In the wake of El Niño’s harsh weather conditions, Santa Barbara County will lend an extra hand to the homeless by providing daytime shelters during periods of heavy rainfall.
The County Board of Supervisors unanimously voted Jan. 19 to revise the Community Service Department budget, allocating $128,000 to daytime drying shelters and expanded nighttime warming shelters for those experiencing homelessness.
The money comes from the county’s contingency fund of $30 million, according to 5th District Supervisor Steve Lavagnino, and if the weather is nicer than expected, they won’t spend all of it.
“The money’s there for a rainy day fund,” Lavagnino said. “This is what we’re experiencing. It’s an emergency.”
The county approves a warming center budget each winter to provide overnight homeless shelters in risky weather, such as when night temperatures dip lower than 35 degrees. These shelters run from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m., at which point their patrons return to their usual camps.
But El Niño changes things.
The Spanish term refers to a band of relatively warm ocean water—2 to 3 degrees higher than usual—that develops in the central and east-central portion of the Pacific Equator. The phenomenon, which occurs irregularly every two to seven years, indicates heavier rainfall for California.
This year is expected to bring the strongest El Niño since 1998. North County is no exception, having already seen an unusually large share of rain, floods, and even hail—and that’s just in January.
Bill Patzert, a climatologist at the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, told the Sun earlier this month that the current weather “is the trailer of the real movie.” The serious stuff will hit in February, which Patzert said could churn out a year’s worth of rainfall in one month.
For most Californians, a strong El Niño means movie nights in, unusually green hills, and a bit of relief for their drought-stricken state. But for the nearly 1,500 homeless in Santa Barbara County, the news isn’t so pleasant.
Rebecca Hernandez has been homeless in Santa Maria for four years, and she said recent weeks of rain have been particularly difficult.
“It’s really bad because we have nowhere to go,” Hernandez said. “They only open up the warming shelter on certain days.”
Hernandez and her partner Mark, who asked to omit his last name and goes by the nickname “Fish,” used to find shelter from the rain in local business areas. But Hernandez said business owners have become stricter, so she and Fish have to find alternatives.
“We try to cover ourselves with something, cardboard or paper or whatever we can, to keep ourselves warm,” Hernandez said. “Or we try to find somewhere that has an overhang so the rain doesn’t fall directly on top of us. It’s hard to find any place like that.”
Hernandez and Fish use the warming centers when they are open, and Hernandez said they plan to use the drying centers as well.
“It’s better than being out here and getting sick and all that,” she said. “I’ve had a real bad cold, and I’m just getting over it.”
Lavagnino said no one should have to stand out in the rain, especially the homeless.
“It’s a widely accepted fact that about 15 percent of our homeless are vets,” he said. “I don’t want those that are mentally ill, those suffering from debilitating diseases, those that are veterans to be out there.”
Kirsten Cahoon, director of shelter operations at Good Samaritan Shelters, said the rain in particular poses problems for the homeless.
“The homeless can deal with cold weather,” Cahoon said, “but the minute the wet starts, that seems to be what’s tough for them to deal with. And the amounts of rain and so many consistent days of rain are bringing them out of their areas, where they don’t normally come out of their areas.”
This raises the question: When the warming centers close in the morning, where do the homeless go?
Cahoon said they often congregate at the library, make unnecessary emergency room visits, or cruise local businesses, pretending to shop for the chance to stay dry.
“There’s a little more worry for them I think,” she said. “They’re starting to realize that they’re going to have to look for somewhere to be warm and dry this year.”
That’s where the drying centers will come in. When weather forecasts show more than a 50 percent chance of rain or day temperatures lower than 35 degrees, the homeless will have a dry place to stay without having to loiter around businesses or play sick for the emergency room.
One drying center will be located in the Santa Maria National Guard Armory, and another in Santa Barbara. Lavagnino said he expects the facilities to be operational in time for the next bout of rain, and the centers will remain available through April.
The drying centers will host the same people as the warming centers, whose clients are admitted on a no-questions-asked basis. While other shelters require an ID and test for drugs and alcohol, the warming and drying centers only ask clients to sign in and give basic demographic information.
“As long as they can lie down, behave themselves, and not interfere with anybody around them, they’ve got a warm place to stay,” Cahoon said.
The centers also provide a warm meal, jackets, socks, and access to services aimed at getting the homeless back on their feet.
Lavagnino emphasized that homeless shelters are not a long-term solution.
“We want them to go out into the community and start bettering their lives,” he said. “Sitting in the homeless shelter isn’t doing any good. But when it’s raining and coming down in buckets, it doesn’t really make sense for them to go out.”
The county’s warming centers have been operational since November, and Cahoon said they are seeing higher traffic than ever before. This time last year, the centers hosted an average of 15 to 20 people. Now, they host more than 50 on any given night.
Cahoon added that the Good Samaritan Shelters have been in overflow status for more than two years, but as a rule, they never turn away women, children, or veterans. She said these numbers are not entirely due to weather changes, but partially to an overall increase in homelessness.
“Bottom line, it comes down to housing,” she said. “Many of the people in the shelters are working and making money, but they’re competing for apartments with people like us, who have good credit and rental history, and they’re just unable to find housing. Until we find a solution to the housing problem, there’s going to be this bottleneck in the shelters.”
Staff Writer Brenna Swanston can be reached at bswanston@santamariasun.com.
This article appears in Jan 28 – Feb 4, 2016.