Winter homeless shelter will return

CITY HALL — County officials have contracted with Los Angeles-based Union Rescue Mission to again operate this year’s homeless winter shelter at the Burbank armory, less than a year after a last-minute push to host the shelter there forced community dialogue over the city’s role in homeless services.

The commitment comes three months earlier than it did last year, when county officials were scrambling to find an alternative to the Glendale National Guard Armory, which had hosted the tri-city area shelter for more than a decade but was unavailable amid major renovations.

They were further hampered by the fact that none of the traditional Glendale-based social service organizations was willing to take the shelter project on, citing budget and staff burdens.

Only after Union Rescue Mission agreed to take on the shelter just a couple of weeks before the Dec. 1 start date did officials shift their focus to Burbank’s armory — igniting a citywide debate on the potential effects of hosting a winter shelter for the homeless.

“We had some tremendous impact last year,” said Carrie Gatlin, vice president of government relations for the rescue mission.

Some users of the shelter last winter are still enrolled in transitional programs, which means they are off the street and trying to reenter society, “and that’s what we do. That’s our job,” she said.

David Martel, a contract manager for the county Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, said the rescue mission’s contract to operate the winter shelter at the Burbank armory, which is near Bob Hope Airport, was approved for $383,704.

Monthly payments will be made as the Union Rescue Mission starts to prepare for the same operation, only under much less strenuous circumstances, he added.

“We’re very excited that this year we know who’s going to do it, where it’s going to be and can start putting all the pieces together,” Martel said.

The early commitment this year leaves the Glendale Homeless Coalition, which helps set policy initiatives among dozens of service providers in the city’s Continuum of Care network, to focus on other priorities this fiscal year while playing a more supportive role to Burbank.

During the coalition’s first meeting since returning from a summer break on Thursday, president-elect Natalie Profant-Komuro outlined a more focused work plan for the group as it heads into the winter season.