A Safe Home, Rain or Shine

What is Southern California doing for its homeless? More than you might think, though still not enough. This is especially apparent when the weather isn’t sunny and glorious. Hard rains and chilly temperatures make life even more miserable for poor men, women and children who have no place to call home. The harsh weather, however, opens doors at emergency shelters.

A cavernous room filled with cots and strangers may be unappealing at best, and dangerous at worst, but it beats trying to stay warm under a blanket made of newspapers--or freezing to death.

A temperature of 40 degrees or lower--or the combination of 50 degrees with a 50% chance of rain--prompts Los Angeles city and county to set up temporary refuges in National Guard armories or parks and recreation facilities. Once open, the shelters stay open for a minimum of three nights, and longer if the weather stays bad. That is minimally humane.

The shelters are spread throughout the city; the transportation department provides free rides every evening. The warm, dry beds are but a small improvement over sleeping outside in the rain and cold; an ideal system would provide smaller and more private shelters closer to where homeless men and women congregate.

Although the public shelters are far from ideal, there is progress to report. Two new shelters are open for homeless families. The separate shelters provide social services and a climate more fitting for homeless children, the fastest-growing segment among homeless people. When it rains, homeless families also qualify for emergency vouchers, which are good at inexpensive hotels and motels.

What about the sunny days? There’s not much help for the homeless then.

Providing shelter is a county responsibility, but Los Angeles has not shirked from the huge and complicated task. Mayor Bradley and the City Council deserve credit for expanding the city’s emergency shelter program, which costs about $15,000 a night. The cold/wet weather policy is an improvement, but is it adequate? Ask a homeless child.

Homelessness becomes even more unbearable when the weather turns wet and cold. The best remedy is neither a cot in a mass shelter nor a system that makes desperately poor people pray for rain. What homeless people desperately need are apartments and rooms they can afford to call home, rain or shine. For many, though definitely not all, the answer to their problem is in policies that create affordable housing.