with the city, it has decided to let the group go because a replacement tenant has been found. The new tenant will pay an unspecified higher rent, which in the long term will defray the $24,000 the city forgave, city officials said.

Earlier this month, the nonprofit Wellness Community of Orange County, which served cancer patients, closed its doors, citing a lack of funds. Many nonprofit organizations are expected to face financial shake-ups in the wake of the county bankruptcy.

Stone stressed that her organization is not in danger of folding, but acknowledged that contributions to nonprofit organizations are in greater peril than ever before.