Two Looming Decisions Could Spell Less Room in the Shelters

By Olin Ericksen
Staff Writer

April 27 -- At a time when shelter beds throughout the County are already in short supply, those homeless on the Westside may soon find themselves even further out in the cold.

Within the next two months, the United States Army Reserve is quickly and quietly planning to unload 10 acres currently being used more than three months a year to shelter nearly 150 homeless people from the rain and elements in West Los Angeles.

That’s nearly one quarter of the entire winter-shelter beds available on the Westside, according to City officials.

With no year-round shelters available and signs that support for another cold-weather shelter, this one in Culver City, could be in question, the deal – which will skirt public input – could spell trouble for those already down and out in West LA.

“This is devastating,” said John Maceri, executive director of the Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC), a local homeless service provider. “It could be a serious, serious problem, not only for Santa Monica, but for this region.”

With between 6,000 and 7,000 homeless on the Westside -- nearly 2,000 of those in Santa Monica alone, according to a County census -- many feel the deal could add even more pressure on the service system in place.

“One-hundred and fifty people won’t have a warm dry place to sleep on the coldest and wettest nights of the year,” said Stacey Rowe, the City’s human services administrator who handles homeless issues.

Increased exposure to the harsh conditions will certainly affect the health of many of the homeless who already live in squalor day-to-day, she said, while service providers will lose a valuable tool in assisting the homeless, who need the beds because of the lack of year-round shelters.

The Army Reserve-owned property -- an old armory located near the southeast corner of Federal Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard -- would not be sold. Instead it would be swapped for land elsewhere to the highest bidder in a June internet auction, raising concern among many officials that the site will be developed, for profit, with little or no public input.

The issue is separate from another proposal to designate three buildings at the Westwood Veteran’s facility for homeless veterans, a plan that is currently under review by the Secretary of Veterans Affairs, James Nicholson.

Bidders are expected to tour the site as early as next week, said City officials, although that may be pushed forward.

“If this happens, then that service is gone,” said Council member Richard Bloom, who like many, first found out about the proposal at a Westside Council of Governments meeting on homelessness last week.

“This has been happening completely under the radar,” Bloom said.

But the bad news does not stop there for homeless who turn to such shelters for respite from the cold.

At the same Westside Council of Governments meeting last week Culver City Council member Carol Gross informed officials that a lease on that City’s winter homeless shelter runs out in 2007.

While Gross said she supported renewing the lease as long as the 150-bed facility is run responsibly, support for such a deal is not unanimous among council members.

When asked if the votes could line up against renewing the Culver City shelter lease, she said, “That could be a possibility.”

Five council members sit on Culver City’s dais, and one, Scott Malsin, is a new council member whose views on the lease may be particularly important in any future vote.

While Gross said the site was managed “perfectly” in the last two years under Volunteers for America, it has not always been that way.

“We’re talking about an shelter which is separated from single family homes by an alley here,” she said. “For some years, it was not managed as well as it ought to be.”

Currently, Culver City -- a key member of the Council of Governments that ratified a resolution last year to work together on homeless issues -- is grappling with how much responsibility it should take on.

Officials note that there are plans in the works to locate a 24-hour mental health facility in the city and to convert a local motel into a shelter for the homeless.

“What is our fair share is a question we are asking right now,” Gross said. “We can’t stick our heads in the sand and do nothing, but we don’t want to be a dumping ground either.”

The fate of the shelter in Culver City -- which will be determined in public -- underscores the importance of holding onto the West Los Angeles shelter, said Maceri.

“If half those beds go away, or if all those beds go away, we will essentially have nothing here other than our current capacity, which is stretched,” Maceri told the Santa Monica City Council Tuesday night.

While many Santa Monica officials agreed the situation in Culver City is of concern and should be monitored, the looming deal for the West Los Angeles shelter poses an immediate problem that must not be ignored.

Santa Monica City officials have said they are in contact with U.S. Congressman Henry Waxman and are exploring several options.

County Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky said Monday he will not support changes in current County zoning law that would require the West Los Angeles property to be zoned for institutional uses, such as hospitals and schools.

Such a decision, officials hope, could dissuade developers to snatch up the site and use it for residential or retail uses.

"This is the most restrictive zoning that exists in the Westside of LA," Yaroslavsky is quoted as saying. "With that in mind, you take your chances."

The auction – which was discovered in an April 16 newspaper advertisement headlined "Prime U.S. Government Real Estate Offered for Exchange" – has caught federal, county and local officials by surprise.

“It is perplexing and frustrating because this land is being operated by the Army,” said Mona Miyasato, Santa Monica’s acting human services manager, who handle homeless issues for the City.

“We assumed that it was safeguarded and if anything would happen to the land, it would be a public process and that it would be available for the Veteran’s Administration,” Miyasato said. “That doesn’t seem to be the case, now.”

According to news reports, the land was part of 300 acres conveyed in 1888 to the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers. The Army Reserve gained control of the 10 acres in two deals, in 1956 and 1976.

Then, on April 16, the Army placed a small advertisement in the Los Angeles Times announcing the property was being offered for exchange.