Van Nuys Site : Neighbors Protest Plan to Aid Homeless

Looking ahead to a city plan to bring homeless people from across the San Fernando Valley to Van Nuys for services, Mayor Tom Bradley was thrilled.

David Heinke wasn’t.

On Friday, Heinke was among about two dozen Van Nuys residents who protested the plan to provide counseling, health care and other services for nearly a month to homeless people from a 60-foot trailer set up at the Salvation Army office on Victory Boulevard just west of Van Nuys Boulevard.

Earlier, Bradley was at the site to laud the program, the first of its kind in Los Angeles.

“This program . . . will get homeless people plugged back into the mainstream and plugged back into jobs,” the mayor said.

Under the program, which starts Tuesday, homeless people will be offered rides from parks and other areas where they congregate. Those brought to the trailer will be returned the same day to where they were picked up if social service agencies are unable to find them shelter.

Trailer to Be Moved

“We will not force anyone against their will to go,” said Bob Vilmur, the city’s homeless coordinator.

After Sept. 16, the trailer will be moved to other areas in the city to serve the homeless elsewhere.

Those assurances failed to satisfy Heinke and his neighbors, who Friday carried signs reading “Right Program, Wrong Location.”

“They can go out and serve the homeless in the parks,” said Stan Welbourn of Gilmore Street. “They don’t need to bring the homeless to a residential neighborhood.”

“We feel strongly that this would only be the beginning,” Heinke said. “We are strongly against this being a dumping ground” for the homeless. He expressed concern that homeless people will want to stay in Van Nuys rather than return to where they were picked up.

Central Location

“We are not against Mayor Bradley’s program,” Heinke added. He suggested that the trailer be set up in the Sepulveda Basin.

Officials said the Van Nuys site was chosen because of its central location and the availability of other services, such as food and clothing, from the Salvation Army.

About 80 residents submitted a petition to their councilman, Joel Wachs, complaining that they were not informed about the plan until after the city began to implement it.

“This area is already saturated with over 100 to 200 people each morning standing on our street corners waiting for jobs,” the petition said. “To further overload our neighborhood with 5,000 homeless people per month . . . is absolutely unnecessary and intolerable.”

“My gosh, it’s only going to be about an 18-day program,” Wachs said in an interview Friday, referring to the approximate number of weekdays that the trailer office will be open. “I think people have to give it a chance.”

Bradley did not speak to the protesters. Wachs said he plans to send a letter to residents assuring them that he will closely monitor the program to head off any problems.

“We’re going to be doing what we’ve been doing all along,” said Capt. John Purdell, commanding officer of the Salvation Army in Van Nuys, adding that the Salvation Army already serves food and provides clothing to about 350 impoverished people each week.

The trailer will operate between 8:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. weekdays until Sept. 16. Services provided will include health care, job information, legal assistance and help in obtaining welfare, Social Security and veterans’ benefits. Children of homeless parents will be cared for while their parents receive assistance.

“A goal of the program is to connect people in need with an appropriate facility that can help them, whether it is a health care center or a place where they can find food or clothing,” Vilmur said.

City officials estimate that there are 3,500 to 5,000 homeless people in the Valley.