City’s Ties to Homeless Shelter Questioned : Services: Debate grows over landlord role and financial contributions. Some advocate transfer of responsibility.

Officials here are debating the city’s role as landlord of a 5-year-old, 40-bed homeless shelter that continues to seek city money for building repairs and operating expenses.

Former Mayor Arnie Rodio criticized the continuing flow of city dollars into the shelter last week, just before City Council members allocated another $63,000 for repairs and expansion of the parking lot.

That came on top of $117,000 included for the shelter in this year’s redevelopment budget.

“The intent of the shelter was not to be that way,” Rodio said afterward. “I don’t think it’s the responsibility of the city to provide these kind of facilities on an ongoing basis. They have to get on their own eventually.”

Councilman George Runner agreed. “This is consistent with where I’ve always been regarding nonprofit groups,” Runner said. “They have to raise their money from the public.”

He urged the city staff to ask Catholic Charities, which manages the shelter, and other social-service groups if they want to assume ownership and full financial responsibility for the shelter.

But some local leaders feel the city has an obligation to continue aiding the homeless.

Councilman Henry Hearns said he might consider transferring ownership of the shelter to a private group but believes the city should continue to provide money for its programs.

“I would have a problem with us cutting off any relationship to it,” Hearns said. “I don’t think we should take our hands back and say we’re not going to do anything else with this.”

Beyond its humanitarian benefits, the shelter serves a public health and safety role, Hearns said. “It keeps down a lot of the problems we’d have if these people were on the street.”

Antelope Valley College President Allan Kurki, who recently agreed to chair the shelter’s local advisory committee, said the facility needs to do a better job of telling the community about its work. And, he said, it must do more of its own fund raising.

But he also is concerned about the prospect of a complete cutoff of city aid. “In the short run, anyway, I would see it to be extremely difficult for the shelter to become self-supporting,” Kurki said.

Alan Henkin, a Lancaster rabbi who also serves on the shelter’s advisory board, agrees that the city should continue its support for the shelter. “I know this is a tough time for cities. But it’s an even tougher time for nonprofits. It’s just a real tough time to be raising money. Homelessness is just not an issue that attracts a whole lot of money.”

The debate over the city’s role in owning and funding the Lancaster Community Shelter arises just as the facility is about to mark the fifth anniversary of its December, 1989, opening.

The shelter’s origins actually date back to 1987, when the city demolished a privately run shelter during a downtown renewal project. To take its place, the city’s Redevelopment Agency provided a parcel of land at 44611 Yucca Ave., surrounded by warehouses and auto-repair businesses.

The local chapter of the Building Industry Assn., thriving at the time because of a residential building boom, collected materials, raised money and organized volunteers to construct much of the 9,900-square-foot shelter.

The Redevelopment Agency contributed money to finish and furnish the building.

The city then asked social-service organizations to apply for the job of operating the shelter. Catholic Charities was the only group to step forward, and the city agreed in 1989 to lease the shelter to that organization for 10 years.

Catholic Charities does not pay rent for the building, but provides employees to run the shelter, including social workers and a cook. Because it receives government funds, the shelter’s programs have no religious component.

Under the lease, the city must maintain the building, but it is not required to help pay for the shelter’s operating costs.

Nevertheless, at the request of Catholic Charities, the Redevelopment Agency gave the shelter $72,000 its first year and $50,400 the next. During each of the last three years, the agency has allocated $117,000--a sum that has been matched by grants from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Today, the shelter has six employees and runs on an annual budget of about $300,000. Area churches, a Jewish temple and local service groups regularly donate food and clothing to the shelter, where dormitories have 24 beds for men and eight for women. The shelter also has two private rooms for families, each furnished with four beds.

Homeless people can occupy shelter beds for 30 days on an emergency basis. If they qualify, they can remain for up to six months in a transitional-living program. During this period, the shelter staff tries to help them find work and permanent housing.

Year-round, the vacancy rate is about 15%. When cold winter weather arrives, the facility rarely has empty beds.

The shelter also receives about $47,000 annually from the county to provide meals and overnight accommodations for up to 45 more homeless people during the cold-weather months.

The 45 winter residents sleep on cots in the shelter’s dining room and receive hot meals and warm clothing. They must leave the premises each morning and seek readmittance each evening.

The shelter prohibits weapons, drugs and alcohol. In addition, said manager Jeri Darr, “We make it clear to people here that we are not going to hide them from the law.”

Although some Lancaster officials feared the shelter would attract homeless people from distant communities, Darr says 95% of the people aided by the shelter have come from the Antelope Valley.

Nick Johnston, 52, entered the shelter in September, about a month after he lost his house in Palmdale. Johnston lost his job in the grocery industry last year and fell behind in paying his bills. “I had to file for bankruptcy,” he said. “I had to give up the house and car.”

Johnston has several goals while staying at the shelter. “I’m going to find another job,” he said. “I’m going to get back to work and get a smaller house and a car.”

Wesley Blackwell, 56, who has been at the shelter for five months, says he operated a crane and drove trucks before heart problems and diabetes left him unable to continue working. He hopes to move out of the shelter when his disability checks arrive.

“We get all kinds of people here,” Blackwell said. “A lot of them have drinking and drug problems. Some have family problems. Some have mental problems.

“If it wasn’t for this shelter, a lot of people wouldn’t make it. I’ve seen a lot of people come through and get their lives together. And some don’t, because they don’t want to get their lives together.”

To increase the number of shelter clients who move on to full-time work, the facility has applied for a grant that would pay for one more employee. This specialist would prepare the homeless for employment and help find local jobs for them.

Rodio’s suggestion that the city cut its ties to the shelter drew no immediate response from Catholic Charities. But representatives of the group said they plan to talk to city officials about continuing the current cooperative relationship.

“The city of Lancaster needs to be commended for being willing to look at the problem of homelessness head-on,” Darr said. “They’ve got this facility, and they’ve got this problem that no one wants to talk about. Homelessness is not pretty.”