Homeless May Resist Help, Study Finds

A new study of Los Angeles County’s cold weather shelters offers a sobering assessment of the homeless people who use them, finding that most resist the restrictions of traditional shelter programs and appear to have more mental illness and substance abuse problems than the general homeless population.

The study released Friday by the nonprofit Shelter Partnership is the first to examine the people who use the cold weather shelters. The 20 facilities have operated in Los Angeles County since 1987 to prevent deaths by exposure during the winter.

Many are in National Guard armories and are activated when the National Weather Service forecasts a chance of rain of 50% or more or when the temperature is expected to drop below 40 degrees Fahrenheit.

The study found that the cold weather shelters are nearly always filled and provide the only refuge for many people who otherwise live on the streets and do not take advantage of the many other shelters available for homeless people. Last winter, about 2,100 cold weather beds were available during each night of activation, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

Nearly half of the 883 people surveyed at nine of the shelters reported that they had used the shelters for at least two previous winters.

The report’s findings support a theory that advocates for the homeless have advanced for years: that there is a subgroup of street people with chronic problems whose housing needs must be tackled differently from those of other homeless people.

“This is a population that is not anxious to receive services and who need time, patience and trust,” said Ruth Schwartz, executive director of Shelter Partnership, an agency that provides technical assistance, research and resources for providers of services for the homeless. “We need to look at our existing programs and find out what makes them unattractive.”

Among the barriers, said Schwartz, are requirements of most traditional shelter programs that participants stay sober, accept counseling and make progress toward finding employment. Religion-based programs may also require participation in daily prayer services.

Other experts on mental health and the homeless agreed that traditional shelter providers must consider new ways to support those who resist help.

“When you have a seriously mentally ill person with a history of homelessness, it’s a whole lifestyle that they have developed to survive on the streets,” said Debbie Innes-Gomberg, a program manager with the county Department of Mental Health. “You can’t drop someone like that into a structured program that has demands and rules, because they will balk. Sobriety is a process that doesn’t occur overnight.”

Both Gomberg and Schwartz agreed that there is a critical need for housing designed for the mentally ill and those with substance abuse problems. Previous surveys by the group have found only small percentages of shelter beds set aside for the mentally ill or for people with both mental health and substance abuse problems. Somewhat more were set aside for those with drug or alcohol problems alone.

The winter shelter study recommends the creation of more “safe haven” types of programs: high-tolerance shelters that place no limit on duration of stay and “allow the hardest-to-reach homeless population to slowly accustom themselves to shelter and interacting with others.”