Daytime Shelter in Van Nuys : Sponsors Hope Drop-In Center for Homeless Women Inspires Others

Sponsors of the San Fernando Valley’s first permanent daytime drop-in center for homeless women and children, scheduled to open Dec. 2 in Van Nuys, said Tuesday that they hope the center will provide the impetus for the establishment of similar centers elsewhere in the area.

The center, patterned after the Downtown Women’s Center on Los Angeles’ Skid Row, will be operated by the San Fernando Valley Friends of Homeless Women and Children and the First Methodist Church of Van Nuys in a soon-to-be renovated building on the church grounds at 6260 Tyrone Ave.

“We hope other churches, synagogues and civic organizations will follow our lead so that we can eliminate this shameful situation,” the Rev. Glen Haworth, pastor, said.

The county estimates the Valley’s homeless population at 3,000 to 5,000, Haworth said. The San Fernando Valley Interfaith Council’s task force on the homeless has put that number as high as 10,000.

Pacoima Shelter Filled

However, only one small shelter, the Valley Rescue Mission in Pacoima, serves the area’s homeless, said actress Marsha Hunt, founder of the Valley Mayors’ Fund for the Homeless.

“It’s always filled to capacity,” she said.

The new Van Nuys center will provide a place for women and their children temporarily without shelter to shower, rest, eat and receive help in finding a job and a place to stay, Hunt said. It will be governed by a board of directors from the church, the Friends of Homeless Women and Children and Mr. Build Companies, which is providing the manpower to renovate the building. Hunt’s group will help finance operation of the center.

Zoning laws permit people to sleep at the church building during the day but not at night, Haworth said.

Sherman Oaks resident Fanda Bender, who with Sheila Gam, president, founded the Friends of Homeless Women and Children two years ago, said the drop-in shelter, which can serve six to eight women with their children at a time, is intended to be just a first phase.

“We’re anxious to move on to the second phase, a 24-hour shelter,” Bender said.

Younger Homeless

Gam, also of Sherman Oaks, who came up with the idea for an organization to help homeless women while doing research for a master’s degree thesis on homelessness in the Valley, said the center will serve women who have the best chance of getting back on their feet.

“We don’t want the new homeless to become the old homeless,” she said.

Gam said she noted during her research that younger homeless women, as opposed to “bag ladies,” were becoming more numerous and were the most underserved in the homeless population. She said the center is needed because homeless women often must sleep during the day as they are vulnerable to rape, robbery or other crimes if they do not remain alert at night.

“A day center, at the very least, gives women a safe place to rest,” Gam said.

Women on the streets because of job layoffs, evictions, domestic violence or other problems will be referred to the center by other agencies, which will also screen the clients. This process should “eliminate waiting lines and most loitering,” Gam said.

Referral to Other Agencies

Substance abusers, the chronically mentally ill and criminals will be referred to other social agencies geared toward their needs, Gam said.

A social worker, yet to be hired, will be the center’s only full-time paid worker. Volunteers and interns from California State University, Northridge, UCLA and USC will help the center’s day-to-day operation. Gam said competent people will be on hand to care for the children while their mothers look for work. The center includes a fenced-in play yard for the children.

Spotted Building

Hunt said she spotted the empty church building two years ago, shortly after she formed the Valley mayors’ group.

“We were driving around the Valley looking for places that would be appropriate places for shelters,” she said. “We saw this place and our mouths began to water.”

Overcoming Fears

However, Haworth said, even though he was sympathetic to the shelter effort, members of his congregation were not ready to accept a shelter for the homeless on the church ground two years ago.

“There was a lot of fear of the homeless then,” he said. “Now, they understand more and the church board of trustees were more than willing to undertake this project. They probably would not have two years ago.”

Gam said that one of her problems in recruiting volunteers to help the homeless was convincing other upper-middle-class Valley residents that homelessness existed in their communities.

“I had trouble getting people to realize that this is not just an inner-city problem, that, yes, the Valley has very, very wealthy residents, but that there also are the very, very poor here,” she said. Hunt, honorary mayor of Sherman Oaks, said the mayors’ fund for the homeless can pay for only part of the center’s operation. Donations of money, clothing, furniture and other supplies are still needed, she said.

However, Hunt said, her organization also will raise funds for other shelters that might be established anywhere in the Valley, even in affluent communities such as Tarzana or Sherman Oaks.

The new center’s opening “just has to break the ice for the establishment of other centers,” she said. “The homeless are everywhere.”