Shelter may head to Glendale

“I think it’s still up in the air,” said Carrie Gatlin, vice-president of the Union Rescue Mission.

At the Glendale Homeless Coalition subcommittee meeting just hours earlier, Gatlin said she was prepared to reapply for the county funding to operate the winter shelter out of either city, but that given the recent climate in Burbank, her organization wouldn’t “want to go into any community that doesn’t want us.”

Of the 549 people served at the shelter this year, 26% were from Los Angeles and 21% were out of Glendale, according to the Union Rescue Mission. Burbank clients composed 17% of the shelter makeup.

While the amount of people seeking shelter this year was up 5%, the number of homeless families seeking help jumped 286% to 27, and most of them cited economic hardships, such as foreclosure or loss of jobs, Gatlin said.

Glendale officials said any move to host the winter shelter would likely be brought to its City Council in coming weeks, although the question of whether to make the armory available is largely a state issue.

“My estimation is we’ll adjust, and if Glendale is the only alternative, we’ll probably welcome it,” Glendale City Manager Jim Starbird said.