Homeless Put on Upscale Front in Uptown Whittier
Even with bitterly cold nights, some of Whittier’s homeless were reluctant to claim the free blankets and coats that local charities left for them on a picnic table in Central Park.
One man pulled a seedy pink coat out of the pile, put it on and began doing bag lady imitations. When a volunteer came to collect leftover wraps, the homeless man tossed the coat back on the heap disdainfully.
Another homeless man, Tim Younger, 21, asked a friend to take his blanket home and keep it for him until later in the day. “I’d feel like a fool walking around Uptown carrying a blanket,” Younger said.
In this city, many homeless people simply refuse to look the part. They sleep in bushes and storage sheds, but they shower at the Whittier Community Center, wash their clothes at self-service laundries and pick up free shampoo from a local barber. Like Younger, they stash their belongings by day and appear in Uptown looking like anybody else, clean shaven and clad in faded blue jeans and clean shirts.
One woman curls her hair outdoors with a butane curling iron. Like some of the others, former waitress Janine Cassaro, 22, keeps herself presentable in hopes of finding a job.
Shocked at Being Poor
Some of the people who line up in Central Park on weekdays for free food are within walking distance of where they once lived or worked. A few have part-time, minimum-wage jobs, but cannot afford to pay rent. Dale Ryan, assistant pastor of Whittier Area Baptist Fellowship, calls them “people who thought they were middle class, and are shocked at being poor.”
These are the best-off of the local homeless, the ones who take advantage of available social services and still expect to work for a living. At the opposite extreme are uncounted others who remain in hiding, scorning assistance. Many are mentally ill. In the social service business, they call them “campers.”
Some of Whittier’s homeless say they feel forgotten. “Maybe somebody out there is trying to do something for us, but except for what comes from St. Matthias (Episcopal) Church, and the (Ecumenical) Food Center, we don’t see it,” said Paul Arlofski, 19.
In fact, efforts to help Whittier’s homeless may be partly invisible because they are still in the planning stages. But there are actually more efforts to help the homeless in Whittier than in any other city in Southeast Los Angeles County, according to spokesmen for the United Way and the Shelter Partnership in Los Angeles.
Until the cold weather lets up, Whittier’s homeless are invited to sleep in the St. Matthias parish hall. The men’s shelter at the Salvation Army Citadel Corps is being rebuilt this month with money donated by the community. Two organizations feed the homeless, and three have applied for grants to provide permanent shelters.
Late last month, an organization that was formed a year ago for the purpose of alleviating homelessness in the Rio Hondo area applied for a grant to open a family shelter at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk. Representatives of St. Matthias Church and the Whittier Area Ecumenical Council are also searching for money and a site for a permanent shelter.
Like homeless populations everywhere, Whittier’s is difficult to count, difficult to characterize and difficult to serve.
The homeless themselves say they number about 100 in Whittier. Social service providers do not dispute the estimate. Members of the county Department of Mental Health Homeless Outreach Team, which is based in Santa Fe Springs, say that since May 1, they have counseled at least 120 homeless mentally ill in Whittier, Santa Fe Springs, Los Nietos, La Mirada and Pico Rivera. Team member Elaine Allen calls the 120 “the tip of the iceberg.”
Food Bags Distributed
Volunteers at Whittier’s Ecumenical Food Center say they distribute up to 50 bags of food a day to homeless people. Jean Wick, who distributes food bags for the center, estimates that about a third of the recipients have obvious physical or mental disabilities. Volunteers for the St. Matthias soup hour say they feed hot meals to 55 people a day, not all of them homeless.
Longtime Whittier resident Walt Dinger has mounted a private effort to document the plight of local homeless people. Dinger has videotaped interviews with dozens of them, gathering information about their physical needs and living conditions. His goal, he says is to provide skeptical city fathers with evidence that they have a problem with homelessness.
Local organizations divide their efforts to help the homeless into two categories: “Band-Aids,” which provide food and shelter for a night or two; and long-term help, which would give food and shelter until people can provide for themselves.
The Salvation Army, Red Cross and many local churches pay short-term hotel bills for homeless families. At St. Matthias, families and singles can stay for free. The Rev. Chester Howe, rector, said he took the step, which he emphasizes is temporary, because he was “alarmed at the deteriorating health of the people who come to our soup hour.” So far, the church’s Lewis Hall has been accommodating about 15 people a night. They sleep on a linoleum floor, men on one side of a partition, women on the other. Breakfast is included.
Howe recently received a donation of $10,000 for a “creative solution” to homelessness. He said he is still looking for one.
Renovation Planned
Another 15 homeless men have been sleeping in the Hospitality House at the Whittier Salvation Army Citadel Corps, said Arnold Hassler, corps commander. Eight to ten is normal, but the cold weather is driving more inside, Hassler said.
Right now, men must move on after three nights in a given month, and there are no facilities for women. After it is renovated, the Hospitality House will accommodate 20 single men and four families. The Salvation Army has raised $117,000, more than enough to complete the renovation, but not enough to provide the job counseling and long-term shelter that would help people get back on their feet, Hassler said.
The Salvation Army board of directors, which includes Whittier’s mayor and police chief, will be asked to approve an application for a $70,000 United Way grant to support the program. Hassler estimates the program will cost at least $86,000 a year. The difference, he says, will have to come from the community.
Ryan, the assistant pastor at Whittier Area Baptist Fellowship, is head of another ambitious effort to provide a long-term solution to the problems of the homeless. Stop Homelessness in the Rio Hondo Area, a nonprofit corporation founded with start-up money from the Rio Hondo Chapter of the American Red Cross, has applied for a $250,000 state grant to convert a building at Metropolitan State Hospital in Norwalk into a long-term shelter for homeless families. The project has strong support from hospital director Don Miller, who says space at the hospital is readily available, and Norwalk Mayor Bob White, who is on the Stop Homelessness board of directors.
‘Absolutely Needed’
Only 12 of the 35 applications received will be recommended for funding, said Gene Boutilier, who works with the local board of the federal Emergency Management Administration, which will screen the applications on behalf of the state. Boutilier, emergency issues manager for United Way, called the Stop Homelessness application “an obviously good proposal” from an area where additional shelter is “absolutely needed.”
The applications will be screened Thursday, with a final decision expected in April. If all goes well, a 110-bed family shelter could be open at Metropolitan Hospital by Christmas, said Lois Holmes, the American Red Cross representative to the board.
Families would be screened before admission to ensure that they would benefit from the program. They would receive intensive assistance in locating jobs, homes and other community resources. The maximum stay would be 60 days, and annual operating costs would be $250,000 to $300,000. Even with the grant, the project would depend heavily on the community for funding, Holmes said.
A fourth effort has been undertaken by the Whittier Area Ecumenical Council, which sponsors the food center. The council, which includes representatives of 27 local churches, recently was awarded a $5,000 federal grant to provide emergency shelter. Sue Schoensiegel, director, said the money is intended to pay short-term hotel bills for the homeless. The council also has asked the city’s Social Services Commission for an unspecified amount of money to open an emergency shelter. City officials say funds usually go to organizations who want money for well-established programs that depend on a variety of funding sources.
Federal Assistance
Although council members sit on the boards of two groups which are organizing major efforts to help the homeless, the city itself has not yet taken an active role.
Norwalk and Santa Fe Springs recently applied for and received $15,500 in federal grants to provide emergency shelter for the homeless. Whittier did not apply.
“It can be said we are not involved in any direct program to help the homeless at this point,” said Manny Ocampo, city director of human services. “At this point, there has not been a role carved out for grants, or for the city to be a service provider.”
Councilwoman Sabina Schwab said she has raised the issue before. She said when the City Council meets Feb. 10, she will ask for creation of a committee comprised of police, church members and others to assess homelessness in Whittier. As a second step, the group may be asked to recommend steps to help relieve the problem, she said.
