County Homeless Shelters Can’t Find Homes

Homeless activists cheered when Los Angeles County officials earlier this month scraped together funds for five proposed emergency shelters where clients would be able to receive nighttime cots, meals and other services through the summer.

But the goal is proving easier said than done. Only 10 of the planned 241 beds are available, and it may be some time before locations for the rest are found.

The delay is driven by the unexpectedly tough task of finding space, partly because of the dearth of suitable commercial property, but also because the nonprofit organizations that will manage the shelters are avoiding areas where there might be community resistance.

The shelters are part of a $2.5-million pilot project to extend the winter accommodations, available from Dec. 1 through March 15, through the warm weather months.

The summer shelters were supposed to provide a seamless transition for clients in the winter program, but that has not occurred.

Toni Reinis is among the frustrated. For months, her agency has been combing Los Angeles’ Westside for a suitable space for a 57-bed homeless shelter.

The group, New Directions, has consulted real estate agents, conferred with city and county officials and sent out 150 inquiries to churches and synagogues, all to no avail. As a last resort, the group hopes to persuade the Department of Veterans Affairs to allow it to use a floor in a vacant building on the VA hospital grounds in Westwood; but even that prospect is uncertain.

“I would have hoped that someone would come forward -- it’s only 57 beds,” Reinis said.

John Maceri is executive director of another Westside agency, the Ocean Park Community Center, and has been leading the search for Reinis’ group.

“One of the things service providers get criticized for is being insensitive to the community,” he said. “We’re trying to be very thoughtful in where the program is located, recognizing that we have very limited options.”

Maceri looked at one site in Culver City, near the Helms Bakery building, that was deemed to be too close to businesses. Another site was thought to be too near a school. He has searched as far south as some of the semi-industrial neighborhoods near Los Angeles International Airport, but so far nothing has turned up.

A few community members have stepped forward, including Deacon Frank Vargas of St. Monica’s Church, whose ministry includes assisting the homeless and educating his parishioners about the issue. Though the church can offer no space for a shelter, several parishioners who are real estate agents are trying to help.

“Most people in our society are an easy paycheck away from homelessness themselves,” Vargas said. “It would be a tragedy if we have the funding for these shelters and can’t find a building.”

The other groups are facing similar hurdles. U.S. Vets, an agency that is prepared to manage a 55-bed shelter in Compton, has yet to find a location. And the Institute for Urban Research and Development, which is managing two of the year-round shelter programs, has been unable to locate a suitable site for a 59-bed shelter in Long Beach.

Only Catholic Charities’ summer shelter, with 10 beds, is up and running, and that is because the group incorporated the spaces into an existing shelter in Lancaster.

Los Angeles also is funding year-round shelters, but has experienced fewer problems than the county. Los Angeles’ summer program, in its second year, has about 730 beds in six emergency shelters. Aside from a North Hollywood site, most of the shelters are in and around downtown, where thousands of people are homeless on skid row.

The city is spending $1.9 million to keep the shelters open through July 15, and is looking for funding to extend operations through Nov. 30, the day before the winter shelters open. The cold weather shelters, operated by the city and county, receive mostly federal funds, and many use National Guard armories.

Urban Research Executive Director Joseph Colletti said his group was working closely with Long Beach officials to find a commercial property for a shelter site. The group initially considered a West 14th Street building that had been used for a 200-bed winter shelter program, but decided it was more space than was needed.

Some nearby residents expressed reservations about continued use of the site as a homeless shelter, Colletti acknowledged.

Faith Palermo, president of the Washington School Neighborhood Assn., which borders the 14th Street site, said neighbors are not opposed to homeless services but wanted to be consulted early on, which she said did not happen. “We accept the homeless because we know that they could be us,” she said. “But we do take offense when things are done in the community without talking to us.”

Colletti’s group also is working to open a shelter program in the San Gabriel Valley that would house 15 families at three motels in El Monte, Pomona and West Covina. The motels are on commercial strips and have housed homeless families before so are unlikely to attract attention, he said.

Dwight Radcliff, operations director for U.S. Vets, said his group was negotiating for space at the Salvation Army’s Compton Community Center.

He said the center’s security arrangements, showers, separate bathrooms and kitchen facilities make the site ideal. Radcliff said his group was ready to sell the idea to the surrounding neighborhood to ease concerns of residents who may have a “not-in-my-backyard” attitude.

“We want to present a plan so that the community doesn’t get caught up in the NIMBYism and think that we’re going to import homeless people” into the area, he said. “The community can benefit from the resources brought by year-round shelters.”

But Salvation Army officials said they were uncertain whether the facility would meet the zoning and safety code requirements for an emergency shelter. And they noted that the facility houses youth and church programs that might conflict.

“We’re in a primarily residential area and would want to get a feel from residents about their willingness and acceptance, and we simply have not had time to do that,” said Maj. George Baker, who directs business affairs for the Southern California region.

Veterans officials also expressed doubt about using facilities on the Westwood property, which includes a hospital, nursing home and the Wadsworth and Brentwood theaters. The VA is developing a land-use plan for the site that could take up to a year, said Charles M. Dorman, acting director for the healthcare system.

Dorman also said the shelter proposals’ all-inclusive policy could prove problematic.

“If we can figure a way to do something that solely benefits vets to submit to our land-use committee, it might have a better chance of making it,” he said. “We want to try to work with the county, but it might prove difficult to participate in the pilot.”

Mitchell Netburn, executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which manages the city and county shelter programs, said he was optimistic that the groups negotiating for sites would be able to work out compromises.

The delays “would be more upsetting if it was lousy weather and if people who could be in shelters were left outside, so that somewhat eases the pain,” Netburn said.

And county Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky, who led support for the year-round shelters, said initial challenges were to be expected but can be overcome.

“There is resistance, sure, to everything in every neighborhood, whether it’s a new church, synagogue, park, school, drug and rehab center or homeless shelter,” he said. “Our job is to distinguish between the legitimate concerns and the need to provide vital services. Sadly, homelessness is a social problem with us for the foreseeable future ... and everybody has to bear some responsibility.”