Federal Judge Finds an Extra Calling as Angel for the Homeless

When Judge Harry Pregerson strolls into one of four shelters he oversees, wearing his signature cowboy hat and western belt buckle, there’s an air of familiarity.

“It’s the judge,” one resident says, standing with a cluster of the formerly homeless. “You know the judge, don’t you?”

Most of them do.

“I get so charged up coming out here,” Pregerson says. “I meet some of the best people I’ve met in my life this way.”

Pregerson, a judge on the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, has managed to use surplus federal buildings and land to give thousands shelter, and he has enlisted government agencies and nonprofit groups to help with his work: the Salvation Army, the U.S. General Services Administration and the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs.

“One of my colleagues said to me the other day, ‘Harry, you’re not a judge. You’re a social worker,’ ” Pregerson said. “I guess I believe that all judges should be social workers.”

Other members of the court also have gotten involved.

Another judge, Stephen Trott, wound up strumming a guitar and singing at the shelters. Trott, a member of the 1960s band the Highwaymen, reunited the group and brought them to Pregerson’s homeless shelters. It was such a hit they’ve been back several times.

“We all do civic work,” said Trott, who also serves on the 9th circuit. “But I don’t know anyone who has worked as hard as Harry has. People ask, ‘Am I my brother’s keeper?’ Well, Harry Pregerson is.”

Take a tour of the shelters with the 76-year-old judge and you see a vision realized. From the gritty Bell Shelter, located in a series of warehouses and trailers on the outskirts of Los Angeles, to the shining new Westwood Transitional Village of 41 apartments abutting upscale Brentwood, the once down-and-out are making their way.

At the newly opened apartment project, Pregerson stoops to pick up stray leaves and shoos away a dog messing with newly planted shrubs.

“Isn’t this a beautiful place?” he enthuses.

The transitional village is a unique concept. Low-income families who have “graduated” from other shelters rent new apartments for minimal fees while they save to become homeowners.

“I don’t think there’s another one like this in the country,” said the judge, who shows off the day care center, counseling center, medical clinic and emergency food pantry. Across the street, a recreational center has basketball courts, a baseball field and a pool.

“This is our chance to get out of poverty, to save our money and give our children a better life,” said Dennis Bragg, whose family was the first to move into the development.

He and his wife, Maple, and their five children rent a four-bedroom, two-bath apartment for $508 a month. Their lease is updated every six months, and they can stay no more than 36 months.

“I feel like I won a lottery or something,” Bragg said. “I feel safe here. My kids aren’t exposed to bad elements. It used to be they had to pass seven liquor stores to get to school.”

Now, he said, everything has changed. “One of my younger sons came home from school the other day and I said, ‘Have you decided what you want to do?’ And he said, ‘I want to be mayor.’ ”

The story began with a vision and a lot of helping hands.

Driving to court during an unusually cold winter in Los Angeles, Pregerson passed through skid row streets, with their itinerant inhabitants, and had an idea.

Why not provide them shelter at unused federal land and buildings?

Pregerson had heard that then-Mayor Tom Bradley was opening City Hall on cold nights for homeless at risk from exposure.

“I wanted to open up the courthouse at night and have them sleep there, but that didn’t go over too well,” he recalled.

Soon he was exploring other options and found that Congress was on the same track. They had just approved the Stewart B. McKinney Homeless Assistance Act, which required the secretary of Housing and Urban Development to identify underutilized federal public buildings that could be used as homeless shelters.

A few phone calls by the judge, and the homeless were on their way to a temporary shelter in empty munitions warehouses in the city of Bell. Pregerson found cots and blankets for them.

That was just the beginning.

Today, 13 years later, Pregerson supervises four thriving shelters that provide food, housing, counseling and job preparation for thousands of homeless each year, many of them veterans.

He has also launched a series of day care centers for children of federal workers as well as children of the poor.

Pregerson, who has presided over such high-profile cases as challenges to Howard Hughes’ will and the National Football League antitrust trials, carries a full load on the appeals court and travels around the state hearing cases. But he still finds time for the shelters, three of which are administered by the Salvation Army.

He relies heavily on his former court clerk, Dick Johnson, who retired to Greenfield, Ind., but found himself working on the shelters by phone. Johnson and Pregerson, both Marine veterans, talk several times a day.

“He works nonstop, sleeps very little, always has a telephone and I don’t know how he keeps going,” Johnson said of his boss.

The homeless program is not without detractors--primarily those who question the use of federal land in Los Angeles that was part of a huge grant to the government by two families 111 years ago for the benefit of veterans. But Pregerson notes that all of the shelters are administered with VA participation and veterans are given preference for admission.

With funding heavily subsidized by private grants and food donations, the shelters are a bargain for the government.

At the Bell Shelter, Salvation Army site director Robert Freeman said he feeds 350 residents a day for 14 cents a person per meal, utilizing thousands of pounds of donated food.

“Here comes the turkey man!” a chef at one shelter said in greeting the judge. A turkey producer who heard of Pregerson’s work recently donated 30 tons of turkey, filling freezers and adding to the supply at an adjacent food bank. The chef has been studying turkey recipes ever since.

About 2,600 homeless come through the Bell Shelter in a year. Pregerson’s son, U.S. District Judge Dean Pregerson, is on the board.

Two of the shelters, the Haven and the Veterans Westside Residence Hall, focus exclusively on homeless veterans. Each has counselors and computer classes to help integrate veterans back into society.

Pregerson is ready to pursue other ways to better the situation of the homeless, even bringing lawyers to help represent them.

“He’s a local civic treasure,” said Maria Stratton, the chief federal public defender in Los Angeles, who used to be Pregerson’s clerk. “He should have been mayor of Los Angeles.”

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Shelters Where His Honor Is in Charge

Four homeless shelters supervised by Judge Harry Pregerson are:

* The Bell Shelter: A food-and-shelter refuge; occupies 120,000 square feet of warehouse space on the outskirts of Los Angeles. It houses 350 people at a time, including parolees. Site director Robert Freeman of the Salvation Army says drug testing is done regularly and residents are given jobs to do. About 2,600 homeless come through here in a year. Many receive computer training. The 60 female residents have access to a beauty shop and can take cosmetology classes.

* The Haven: Located in an annex of the Veterans Hospital in Westwood; provides short-term housing for those who have been hospitalized for medical, psychological or substance-abuse problems. It houses more than 2,400 veterans a year in five separate programs. Many of the veterans have access to computers for job searches and are provided counseling and legal assistance to deal with their problems.

* The Veterans Westside Residence Hall: The eight-story building is owned by a private corporation, Cantwell-Anderson Inc., specializing in affordable housing. In a partnership with the VA, it offers suites that 400 homeless vets can rent for minimal fees. “We’re convinced that the private sector has a role to play in solving society’s dilemmas,” said Tim Cantwell. His company is part of Shelter Partnership, which places up to 28,000 homeless vets a year in Los Angeles.

* Westwood Transitional Village: A brand new complex of 41 apartments sits on a former parking lot for the 1984 Olympics. Families who have graduated from homeless shelters to paying jobs get low-rent apartments--$508 a month for a four-bedroom unit--and access to a day-care center, medical clinic and recreational facilities. They are encouraged to save for home ownership and can stay a maximum of 36 months.