Countywide : Board to Discuss Plan for Armory Shelters

The Board of Supervisors will consider today a resolution that would put Orange County at the forefront of a statewide effort to keep National Guard armories open to shelter the homeless in winter months.

The resolution, sponsored by the county’s Homeless Issues Advisory Committee, would call on Gov. Pete Wilson to reconsider his decision to shut down the 6-year-old armory program next year for budget reasons.

The resolution additionally calls on Orange County cities and the 18 other California counties involved in the program to adopt a similar position. Maria Mendoza, the county’s homeless issues coordinator, has also met with her counterparts statewide to gather support.

“We’re prepared to take the lead on this,” Mendoza said. “If it’s just Orange County voicing opposition, (the state) might say ‘Thank you very much’ and ‘Goodby.’ But if it’s a coalition, it might make a difference.”

Orange County’s two armories, in Fullerton and Santa Ana, sheltered 20,721 people last winter, and the facilities have housed capacity crowds during the current cold season, records show.

More than just a dry cot and a roof over their heads, the shelters each year become impromptu centers for services. Secondhand clothes are distributed, AIDS tests and counseling are provided, and warm meals are given for the 250 people taken in each night.

Without that refuge, Mendoza said, Orange County would have a difficult time keeping its increasing number of homeless people healthy when temperatures drop.

“Not to sound morbid, but somebody is going to have to step over sick and dead people in the streets before people realize the need for shelters,” Mendoza said.

Officials estimate that there are between 10,000 and 12,000 homeless people in Orange County--as many as half of them children.

Orange County was among the first counties when former Gov. George Deukmejian in 1987 opened the armories to local homeless assistance groups on nights when temperatures dipped into the low 40s.

Wilson this year notified participating counties that the shelters would not be available next year. The cost of maintenance and the general disrepair of some of the facilities were cited as reasons.