But on Monday, his bed changed when the Los Angeles County-funded winter homeless shelter opened at the Glendale National Guard Armory on Colorado Street.
“Every city should have something like this,” he said. “It’s a warm bed. I’ve been sleeping on the dirt floor.”
Volunteers hurriedly set up tables, drinks and a food buffet, which included beef stroganoff, before the shelter’s doors opened at 5 p.m. Monday for the first time this winter.
The shelter was expecting walk-ins in addition to a bus that brings in transients from the 400 block of North Front Street in Burbank.
Diane Livesey, a two-year shelter volunteer, said she’s met many clients who were homeless as a result of the ongoing recession.
“It’s real hard,” she said. “How can you not feel that compassion for them?”
Sue, a Burbank resident who declined to give her last name, was a case in point. She lost a $50,000-per-year job last year, had a stroke and wasn’t able to get work.
Unable to support herself, she was driven into homelessness. She stayed at the winter shelter in Burbank last year and will use the Glendale armory this winter.
“I don’t think I am your average homeless person,” she said. “But I am homeless because I don’t have any place to stay.”
Nearly 50 beds were set up inside the shelter, which will run through March 15. The shelter, which is run by EIMAGO, a subsidiary of the Union Rescue Mission in Los Angeles, will accept people from 5 to 9 p.m. daily.
The armory is one of 14 other winter shelter sites throughout Los Angeles County.
As of about 6 p.m., less than a dozen people were lined up outside the gates of the shelter.
“A lot of word of mouth gets around before it fills up to 150 or so,” said Andy Bales, Union Rescue Mission’s chief executive.
Homeless men and women got a badge to allow for quicker check-in for their next visits.
They were given warm blankets, a chance at a hot shower, a dinner and a movie. In the morning, they were to get breakfast, a sacked lunch and those who came from Burbank were to be bused back.
“I think there is an extra smile on their faces because they know they have a roof over their heads tonight,” Bales said.
Case managers from PATH Achieve Glendale were there to help visitors connect with outreach programs that can provide permanent homeless services.
“The purpose isn’t just to welcome them for the night or the winter season,” Bales said. “It’s to connect people to services so that they are no longer on the streets. We do have a hope and a plan for the day that we don’t have one precious human being on the streets. That’s why we do this.”
