Give Them Shelter, Not a Cold Shoulder : * County Policy on Opening Armories to Homeless Should Be Reviewed--and Relaxed

The state’s program allowing National Guard armories to be used to shelter the homeless on cold nights is specific about the weather conditions that trigger their use: 40 degrees or colder, or 50 degrees or colder if there’s a 50% chance of rain.

But, it seems, every county in the state interprets that simple set of rules differently. The state official who coordinates the state’s armory program has said that, unless the rules are being flagrantly abused, the state lets counties call their own shots. Some counties, such as Santa Clara, open armories if the temperature drops below 40 degrees anywhere within county boundaries. Others, such as Sacramento, have in the past kept the armories open continuoually during winter months; the county has since switched to using another location for shelter. In Los Angeles, officials wanted more say in how often shelter could be provided, so locations other than armories now are being used.

In Orange County, the rules are strictly interpreted--too much so, in fact. Temperatures must meet state criteria in the Santa Ana, Fullerton and Anaheim areas--where most of the homeless congregate--before the armories in either Santa Ana or Fullerton can be opened. As a result, the armories were open only 14 nights last winter, in contrast with 50 nights in the San Fernando Valley and 54 nights in El Cajon in San Diego County.

Orange County officials say that this area is warmer than these others, especially counties in Northern California. True, but as a UCI Medical Center official pointed out, it’s possible to get hypothermia when the temperature is in the 50s. It also doesn’t take long for people to get so cold that their health is threatened.

Opening the armories entails a lot of coordination and expense to the county that isn’t immediately apparent. The program must be administered, and there must be clean linens, security services and site managers provided. In addition, local social services agencies must find about 10 volunteers per location for each night of operation in order to provide an evening meal and breakfast for the homeless. That’s no easy task.

But being sheltered from cold weather is a basic human need. State rules governing the operation of armory shelters must be followed, of course. Orange County officials should review their procedures to see if more could be done to provide a place for the homeless on more nights. Here is an instance where an old adage is useful: Where there’s a will, there’s a way.