A Winter Wonderland?

This month is the start of Los Angeles County’s Winter Shelter Program. This is a county-wide program that provides a couple of thousand shelter beds for 3-1/2 months. In our county, depending on where you are at, the temperature this week will be in the low 40’s to mid 30’s. How sad that people actually have to sleep outside in temperatures that rival other parts of our nation.

This program is not new, it has operated for over ten years. It is a temporary band-aid for a problem that needs major surgery.

Some experts believe there are 80,000 people in our county who are homeless. To provide 2,000 shelter beds is a drop in the bucket. Why can’t our community do more? It is the same old problem—money and politics. In an environment where money in government and private giving is tight, who is willing to provide millions of dollars to house people who live on the streets? And even if there were enough funds, which neighborhood is going to welcome a homeless shelter? Instead, they will be shouting, “Not In My Backyard!” (NIMBY).

So communities like Santa Clarita is currently the talk of the day in L.A.’s media for “outsourcing” their homeless to Los Angeles. Rather than set up a Winter Shelter Program, this city has decided to fund a program that shuttles the homeless to Los Angeles. No one is willing to provide enough funding to operate the program, and no neighborhood wants to welcome it. The brunt of this decision falls on the homeless in Santa Clarita.

Every winter, it becomes musical chairs. Round and round the homeless go, where they stop everyone knows—our streets, parks, and alleys. Only a few lucky ones are able to nab that warm bed.

And then in mid-March, these warm beds are packed up and carted away, like it’s a traveling circus. A program only funded for a quarter of a year closes because the homeless only need beds 3-1/2 months out of the year? Clearly, something must be done.

Why don’t smaller cities pool their funds to develop regional homeless centers that could both house the homeless and provide services to help them become self-sufficient? Why don’t local political leaders take bold stands by supporting homeless services in their backyards?

At the very least, why don’t we simple turn these Winter Shelter beds into year-round beds—so homeless people have a bed 365 days per year?