Glendale Homeless Site May Not Open

BY ALEX DOBUZINSKIS, Staff Writer

GLENDALE - For the first time in more than a decade, Glendale could have no winter shelter to save the homeless from the cold this year.

No group has applied to run the shelter at the Glendale Armory, which serves homeless people suffering from mental illness and drug addiction.

"They have to find someplace to go when there's inclement weather," said Bruce Nelson, director of community services at Glendale Adventist Medical Center. "If we don't have (the shelter) there will be people who will suffer exposure and they will get sick."

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority funds similar shelter programs in Santa Clarita, Sylmar and other parts of the county, said David Howden, a funding manager for the agency.

This year, no one had applied to run the shelter in Glendale when the deadline passed Sept. 19. It is supposed to open Dec. 1.

LAHSA is still accepting applications from any group willing to run the center. Last year, 133 homeless people a night stayed at the center, Howden said.

The YMCA of Glendale ran the shelter for several years, but stopped in 2006. The group had to use its own money because LAHSA didn't provide enough funds, said John Thomas, president and CEO of local YMCA.

Volunteers of America ran the winter shelter last year, but that group has not applied to run it this year.

Glendale has nearly 300 homeless people on any given night, 79 of them chronically homeless and 85 of them

children, according to a report to the city's Housing Authority.

In a report released last week, LAHSA said the San Fernando Valley has 6,411 homeless people every night.

PATH Achieve Glendale has applied to the county for funding to start a 24-hour, year-round shelter with 25 beds. But even if approved, the $1million program would not start until next year.

The agency already runs a 40-bed shelter on San Fernando Court, but that's exclusively for participants who go through sobriety screening, not for just any homeless person who would use a winter shelter.