Valley: Shutdown disrupts lives of seniors, homeowners, veterans. Many workers provide services without pay.

The fallout from the partial shutdown of the federal government has descended on the San Fernando Valley, disrupting the lives of scores of senior citizens, homeowners, veterans and many in need of passports and paychecks.

From the Sepulveda VA Medical Center to the Chatsworth Social Security office, for small-business owners awaiting word on loan applications and homeowners seeking to repair earthquake-damaged properties, the hassles and hardships created by the shutdown have intensified as the impasse approaches the three-week mark.

Even as Republican congressional leaders fashioned a plan late Thursday to put hundreds of thousands of furloughed and other federal workers back on the payroll, the crippling effects of the budget stalemate rippled across the Valley:

* The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which closed its Pasadena office Dec. 18 and sent 350 people home for 10 days, reopened just this week and is woefully behind in making funding decisions to pay for earthquake repairs for schools, hospitals and several thousand homeowners.

* Small-business owners seeking federal loans have been left holding nothing more than applications while most funding decisions are postponed or denied.

* Supplies are dwindling at food pantries and shelters--particularly in Van Nuys and Canoga Park--because of a slowdown in federal funds. Pantry operators said the financial woes come at their busiest time of year, after two holiday weeks in which poor families and homeless people cleaned the shelves of canned goods and other items.

* Agencies that aid the elderly, including Meals on Wheels, have already had to cut back and are concerned that vital services might be eliminated.

* Workers at the Valley’s four Social Security offices, who are often swamped this time of year, have stopped issuing new and replacement Social Security cards and are only processing claims and benefit payments.

* Federal employees in many Valley offices are working without pay because they are considered essential workers, leaving them anxious about their own finances, putting their mortgages and rent payments at risk.

“We’re all just pawns in this,” said Marion Kharabi, a social worker at Sepulveda VA Medical Center, who led group-therapy sessions without pay on Thursday. Her husband is also an unpaid federal employee. “We’re afraid it’s going to affect all social programs for a long time--even when this [budget battle] ends.”

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, which still considers the Northridge earthquake its top priority, has lost valuable time in reviewing school district damage reports as well as homeowner appeals for rental and repair funds, officials said.

“The shutdown has had a very severe impact on our recovery operation,” said Val Bunting, a FEMA spokeswoman in Pasadena. “If the shutdown had not occurred, we would definitely be further ahead in providing reconstruction funds and other assistance.”

Although the agency reopened on Tuesday, many FEMA officials in Washington and elsewhere remain furloughed, stalling decision-making here. Leland Wilson, the federal coordinating officer, believes FEMA is at least a month behind.

“We’re trying to get the money moving again,” Wilson said. “But we cannot get up to full speed even now.”

Small-business owners are also caught in the money crunch as they wait for approval or denial of loan applications.

“There are businesses all over the Valley . . . waiting for [Small Business Administration] money, and they’re not getting it,” said James Whitney of Sherman Oaks-based American Pacific State Bank, the largest SBA lender in the Valley. “It’s a tragic thing.”

As a result, the bank--along with others--is offering bridge loans to keep businesses’ real estate transactions and equipment orders from falling through.

For the various social-service providers, whose budgets have already undergone deep federal funding cutbacks, the situation is approaching the crisis stage.

“It’s a mess,” said Jim Stratton, regional director of Catholic Charities, which runs food and shelter programs throughout the city, including the Valley. “The situation is difficult at best and this is just making it worse. It’s gruesome.”

Agencies that provide myriad services to the elderly, such as transportation, house cleaning and meals, said they are deeply concerned about continuing to offer their services to the million-plus seniors in Los Angeles.

They said the only way they are getting by now is because last month, Mayor Richard Riordan approved a $2.1-million loan from the general fund to ensure that such services continue.

“There are no federal dollars left in this city,” said Ann D. Smith, general manager of the Los Angeles Department of Aging. “We’re talking about basic human services that are due to people who have contributed to this country.”

To make the money stretch, every center has had to cut back. At the Pacoima Senior Center, the cuts have already resulted in layoffs and fewer seniors receiving home-delivered meals and housecleaning services.

“Some of them are just doing without,” said the Rev. Alicia Broadous-Duncan, the center’s director. “If you go into their homes, it’s very disheveled, things on the floor. It’s not very pleasant.”

WISE Senior Services, which operates an elder-abuse prevention program and monitors nursing homes in the city and county, has resorted to layoffs. As of year-end, the three full-time workers in the elder-abuse prevention program were let go, along with 12 workers in the long-term care ombudsman program.

“What will happen is all these cases and all the preventive work stopping elder abuse will go unchecked,” said Maria Arechaederra, executive director of WISE, which monitors 258 nursing homes in the county and 153 in the city.

While some grapple with the human toll, the Valley’s delegation to Congress is receiving a flurry of complaints about constituents being denied passports and visas. Rep. Howard L. Berman (D-Panorama City) said he received a poignant plea from a Panorama City man who won a chance to compete in an international bowling competition in Taiwan through the U.S. Deaf Bowling Federation. But he could not secure travel documents to reap his award.

“It’s not life or death, but for him it was going to be one of the most exciting moments of his lifetime,” Berman said.

The nagging effects were visible at the Chatsworth Social Security office, where morale is flagging among the 50-person staff--all on the job without pay and dealing with some angry clients.

Workers have stopped issuing the 2,000 Social Security cards they typically handle every month, raising the ire of people who need those all-important nine digits for job applications, bank accounts, tax purposes and more.

“Most of them are upset, and now they’re yelling at my employees, who are not getting paid. That’s very hard to handle,” said Operations Officer Jacalyn Levy.

Last week, one employee in the office jokingly posted a sign on the back of his chair that read, “Will Work for Cash. No Credit.” This week, however, no one is laughing.

“I think people are scared, and we don’t know what the future holds,” Levy said.

At least the unpaid workers at the VA Medical Center on Thursday were serving grateful patients, veterans they wouldn’t think of abandoning.

“Our main concern here is the patients,” said Diana Florido, chief of the day treatment center, who was working without pay for the 20th straight day. “They are afraid the facility will close down, and they’ve suffered a lot of anxiety. I hope people understand that there are federal employees who really do care. We’re living proof.”

Ironically, because federal employees are working but without pay, they don’t qualify for unemployment benefits, as those federal workers who have been sent home do.

“It’s hard for my 8-year-old son to understand why we can’t go out to McDonald’s several times a week for dinner like we used to,” said Kim Foster, a Chatsworth Social Security claims representative. “We’re trying to teach him what money is: When you don’t have it, you can’t spend it.”

Times staff writers Marc Lacey and John Chandler contributed to this story.