Homelessness on the Increase
With abundant views of wide-open spaces, fresh housing developments and new shopping malls, the burgeoning Antelope Valley cities of Lancaster and Palmdale look as though they are far from Skid Row.
But, as in downtown Los Angeles and other urban centers, it’s not uncommon these days to see people rummaging through trash bins for recyclables and pushing shopping carts full of tattered belongings.
“There is a bigger homeless problem here than people realize,” said Lynn Davis, director of Lancaster’s emergency shelter. “There are people out here in severe distress.”
No one knows exactly how many homeless people live in the Antelope Valley. But most local experts do agree that the U. S. Census Bureau count of 49 homeless people is far too low.
In an effort to get a handle on the problem, Lancaster Mayor Henry Hearns got the go-ahead two weeks ago from the City Council to put together a committee of social workers, church and civic leaders to try to count the homeless people in the Antelope Valley. The council also set aside $10,000 to buy food and shelter to help them.
The number of homeless people in the Antelope Valley is increasing as a result of some of the same economic problems that have hit other areas, local experts said. The work force has been affected by layoffs in the aerospace and building industries. Bankruptcies are increasing, and Dixie Eliopulos, owner of Antelope Valley Trust Deed Services, said housing foreclosures are up 50% since January.
Yet homeless services are limited, especially in Palmdale, which has no emergency housing programs at present. Last winter, the National Guard Armory in the city was opened by Los Angeles County to shelter the homeless during cold weather, and the South Antelope Valley Emergency Services gave away vouchers for motel stays.
Larry Johnson, assistant director of the county’s Department of Community and Senior Citizens Services, said use of the Palmdale Armory was discontinued because few people stayed there and it was difficult to manage.
Furthermore, the emergency services group SAVES is between funding for emergency housing, said June Hawker, its director. Hawker said SAVES is primarily a food giveaway program funded by grants from the federal government and donations from local charities. The city of Palmdale contributes $75,000 that pays the organization’s rent and utilities and buys office supplies.
Hawker hopes, though, to receive a $5,000 grant from the county to provide emergency shelter in Palmdale.
Sunday was the second anniversary of the opening of Lancaster’s homeless shelter, built on city land largely with volunteer labor and materials donated by local building contractors, who at the time were flush with cash as a result of a building boom that has since gone bust.
Within days of its opening, the 40-bed Lancaster Shelter operated by Catholic Charities was filled. Since then, there has consistently been a 65- to 85-person waiting list to get into the shelter, Davis said.
The city of Lancaster contributes $50,000 of the shelter’s $275,000 annual budget. Davis said the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development has agreed to contribute $117,000 a year for five years.
Users of the shelter praised its services.
“It’s real homey,” said Charles Hood, a disabled Vietnam veteran. “If someone told me there was a shelter like this, I would have told them they were lying.”
There has been a noticeable change in the people coming to the shelter since it opened, according to Davis. “We’re seeing fewer people with drug or alcohol histories and more whose reason for homelessness is the loss of a job or eviction,” Davis said.
Davis also said she is concerned that some of the homeless people showing up in Lancaster are coming from other areas, such as Los Angeles and Palmdale, because the services are good. “One of the things that concerns me is that these are not all local families.”
Hood said he found his way to the shelter last month after a tip from a friend at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Sepulveda. He helps cook and clean in the shelter kitchen and is about to enter a transitional living program that will allow him to stay up to six months and give him time to train for a job.
In November, the Lancaster Shelter began issuing cold weather vouchers to homeless families for one-night stays at local motels when temperatures dip below 40 degrees. The program is funded by a $10,000 grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and is administered by the Los Angeles County Department of Community and Senior Citizen Services.
With nighttime temperatures dropping below 30 degrees and the latest count of eight families coming for cold weather vouchers, Davis said she is worried that the shelter will run out of money.
“I’m getting scared we’ll spend the money,” she said. “I don’t think anyone wants to say, ‘You’re out of luck. You’re out in the street.’ ”
