DOWNTOWN : Potential Site Found For Homeless Center

A former Salvation Army adult rehabilitation center is the leading contender to become the site of a proposed $4-million Downtown drop-in center for the homeless.

The 24-hour center, part of a $20-million effort to combat homelessness in Los Angeles, is designed to decrease the number of homeless people on city streets by offering them a place to spend time. Vans staffed by social service workers would patrol the streets and take transients to the facility on a voluntary basis.

Modeled after a similar program in San Diego, the center would include a 50-bed shelter, showers, restrooms and an outdoor recreation area. Visitors could also read, watch television, pick up mail and access information about services for the homeless.

Funded under a $20-million U.S. Housing and Urban Development grant, there would be few of the entrance requirements demanded by other homeless programs. The Salvation Army property, in an industrial area at 801 E. 7th St., is the leading site among four selected by a committee developing the project.

“The intent is to give them a reasonably humane alternative to being on the street,” said Jay Glassman, assistant executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a city-county agency that administers the grant.

The contract to run the center could be awarded by late September, Glassman said.

The program drew criticism from several social service providers last year when it was approved by the City Council. Critics charged that the city was attempting merely to rid Downtown streets of unsightly homeless encampments and beggars.

Mike Neely, director of the Homeless Outreach Program, questioned whether the funds--20% of the total three-year grant--could be more effective if used directly to pay for social services for the homeless. Neely also worried that homeless people who choose not to go to the center would be harassed by police.

“It becomes a crime to be a homeless person,” said Neely, adding that he still believes the center may succeed if the homeless are not forced to go the facility.

But Tracey Lovejoy, a member of the authority’s site-selection committee, defended the center, saying it will offer the homeless a constructive place to go after spending the night at missions.

“No one is forcing them to go there,” said Lovejoy. “We are hoping to make it attractive so people will make a choice to spend their day there.”

Lovejoy, a member of the Central City East Assn., a business advocacy group, said businesses in the area are concerned about the impact of such a homeless center in the area.

Merchants want assurances that the drop-in center would be a “good neighbor in the community,” Lovejoy said.

About $11 million of the $20-million HUD grant was allocated to individual social service agencies earlier this year. The grant targets the homeless in East Los Angeles, South-Central and Downtown.