Chill Drives O.C.’s Homeless -- Many Employed -- to Shelters

Six blankets weren’t enough protection from Tuesday night’s frosty temperatures, not when the only bed available was cold concrete.

“It was 33 or 34 degrees. I had four blankets on the ground and two on me, plus my jacket. And I shivered all night,” said the 51-year-old homeless woman who wanted to be identified only as Sheryl.

On Wednesday, she joined about 150 other homeless folks who sought shelter at the National Guard Armory in Santa Ana as Orange County’s two emergency shelters opened for the winter. It wasn’t the Ritz, but the accommodations were fine by Sheryl, a disabled security guard who has been homeless for three years.

“They give you a mat and one blanket, but they turn the heaters on, and the showers are hot. They give us dinner at 7 p.m., and these old, aching bones don’t hurt as much in the morning,” Sheryl said.

The armory’s doors opened at 6 p.m., but small groups of people began arriving two hours early.

Josh Frame, 21, arrived by bus. Homeless for three years, the restaurant employee usually sleeps on an Orange County Transportation Authority bus, riding up and down Bristol Street or to Long Beach until dawn breaks. Then he goes to work at a pizza restaurant in Costa Mesa.

“You could say I’m one of the working poor,” he said. “But now that the shelter is open, I’ll be sleeping here when it’s cold. You know, it’s not easy when you’re homeless. I work, but I’m still homeless.” He tugged at the collar of his jacket and shifted from one leg to another. “I was here last winter, too.”

J.R., 57, is also among the ranks. He works for a graphics and printing company and has been sleeping in his 22-year-old El Dorado for the past year and a half. A nasty breakup and now hefty child support payments eat up most of his income from a $7-an-hour job.

“It’s like one day you wake up and have a different outlook,” he said. “I used to live in a nice apartment, but I’ve lived in my car since May 2003. It’s been freezing cold the last two nights, but with the price of gas I couldn’t afford to turn on the engine to use the heater.”

Despite the opening of the county’s emergency shelters, in Santa Ana and Fullerton, a shortage of beds means that thousands of homeless will have to seek refuge elsewhere as nighttime temperatures continue to hover near freezing.

National Weather Service meteorologist Stan Wasowski said an Alaskan cold front was responsible for temperatures plunging into the mid- to low 30s in Orange County and Southern California on Tuesday and Wednesday. The Weather Service issued a rare frost advisory on both days.

“Nobody should be outdoors at night when the temperature drops this low,” Wasowski said. The chill is expected to continue through the week, with a chance of rain Sunday.

The armories provide beds for 300 people on a first-come, first-served basis in a county with about 7,000 chronic homeless, who live mostly on the street.

An additional 28,000 people live in cars, tents, motels or other temporary quarters.

“There aren’t enough beds in Orange County to help all of the homeless,” said Doug Freeman, manager of the Salvation Army’s Hospitality House shelter in Santa Ana. “It makes you cry when you see people that you can’t help. It’s not easy turning people away.”

The shelter, open year-round, can house 55 men, women and children and is full every night, Freeman said. People start lining up a couple of hours before the 4:45 p.m. registration, hoping to get a bed. Once inside, they are fed dinner at 5:30 and a snack at 8. Showers are also available.

Scott Mather, spokesman for St. Vincent de Paul, which operates the armory shelters for the county, said advocates for the homeless have watched helplessly as the overnight temperatures sink. “We would’ve liked to have opened the armories two nights ago,” he said Tuesday. “This is the worst time of the year to be homeless, and you have to find shelter in a doorway or under a bridge in the freezing cold.”

The Orange County Rescue Mission, in Santa Ana, has turned people away the last two nights, said Jim Palmer, the organization’s president. The mission has 40 beds available for “walk-ins,” but only homeless males are accepted, Palmer said. The group’s House of Hope in Orange has 45 beds for women and children but is also full, he said.

“It’s sad not to be able to provide shelter to the deserving,” Palmer said. “Our second approach to the problem is to provide the homeless with blankets, jackets and cold-weather gear. If we can’t shelter them inside, we can still offer some protection from the cold.”