NORTH HOLLYWOOD : Agency Considers Shelter in Warehouse

To help stem the swelling ranks of Valley homeless, the Los Angeles Family Housing Corp. is considering converting a North Hollywood warehouse into a shelter early next year.

Michael Childress, director of administrative services for the private, nonprofit agency, said negotiations for the warehouse are under way. He said the agency is considering spending $1.1 million to convert the building into a shelter for 100 to 200 homeless.

“There is a steady increase in the homeless population here in the Valley,” Childress said.

According to a study released three weeks ago by Shelter Partnership, a nonprofit coalition of county shelters, the homeless population rose an estimated 13.2% countywide between 1991 and 1992. There are 43,000 to 77,000 homeless countywide.

An estimated 4,000 to 5,000 homeless people live in the San Fernando Valley, said Ludelia Cowan, program coordinator of Cornerstone, a nonprofit service center for the homeless mentally ill in Van Nuys.

The new L.A. Housing Corp. facility, the second Valley shelter that would be run by the agency, would provide shelter, meals, medical counseling, employment assistance and storage for residents for up to 90 days while counselors assist residents in finding other housing.

L.A. Family Housing Corp. operates three shelters, the Valley Shelter in North Hollywood and the Chernow Shelter and Triangle House in Boyle Heights. Funding for the new shelter would come from grants and donations, Childress said.

The location of the proposed shelter was not disclosed because negotiations are continuing, Executive Director Nat Hutton said.