Rescue mission seeks aid

BURBANK — The Union Rescue Mission that runs the winter homeless shelter at the Burbank Armory plans to appeal to city and state officials soon for increased shelter aid, expecting a Depression-scale increase in homelessness.

“We’ve been speaking out to public officials, but I don’t think anybody is quite ready to see the gravity of this,” said Andy Bales, chief executive of the Union Rescue Mission, which runs a number of shelters in the Greater Los Angeles area. “We need to take emergency steps for the number of people that are going to be coming our way because of foreclosures and job loss.

“This is alarming, and I’ve been working with the homeless for 23 years. It’s getting a little Depression-like.”

California’s unemployment rate is now at 9.3%, according to the Employment Development Department. California ranked among the states hit hardest by America’s 81% foreclosure increase between 2007 and 2008, according to the real estate database Realty Trac.

“I wish there was a way the armory shelter could stay open all year,” Bales said. “We see people pulling up for homeless aid in nice cars after just having their homes foreclosed on.”

The winter shelter will finish its second year at the armory March 15. The residents surrounding the armory and Pacific Park have been speaking to the City Council about their concerns that this would become a permanent arrangement for future winters.

The most recent round of complaints Tuesday came after a sex offender did not show up in the shelter’s screening process and was discovered when he went to register his location with the police.

Resident Brian Blevins said he has seen homeless people panhandling, urinating in public and sleeping outside in his neighborhood — which contains a baseball field, an elementary school and a nursery school — when they are supposed to be confined to the shelter.

“I think the security is incredibly lax, unlike the way it was told to us before they opened it this year,” Blevins said. “We’re still waiting for the reports on this year’s shelter to be made public. I don’t think the shelter should continue this way next year. If they do it next winter, they should focus on families and single mothers.”

Another resident, Armando Perez, was concerned the shelter’s presence would ruin the neighborhood’s real estate value.