For Homeless, the Roof Is Really Leaking

A good day for Carl Parson means finding a dry place to sleep.

“I sleep on the street next to buildings,” Parson, 51, said. “I look for a roof or some eaves, anything that overhangs enough to give me shelter from this rain.”

The relentless rainstorms that have drenched Southern California have brought an added burden to those such as Parson, who is one of Orange County’s estimated 35,000 homeless people.

Beyond the discomfort, there is risk. Over the weekend, a homeless man was killed in Elysian Park in L.A. when his tent was swept away by a mudslide and he was buried under hundreds of pounds of mud.

The fortunate stay in homeless shelters or have vouchers for temporary housing, but others roam the streets searching for refuge from the storms.

“This is the ultimate year for them,” said Jim Palmer, executive director of the Orange County Rescue Mission in Santa Ana. “Flu shots didn’t get out this year, there’s more people with bronchial infections and pneumonia, and now the rain.

“What’s next? Locusts?”

Some have found other ways of staying dry, such as riding buses at night and taking shelter in public libraries and government buildings during the day.

As long as they pay a fare, bus drivers are obligated to let the homeless ride even though they have no clear destination, said Ted Nguyen, an Orange County Transportation Authority spokesman.

“Occasionally, there are people that are without homes at the end of the bus runs,” Nguyen said. “But our drivers are compassionate and we work with various social service organizations to help them.”

In many cities, it’s against the law to camp overnight, but police usually look the other way when the weather turns bad, said Dwight Smith, a member of the Catholic Worker in Santa Ana.

“They’re looking for doorways, any kind of shelter during these storms,” Smith said. “The homeless don’t have choices. If it rains, they get wet. If the sun shines, they get sunburned.”

With 100 shelters in the county, 3,244 beds are available each night, said Karen Roper, the county’s homeless coordinator.

Milton, 51, who gave only his first name, looks for work during the day and spends nights at the armory in Santa Ana, one of several in the county.

“They have mats that we sleep on,” Milton said. “It’s not my kind of place, but it’s not bad.”

Candy Martinez and Richard Holmes prefer their temporary living quarters in Anaheim, under a bridge spanning the Santa Ana River, now swollen with rainwater.

“I don’t like homeless shelters,” Holmes said. “Too many rules, and the people who go there are always ill. I like what I’m doing.”

Despite a downpour that pelted Holmes and Martinez, they loaded a shopping cart with bags of aluminum cans to recycle.

“We have to push the cart about four miles to the recycling place, and we got to get there before it closes at 4 p.m.,” said Holmes, who got drenched.

Parson, originally from Tennessee, said his favorite place is the public library.

“It’s warm, it’s dry, and it has books and magazines because I love to read,” he said.

On weekends, he finds a coffee shop and nurses a hot cup of coffee. From a counter seat, he can watch the rain as it comes down and hits the sidewalk.