Glendale winter homeless shelter meets expectations

Glendale’s winter shelter has been running smoothly since Ascencia opened its doors to the homeless earlier this month in the San Fernando Road corridor, officials said.

Led by the city’s largest homeless service provider, the shelter opened on Dec. 1 on Fernando Court, one of the few times the facility has not operated out of the Glendale National Guard Armory.

When the shelter was located at the armory on Colorado Boulevard — its usual location for most of the last 16 years — retailers and patrons of the Adult Recreation Center and Glendale Central Library complained about its patrons.

Now with the shelter located at 437 Fernando Court this winter, Ascencia officials reported Tuesday that they have received a single complaint. The owners of a nearby engineering firm, who voiced support for the shelter, expressed dismay regarding people lounging in their parking lot.

According to an Ascencia report released during a Glendale Homeless Coalition meeting, “They remarked, too, that they had been recipients of more vociferous complaints from their neighbors.”

As a result, Ascencia organizers requested that homeless individuals line up in Ascencia’s own parking lot, and no further complaints from neighbors have been reported.

“It’s been relatively quiet,” said Natalie Profant-Komuro, executive director of Ascencia.

In the first four nights that Ascencia opened, they served anywhere from 49 to 71 people, with the 80 beds they provide.

Since then, each night has consistently seen more than 70 people staying in the shelter, except for Dec. 13 and 15 when those nights reported 67 and 63 people, respectively.

Of the 165 total people served, 62 of them are disabled, 13 are veterans and another 13 reported their age as over 65. The majority of people – 119 – are men. Another 46 are women.

Additionally, nearly 50 of those who have stayed at the shelter identify as being from Glendale, Burbank, La Crescenta, La Cañada and Pasadena, with 33 specifically from Glendale.

Officials say the number of people served is on par with the organization’s expectations of serving 200 individuals.

Profant-Komuro said Ascenica will refer clients to shelters in Sylmar and Pasadena when they meet capacity.

The Ascencia shelter will run until March 1.

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Follow Kelly Corrigan on Twitter: @kellymcorrigan.

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