Ombudsman Steers Homeless to Services

Richard Walton had gotten through a moist, cold night at Venice Beach by rolling himself up in a carpet lining the stall of a boardwalk vendor. At 7:30 a.m., he was awakened by someone shoving a piece of paper in his face.

David Bryant handed Walton one of a stack of flyers that offered help. Bryant, 42, works for the Mobile Ombudsman Program, a $110,000 project approved recently by the Los Angeles City Council to help link homeless people with services they may need.

He takes to the streets of Venice at the crack of dawn each morning to talk to homeless people about how to get housing, food and employment. If they are interested, he drives them to a trailer parked on Venice Boulevard for coffee and a hand with wading through the red tape of getting public aid. For Walton, 35, that meant getting needed medication.

The trailer houses representatives from the Social Security Administration, the Veterans Administration, the Department of Mental Health and other agencies. Every month, it rolls to an area of the city that the council deems most needy. After a month at one site, it moves on to another area designated by the City Council.

The idea for the program was born two years ago when hundreds of homeless people camped out in tents on Venice Beach, prompting the city to set up two trailers at the Venice Pavilion to provide social services. The same type of program was tried at several sites around Los Angeles, including Van Nuys and Wilmington. It proved successful in luring homeless people, who more and more tend to be leery of “the system” that involves long lines at crowded offices and social workers who are often hard to reach.

The trailer will be parked until Feb. 1 in a lot behind 685 N. Venice Blvd., sharing the space with two bright yellow-and-white striped tents for waiting clients and the staff’s two vans. Most of the clients are homeless men and women who go to the beach and sleep in nearby parks. Many are disabled or mentally ill veterans, Huff said.

A staff of 14 employees and four volunteers greet the men and women brought in by Bryant and his team, guiding them through the tedious process of determining what services they need, what they are eligible for, and where to obtain the help.

Ted Velasco, 43, is an unemployed mechanic who said he had been living out of his van in Venice for 10 years. Velasco said he went to the trailer for help after someone gave him a flyer.

He filed for benefits under a Social Security program and was directed to a downtown shelter, where he hopes to stay at least until he can make some repairs on his van.

Once the paper work for services has been filled out at the Mobile Ombudsman trailer, volunteer drivers take clients to agency offices to complete the process. The transportation service is especially important to the homeless, who often lack the money or motivation to catch a bus or walk, said Chuck Sladky, the Mobile Ombudsman’s intake coordinator.

“When the homeless person wakes up in the morning, he has three questions in his mind: what he’s going to eat that day, where he’s going to sleep, and where to get change for his particular need, be it drugs or transportation,” Sladky said.

Sladky, 47, knows better than most what he is talking about, having been homeless for a time. When he got off the bus in Los Angeles from New Orleans, he was mugged and lost everything, Sladky said. After six months of homelessness, he became involved with homeless advocacy work.

Part of the job is knowing the problems that the homeless face. For example, identification cards are often stolen on the streets. The lack of proper identification often keeps homeless people from getting the help they need, Sladky said.

Getting a replacement is not all that easy. To get a California ID, one first needs the proper documents. A Social Security card is not too difficult; it usually means a wait of two or three weeks. But birth certificates are trickier.

“You have to know where to write,” Sladky said. “For some of the older people, records have been moved.” It costs $10 to $25 to complete the search, a substantial amount for someone who is homeless and unemployed. The wait, the cost and complication of the search itself can be discouraging, Sladky said. Without help, many just give up.

Lana Barretta was suffering from chronic bronchitis and had been on the streets for the last 10 days, but she wasn’t eligible for shelter until she got an ID. She said she appreciated the help she was getting at the trailer. “A lot of these agencies are dehumanizing,” she said.