Countywide : 2 Armories Give Shelter From Cold

After 25 years of marriage and 14 years of custodial work at a Los Angeles elementary school, William J. Brown Jr. lost his home, his family and his job because he couldn’t give up cocaine.

“At that time, that’s all I cared about,” Brown said. “What happened tomorrow didn’t matter. Now it does.”

Brown, 47, was one of more than 30 men who found shelter from the season’s low temperatures Wednesday at the National Guard Armory in Santa Ana.

Armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton were opened to the homeless both Tuesday and Wednesday nights in response to continued chilly weather, Orange County social services officials said.

“I usually like it better on the street,” said Brown, who said he has quit cocaine but now spends most of his nights on local park benches. “A lot of times you don’t have freedom in places like this. But here, I can come and go as I please.”

The county’s Social Services Agency said a total of 60 people were given shelter Tuesday night and that about 90 people were expected Wednesday. The doors open at 5:45 p.m. at the armories at 400 S. Brookhurst Road, Fullerton, and 612 E. Warner Ave., Santa Ana. Guests must leave by 7 the next morning.

While the number of homeless taking advantage of the offer of a warm place to spend the night was far below the capacity of 125 at each armory, the numbers typically increase as word of the opening spreads, said Margaret Beck, manager of adult services and the homeless shelter program for the Social Services Agency.

But for 26-year-old Kevin Hunter, also a recovering cocaine addict who said he had just been released from Orange County Jail for traffic offenses, it was hunger and not the cold that brought him to the armory.

“I really don’t like these type of places because they’re only temporary,” Hunter said as he ate spaghetti and meatballs. “I was hungry; that’s why I am here. But if it isn’t cold and the temperature doesn’t drop like it did tonight or last night, nobody cares about where you’re sleeping. It’s messed up being homeless, whatever the temperature.”

Under rules laid out by Gov. George Deukmejian, the armories open to the homeless when temperatures are expected to fall below 40 degrees or below 50 degrees with a 50% chance of rain. It was the former category, the cold, that resulted in Wednesday’s opening, Beck said.

By this time last year, armories in Orange County had opened 15 times during that colder winter.

“I guess I am thankful for this bad weather,” said 23-year-old Kurt Gaoldo, who lost his job a few weeks ago and couldn’t pay rent on his apartment. “Otherwise, who knows where I’d be?”