Homelessness in the Valley / Surviving Day by Day : Teen-Age Changes : Girl Misses Phone and Visitors, but Is Adapting to Shelter Life

On the outside, 13-year-old Erica is the average North Hollywood teen-ager. She wears the trendy baggy clothes, grooves to slow songs on the radio, and spends lazy summer afternoons munching popcorn at the movie theater.

But listen to her for a moment.

Her soft-spoken voice often hesitates as if she is thinking twice about what she can say. No wonder. There is a secret to keep. And it has already cost her some friendships.

“When some of my friends at school wanted my phone number, I told them I didn’t have a phone, because when you call here they say, ‘Valley Shelter,’ ” said Erica, fingering a silver cross on the bed of her shelter apartment. “They thought I didn’t want to be their friend anymore.”

The truth is that she didn’t want her friends to know that she was living in a homeless shelter. “People think shelters are sloppy,” she said.

Ever since last month, when she moved into the Trudy and Norman Louis Valley Shelter on Lankershim Boulevard, Erica has been struggling to keep her new home a secret from her fellow seventh-graders at San Fernando Junior High School.

Fearing that these friends will fail to understand her predicament, she has been able to tell only one friend. “She’s been through a lot, too,” Erica explained.

So has Erica.

She and her mother, Amanda Ponschke, left their $700 North Hollywood apartment in March after Ponschke’s roommate, who had been splitting the rent, moved out. Erica’s father lives in San Fernando.

Ponschke, 36, who had been unable to find work because it meant leaving her daughter alone at night, was taking in only $576 a month from Aid to Families With Dependent Children and child support. So the pair turned to the shelter to help get back on their feet until Ponschke could find a decent job.

“I love to work,” Ponschke said. “I used to make $10 an hour shipping and receiving. But it’s hard to work for $4 an hour when you can earn more on welfare.”

But while the shelter is helping them save money for a new apartment, its rules have hampered her from inviting anyone over to play.

The shelter does not allow overnight sleep-overs from visitors and Ponschke cannot afford the gas to pick up a friend and return them after only a few hours.

“I miss not being able to have my friends come over,” Erica said.

Despite this, the teen-ager has been pleasantly surprised at shelter life. She shares a private room with her mother, is able to listen to her music and watch her own television. And she has made friends.

“I thought it would be way worse than this,” she said. “I like it. I’ve met a lot of nice people, have a lot of new friends and do a lot of activities.”

And while shelter life will never replace a home, it is no longer anything to be ashamed of for Erica.

“After we get out of here, we’re going to find a place. We’re going to be normal. This is just a temporary thing. And we’ll be just like anyone else.”