For Homeless, Any Shade Will Do

With temperatures in the Inland Empire hovering in the triple digits this week, most residents enjoy the cool refuge of air-conditioned homes, offices and cars.

But not Raphael Ellison. Like other homeless people who inhabit the notoriously hot desert and foothill communities in Riverside and San Bernardino counties, he endures a constant quest for shade from the piercing summer sun.

“I can’t stand it,” said Ellison, 31, who suffers from asthma when the heat and smog start to peak.

There are precious few ways for the homeless in the two counties -- more than 10,000 people on any given day, according to government estimates -- to escape the daily peril of blistering heat. Riverside, the largest city in the region, offers only one emergency shelter, although there are plans for a second.

When the temperature creeps toward 100 degrees, Ellison said, he and others head to tree-lined Fairmount Park in Riverside, one of the few safe and shady spots for the homeless seeking relief.

A few miles from Riverside’s quaint antiques shops and busy downtown, the grand park is a favorite for the homeless year-round and is inundated during the hottest days of July, August and September. Along with rose gardens, lakes and playgrounds, the park’s landmarks now include a small village of tents during summer days.

John Weir likes the park but occasionally visits the air-conditioned, downtown Riverside Public Library, just across the street from the city’s historic Mission Inn. He spends his time combing through the stacks and has been reading a book about the civil war in Sierra Leone.

Having spent many summers on the street since moving to California in 1985, Weir doesn’t mind the weather as much and said he has grown “immune from the heat.”

Despite that bravado, the summer months can be some of the hardest days for homeless in the region.

“Unlike the cold weather they have in the East, we have to worry about the heat in the summer,” said Ron Stewart, director of Project Achieve, the only homeless shelter in Riverside.

During the daytime, Riverside police encourage homeless to head to a portion of Fairmount Park that is tucked away from the front gates and recreation facilities. They are directed to that area because it has more shade than other areas of the park and keeps the recreation facilities usable, Sgt. Bob Williams said. But they have to be gone by nightfall or they will be cited.

Homeless gather their belongings under a metal-roofed picnic area, where they smoke, play cards and catch some sleep.

But the park isn’t the best place to stay cool, say some veterans of the streets.

“Sometimes I just get on a bus and ride it until the end of the day,” said Charlotte Hestand. At times the bus gets so cold she has to put on an extra shirt, a welcome change, she said.

In the high and low desert, where the temperatures can top 120 degrees, leaders of nonprofit agencies said the need to get people off the streets can be more pressing.

“With the heat we have to open the emergency shelter because people can die out there,” said Gloria Gomez, vice president of Martha’s Village & Kitchen.

Gomez’s program provides a permanent source of beds in Indio and Palm Springs but opens its dining room in Indio for an additional 100 spots from August through October.

Although heat can be deadly, county heath officials said it is not as bad as it could be.

Riverside County health officer Gary Feldman said the dry heat of the Inland Empire is less dangerous than the combination of heat and humidity, such as the conditions that contributed to the death of thousands in France last summer.

He said the county’s dealing with homeless has been mostly episodic and has not been identified as a major problem. There have been eight heat-related deaths in the county in the last five years across the entire population.

Dr. Gene Chen, who works in the emergency room at Riverside Community Hospital, said a woman recently was treated at the hospital after passing out from the heat -- something that could have been prevented had she drunk water.

Chen said it is important for people outside during warm weather to drink liquids and avoid caffeine because there is the danger of heat exhaustion, which can lead to heat stroke and a coma. Those on the streets and in the park said they are careful to get water when they can and stay in shady areas to prevent sunburn.

Some of the homeless, however, are hoping to find more than just the short-term solutions.

There is an effort underway to create an emergency shelter to be owned and operated by Paths of Life Ministries with the cooperation of the city. The 100- to 150-bed shelter would provide job training, drug treatment and possibly a mental health facility. Organizers are hoping to have at least something running in September, the warmest part of the year.

Riverside Councilman Dom Betro, whose first ward would include the shelter, has been active in getting the city to pursue a homeless action plan adopted last year that calls for rehabilitation of the homeless instead of just clearing out the parks.

“It doesn’t do any good to just police,” Betro said, “because if they don’t have anywhere to go, they’re just going to come back.”

Margaret Ellison said she wishes she could find a job and earn her living because she hates living in the park. “We can do something productive instead of just sitting around here like animals,” she said.

Still, Ellison does not have identification and can’t enter a shelter until she obtains one, meaning she is stuck outside battling the elements.

Kathryn Dixon said shelters are too hard to get into and if people were to actually come to the park, they would see the real issues, both in the summer months and year-round.

“Those that look lowly on us,” she said, “don’t realize how close they are to being like us.”