Shelters Reportedly Reject 1,800 a Night : Homeless: A lack of funding is also forcing cuts in critical programs, according to a study done by a Los Angeles shelter organization.

Homeless shelters in Los Angeles County are turning away 1,800 people each night and are dramatically reducing child-care, job referral and apartment placement programs designed to get families permanently off the street, according to a study released Wednesday by state Senate President Pro Tem David A. Roberti and a Los Angeles shelter organization.

Pointing to vetoes this year by Gov. George Deukmejian that slashed all of the $3 million set aside by the Legislature to assist California’s shelters with daily operating costs--including money for the support programs--Roberti said it was “incredible” that programs to return people to mainstream life are not financed by “the richest state in the richest civilized country in the world.”

The study, conducted by the Shelter Partnership, a nonprofit support group, found that shelters in Los Angeles County--which offer 6,346 beds--are operating at full capacity, with 1,800 people turned away every night. In addition, there are an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 on the streets nightly who do not seek out shelter.

The organization arrived at the numbers by polling one-fourth of the 63 shelters in the county.

Because of decreasing funds, one-third of the county’s shelters have been forced to cut programs designed to return people to the mainstream, according to the study.

Estimates of the total homeless population in the county vary, but study director Paul Tepper of the Shelter Partnership said 35,000 people, many of them mothers and children, are homeless for some period during the year.

Julie Stewart, Deukmejian’s spokeswoman on housing issues, defended the funding cut, saying the governor “felt there were sufficient monies available for these costs for emergency shelters.”

Stewart also noted that the state spent $772,000 this year on shelter operating costs, paid for with money left over from the now-canceled program.

Roberti, a longtime supporter of housing programs, said he is concerned that no state funds are available to help shelters cover daily operating costs--including such items as utility bills and salaries, as well as the support programs.

The state does make funds available to construct shelters through Proposition 84--a bond measure widely approved by voters in 1988. But that money can only be used to build, renovate or otherwise invest in capital costs for shelters and cannot be spent on operations.

“I get a phone call every single day from a shelter somewhere asking me if I can help them with daily operating money,” said Charles Elsesser, an aide to Roberti. “People are trying to pull money together from anywhere they can.”

Roberti thanked Mayor Tom Bradley, who he said plans to push for a $100-million housing bond issue in Los Angeles. A similar measure was narrowly defeated last April after city officials widely assumed it would pass and failed to aggressively campaign for it. If the measure passes next year, $10 million would go to shelters, Roberti said.

Ann Reiss Lane, president of the board of Shelter Partnership, said two underlying causes of Southern California’s worsening homeless crisis are the shortage of affordable housing and increasing poverty in California.

She said 87% of the shelters surveyed said demand for their services increased in the last year and called Deukmejian’s vetoes “blatantly irresponsible.”

National studies have shown that California has the worst shortage of affordable housing in the country. Partially due to scores of vetoes by Deukmejian, who has killed hundreds of millions of dollars in housing programs approved by the Legislature this decade, the state still ranks with the poorest Southern states in spending on housing.

Marc Brown, a staff attorney for the California Coalition for Rural Housing, said California spends 64 cents per capita on affordable housing contrasted to $18 per capita in the top-funding state, Massachusetts. Many states spend more than $5 per capita.

“The governor vetoed 11 housing bills approved by the Legislature this year alone and has been systematically cutting existing housing programs,” Brown said.