Deukmejian OKs Armories’ Use to Shelter Homeless

Gov. George Deukmejian said Saturday that he is authorizing use of California armories as emergency shelters for the homeless for a second consecutive winter.

“California may be the place of year-round sunshine in the eyes of our Eastern friends, but when you have no roof over your head, even a California winter can be cruel and punishing,” Deukmejian said in his weekly statewide radio address.

The governor said counties may operate homeless shelters in National Guard armories in their jurisdictions “when the weather becomes life threatening.”

Armories can be used as temporary shelters on rainy nights when the temperature drops to 50 degrees or below and on dry nights when it is 40 degrees or less, said Kevin Brett, Deukmejian’s press secretary.

Counties to Pay Costs

“These temperatures are not hard and fast,” Brett said. “These are just general guidelines.”

Counties that request use of the armories must pay the cost of running the shelters.

Since the program began Nov. 10, Brett said, 744 people have made use of emergency shelters in armories in Sacramento, Santa Barbara, San Diego, Los Angeles and Butte counties.

Last winter, 28,146 people were sheltered in armories from Dec. 16 through April 8, he said.

The homeless who used the shelters were “very cooperative and helpful,” Deukmejian said. “Because of these gratifying results, we are renewing this program for the winter that is upon us. We expect to double the number of armories used to shelter the homeless.”