Escondido Homeless Shelter May Close : Poverty: The county’s only always-open winter shelter will close today unless City Council allows it to open intermittently.

The county’s only continuously open winter-weather shelter will close today, possibly leaving hundreds of homeless people outdoors as a new storm approaches unless Escondido officials decide to keep it open.

The shelter, actually the National Guard Armory on Park Avenue near Broadway, has accommodated 453 homeless people since it began staying open every night Dec. 16, an Escondido city report says. The shelter has averaged 54 people a night, mostly single males.

“We’re really happy that hundreds and hundreds of people were able to spend safe, warm nights here,” said Bob Klug, a program manager with the North County Interfaith Council, which operates the shelter.

What’s made the shelter unusual is that it has been open every night, unlike other winter-weather shelters in the county that open only when the temperature dips below 35 degrees, or 40 degrees when rain is forecast.

But the shelter closes today when the winter season ends, causing worry that homeless people may have nowhere to go.

“That’s the harsh reality, that people are going to be drenching wet and cold, and people who are already agency-weary as they go from one program to another trying to find effective help will be without shelter,” said Suzanne Pohlman, director of the Interfaith Council.

She said the shelter has been able to place ill and homeless senior citizens in permanent housing and obtain medical care for them, and has relocated at least four families in permanent housing.

“We won’t have the ability (to help) any more. That means that children and seniors won’t have the options that they have had,” Pohlman said.

“So people are again back out on the street without any minimal standards for safety and security,” she said. “What we offered was very little, but it was enough to make a huge difference in the lives of some.”

However, the Escondido City Council on Wednesday will consider a staff recommendation to allow the shelter to open intermittently through April 30 whenever the temperature dips below 40 degrees, or 50 degrees when rain is expected. That policy is allowed by the state, which owns the armory.

Even if the council approves the recommendation, homeless advocates argue that the shelter won’t be as effective as it was when it was always open.

“There’s no way that the persons who are going to need and use the services are going to be able to use them if they don’t know that the shelter is open,” Pohlman said.

The city permitted the shelter to operate every night after homeless advocates argued that the homeless would benefit more if they could rely on having a safe bed on any given night.

Military veterans made up 29% of the homeless served at the shelter, and more than half of those were Vietnam-era veterans, according to a city survey.

The homeless ranged in age from 16 to 69, 5% were under the age of 20 and 9% over the age of 51, the survey said.

Of the homeless served by the shelter, 10% held jobs, indicating that they could not find employment that paid enough for them to afford rent, said Pat Getzel, the city’s housing manager.

“We’re seeing more of that with families. If you take two minimum-wage jobs and calculate what the minimum rent is, you can start to see why that is more of a problem,” Getzel said.

About a third of the homeless using the shelter had Escondido addresses as their last permanent residence. Another 5% came from other areas of North County, 10% from elsewhere in San Diego County, 10% from other parts of California, 20% from other states in the country and 4% from Mexico, the survey said.

Getzel and homeless advocates were surprised by the relatively small number of Latinos using the shelter. Only 18.4% were Latinos while 74% were white, the survey showed. The 1990 census showed that 23.4% of the Escondido population is Latino.

“I thought (the number of Latinos) would have been at least double what it was. . . . I find it very puzzling” Klug said.

The shelter’s availability had been advertised in both English and Spanish at the soup kitchens in the area and by word of mouth from social service counselors, Klug said.

Klug hypothesized that a strong sense of community among Latinos allows many to find temporary shelter with friends and family members.

“The Hispanic culture is much more family-oriented, and they are much more likely to take in someone who is not doing too well,” Klug said.