GIMME SHELTER: When the National Guard armories...

GIMME SHELTER: When the National Guard armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton open to shelter the homeless this week, there will be beds but no kitchen. The National Guard says the kitchen equipment is so old it violates fire codes. . . . Maria Mendoza, the county homeless coordinator, says she’s hoping for donations of new equipment but concedes that “would be a miracle.” Otherwise, she says, she’ll have to import up to 250 meals a night from the county jail. For the second year in a row, the shelters will remain open all winter.

THE OLD DAYS: Early this century, the homeless were mostly single men who went to the county’s Poor Farm in Orange, where UC Irvine Medical Center now sits. Built with county bond money and opened in 1914, the Poor Farm let men work for their food and gave them a place to sleep for a while. . . . But solutions are not so easy nowadays. Now 30% of the county’s estimated 12,000 homeless are children, more than half under 5 years old.

SCROOGE OR SANTA? On one hand, Santa Ana is trying to legislate the homeless away from its Civic Center; on the other, it’s trying to develop a plan to accommodate indigents. Tim Shaw, director of the city’s homeless task force, explains the apparent contradiction, saying Santa Ana wants other cities to pitch in and help. . . . “You have cities in the county who say, ‘We don’t have a homeless problem, they’re all in Santa Ana,’ ” but “we’re just a magnet for everyone else’s homeless.” Shaw wants a regional approach to caring for the homeless. There are about 3,000 homeless in the city but only 300 beds available for them.

QUESTION: Which is the only city in Orange County that funds its own homeless shelter? Answer: Laguna Beach. Its program houses 30 people, usually in donated church space, and sometimes they come from as far as San Diego, officials say. . . . “I do hope other cities will follow suit,” says Cindy King, deputy city manager. “You need to take care of your own.” The program costs the city $12,000 a year, most of the money coming from grants.

Armories Opening

National Guard armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton plan to open Wednesday to shelter the homeless for the winter.

Cost to No. of operate nights ‘87-88 $15,620 18* ‘88-89 65,000 28 ‘89-90 62,000 14 ‘90-91 92,000 33 ‘91-92 64,000 28 ‘92-93 248,000 98

* Santa Ana armory only

Source: Orange County Administrative Office