Funds to Use Armories as Shelters Cut

Thousands of homeless people across the state who seek shelter on cold winter nights at National Guard armories may be on the streets this winter.

Gov. Pete Wilson on Monday vetoed the request for $1 million that would have kept the 10-year-old program alive for another year. And advocates for the homeless said the decision could not have come at a worse time.

“We’re going to have a very wet winter and wet is as bad as cold when it comes to the health of people who have to live on the street,” said Lee Podolak, director of Homeward Bound, a collective of service providers in Orange County.

Statewide, 26 armories are used as shelters.

There are six armories scattered across Los Angeles County that house 150 to 200 homeless people each night from December to March.

Two Orange County armories, in Santa Ana and Fullerton, provide shelter for 250 each night.

“They are very important to us,” said Judi Crumley, Orange County’s homeless issues coordinator. “There are an estimated 12,000 to 15,000 homeless in Orange County and we cannot provide for even a small percentage of them.”

In Los Angeles, officials at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said the situation could be disastrous.

The armories provide nearly half of the county’s emergency shelter for homeless people, said Herrold Adams, executive director of the homeless authority in Los Angeles.

In Long Beach, Pomona and West Los Angeles, the armories are the only place homeless people can escape cold winter nights, he said.

“There could be an incalculable detrimental effect,” Adams said, “in particular because this next year is expected to be a severe winter.”

The Armory Shelter Program was established by Gov. George Deukmejian in 1987 as a temporary measure. Five years ago, Wilson warned counties that the state might decide not to fund the program in the future. He has sought to return the armories to their original purpose as parade grounds and drilling facilities for troops under the governor’s command.

The National Guard has said it cannot continue to house the homeless because that use of the armories could cause delays in the event of an emergency.

“It’s bad for the National Guard because it hurts our readiness and it’s bad for the homeless because the armories are not designed as shelters,” said National Guard spokesman Maj. David Baldwin.

Local officials have scrambled to find alternative locations for a winter shelter program since the governor and the National Guard began pressing to end it.

But finding neighborhoods that are willing to take in a large population of homeless people, albeit temporarily, has proved difficult.

Activists for the homeless said they will continue to press for funds from the state Legislature.

Michael Herald, a legislative advocate for Housing California, which lobbies on behalf of homeless service organizations, said the program could still be saved if enough legislators get behind it.

“I’m not ready to throw in the towel,” he said. “I’m not convinced the governor will let the homeless people suffer.”