Shelter Opens in Santa Monica’s Bid to Close Parks at Night

Ten homeless people left the Santa Monica streets for a bunk bed on a clean concrete floor last week as part of the city’s strategy to close the parks at night and provide an alternative place for people to sleep.

But although Samoshel, a new homeless shelter at 505 Olympic Blvd., opened its doors to its first residents Thursday, it won’t be fully open for another month. And it will probably never attract everyone who spends the night in the city’s public areas.

In fact, 11 homeless people turned out for the opening, but one woman left when shelter director Wanda Brown told her there was no on-site parking for residents. Brown told the other homeless woman and nine men that if they wanted to stay, they’d have to live by the rules and try to turn their lives around.

“We don’t want this to be another shelter where people don’t feel safe,” she told them. “We’re willing to give you things,” such as meals, counseling and a safe place to sleep, “but you’ve got to reach out and take it.”

Santa Monica is footing the $400,000 bill for the shelter, which has a fabric-covered, metal shell. The city is contracting with the Salvation Army to run the shelter for about $365,000 a year.

When the shelter is up to its capacity of 100 residents, Santa Monica will enforce its new law closing the parks at night. But homeless people will still be able to sleep in other public places, such as the City Hall lawn, said Julie Rusk, the city’s manager of human services.

Shelter residents have to report between 3 and 4 p.m. every day, unless they have a job or class, and they have to be out by 8 a.m. They are searched for drugs and weapons, and might be tested for drug and alcohol use.

Residents who want to stay longer than 20 days are required to try to find a job, attend school, attend drug and alcohol rehabilitation or whatever else their counselors think necessary. Then they can stay up to six months.

The shelter employs about 20 people in 15 full-time positions. Three of the employees are currently homeless, and about half are formerly homeless or in recovery from a drug or alcohol addiction. Residents are also expected to help keep the shelter clean and running smoothly.

“Everybody pitches in and takes pride in the community,” Brown said. “When you get people involved in what’s happening in the community, there’s a sense of ownership.”

But the shelter is not for everyone.

A homeless man who identified himself as Bob Johnson, 48, was lounging with a friend on the City Hall lawn Thursday reading the morning newspaper. Johnson said he was seeking disability payments for a neck injury, and he expected to move into an apartment next week.

In any event, he said, he won’t be heading to the shelter. He spent some time in the Salvation Army’s Bell Shelter, which is serving as a model for Samoshel, but he said he didn’t feel welcome because he only needed a place to sleep, not help recovering from an addiction or mental illness.

He has few complaints about Santa Monica, however.

“Here in Santa Monica, they treat you pretty good if you’re homeless,” he said. “Better than a lot of places.”

In fact, his friend, who declined to give his name, said they had been comfortable enough sleeping on the City Hall lawn that they didn’t feel the need to seek another summertime sleeping spot.

“If it wasn’t for City Hall, we’d be out of here,” he said.

Other homeless people are looking forward to living in the shelter, however. Jose Marino, an out-of-work welder who has spent the last few months living in Memorial Park, said Thursday that he expected to move in the next day.

“It’s going to be better than sleeping in the streets,” he said.