Wilson Gives the Homeless a Home for the Winter : Social services: The governor’s action allows L.A. to operate a shelter at the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys until March 31.

Gov. Pete Wilson came to the rescue at the eleventh hour to provide a home for the San Fernando Valley’s homeless shelter program, agreeing to let it set up shop at the National Guard Armory in Van Nuys rent-free all winter.

“It’s the best we could have hoped for,” Wendy Greuel, Mayor Tom Bradley’s top adviser on homeless issues, said Friday.

In recent weeks, city officials had been anxiously awaiting a decision on the armory and had considered alternative sites at Van Nuys Airport and on private property in North Hollywood.

A recent report from the city’s Community Development Department warned that time was running out to set up a shelter in the Valley. Sites for seven other winter homeless shelters had been secured much earlier in other parts of Los Angeles.

Wilson’s decision, relayed to the mayor’s office Thursday, means that armories in the Valley and West Los Angeles will be available from Nov. 1 to March 31--a 150-day period.

Last year, the Van Nuys armory was unavailable, partly because of the Persian Gulf War. As a result, the city spent an extra $20,000 to operate the Valley homeless program from a Van Nuys Airport hangar, which had to be retrofitted with toilets, kitchens and space heaters to be made habitable.

With the search for a shelter site over, the Los Angeles City Council on Friday gave the green light for a contract with the L.A. Family Housing Corp., a nonprofit agency, to provide 150 beds for the Valley’s homeless in the armory at 17330 Victory Blvd.

City officials said a contract with L.A. Family Housing would be awarded only if the agency found a home for its evening sheltering program--a condition satisfied when Wilson’s decision was announced.

An identical shelter-location problem had clouded a proposed city contract with California Council for Veterans Affairs, the nonprofit agency tentatively chosen to run the city’s shelter program on the Westside.

City officials were particularly ecstatic about Wilson’s decision because it went beyond an earlier commitment to let the Valley and Westside homeless programs use the armories during the first and last 45 days of the 150-day winter period--but not for the middle 60 days.

It is during that middle period--Dec. 15 to Feb. 16--that the city has promised to provide nightly shelters for the homeless, regardless of weather conditions.

During the first and last 45 days of the winter season, the city’s pledge is only to open its shelters when the weather is forecast to be inclement--either below 50 degrees with a 50% chance of rain or below 40 degrees.

Last year, the Valley shelter was open six days more than any other city shelter because the Valley is generally colder.

The latest news from Wilson is “really wonderful,” said Gloria Clark, a senior official with the Community Development Department, because it means the city might have extra money in its homeless program budget. Some money had been budgeted to secure other sites, Clark said.

“We’re now reviewing the financial impact of the governor’s decision,” she said.

The department administers the city’s homeless program, which this year is being run totally by private contractors for the first time.

The city has budgeted $1.2 million for the homeless winter sheltering program, which will provide 1,286 beds during the two 45-day periods, 1,386 beds during the 60-day period.