Out in the Cold : County’s Homeless Scramble for Hot Food and Warm Place to Sleep

The hunt begins at dusk.

As soon as the last of the sun’s rays disappear, hundreds of homeless men and women like Dan, a 37-year-old unemployed construction worker, begin searching for a place to sleep: A rescue mission, against a wall at a shopping mall or behind some bushes in a park.

“You want to know how it is on the streets? Man, it’s cold, that’s how it is,” said Dan, who has spent a day-to-day existence ever since arriving from Colorado 2 years ago.

On Thursday night, temperatures dropped so low so fast that Dan’s friend, Nick, had to wear all 5 of his T-shirts while sleeping behind some commercial buildings in Santa Ana. “It’s lucky I’ve got a sleeping bag,” Nick said.

With weekend temperatures expected to dip into the low 40s and upper 30s in Southern California a week before Thanksgiving, many of Orange County’s estimated 4,000 homeless have resorted to extra clothing in hopes of weathering the night’s chill.

And at least some of the homeless must be praying for really cold weather because when nighttime temperatures dip below 40, officials open the county’s National Guard armories in Santa Ana and Fullerton to be used as emergency shelters.

Robert Griffith, chief deputy director for the county’s Social Services Agency, acknowledged the cold of recent nights. “But weather readings say that it isn’t going to go below 40,” Griffith said.

2,109 Homeless Served

Emergency shelters also are ordered open if there is a 50% chance of rain and the temperature drops below 50, Griffith said. Last year, shelters were open a total of 18 nights during the winter and served 2,109 homeless persons.

Winds between 5 and 10 m.p.h. are expected to sweep through the county, but most areas should stay above 40 degrees tonight and on Sunday, according to Dave Beusterien, a meteorologist with WeatherData Inc., which provides forecasts for The Times. Only two areas, San Juan Capistrano and San Clemente, are expected to reach the 30s, he said.

“Other than that, the weather is expected to be extremely dry by Orange County standards, with clear skies, light winds and very dry nights,” Beusterien said.

Weekend weather is expected to gradually warm, with both today’s and Sunday’s high in the mid-60s to mid-70s, he said. Cooler temperatures have resulted in longer waiting lines for hot coffee, food and blankets at Share Our Selves, a private social service organization in Costa Mesa, Jean Forbath, its director, said.

“The weather has been bad, really bad, especially for mid-November. We’ve had a run on sleeping bags and blankets. Everybody needs one,” Forbath said.

On Friday, Forbath arrived at work at 8 a.m., even though her agency usually doesn’t open until 9.

“But we had dozens of people lining up by 8,” she said. “We gave them plenty of fresh, hot coffee and doughnuts while they waited for food, clothing, blankets and petty cash.”

If a family is homeless, attempts are made to put them up in hotels. But Forbath said such shelters as the Orange County Rescue Mission are adequate for the hundreds of single, homeless men who roam county streets.

“The number of men we’ve had nightly has gone up slightly--about 10 to 15 more men a night. But we’re expecting this cold weather to bring more in over the weekend,” said Ritchie Hartsock, a spokesman for the Rescue Mission in Santa Ana.

The mission, at 1901 W. Walnut St., is averaging about 35 men a night but can accommodate 60, Hartsock said. He added that the mission has been making a public appeal through Heartbeat, its monthly publication, for blankets and warm clothing, including warm jackets, mittens and ski caps.

Dan joined almost 200 other men, women and children in similar situations, who had a hot meal Friday at the Southwest Community Center in Santa Ana. Many complained that “the system” does not protect them and that they’re seeing more and more homeless men and women on the streets who are younger than the usual homeless persons.

One man named Bob, basking in the Friday afternoon sun, said: “Hell, it’s cold right now as far as I’m concerned. I can’t get warm.”

Unfriendly Encounters

Others complained about unfriendly encounters with police--especially Santa Ana officers who confiscate their meager belongings. Other law enforcement officers cite them for vagrancy, they said.

“Aren’t these guys supposed to be helping us?” said Joe, 37, a drifter from New York. “All they want to do is lock us up or run us out of their towns.”

Edward Wellington, a 44-year-old transient originally from Hollywood, vehemently objects to Orange County’s approach to caring for the homeless.

“I take exception with the ‘silver platter’ approach, like taking people off the streets and feeding them in places like this,” he said, gesturing to a line of 50 people at the Southwest Community Center.

“It teaches them to give up and come in and have something to eat. Kind of like a red-carpet treatment rather than showing them how to get off the streets for good,” said Wellington, as he quoted Scriptures to back him up.

“Yea, I get jobs,” Nick said. “But hell, the day-labor jobs I get, I get only $30 max a day. If I get a hotel room even with a cheap rate, what are you going to do about paying for food?”

One man who overhead Nick stopped and muttered: “Just get high, man, and forget about this (bleep) place, dude.”