Tuesday, September 30, 2014

NO SHELTER IN GLENDALE FOR 2014 - 2015 SEASON UPDATE GLENDALE WINTER HOMELESS SHELTER PLAN ? DEPENDENT ON ASCENCIA

UPDATE DEC 2014 - there is no armory shelter in Glendale for the winter 2014-2015 season.  Ascencia was not funded either.  Use our search feature to bring up shelter searches.

There is always 211, but they collect information on you, and may not refer you if they think you are "chronically homeless"  (6 months or more, or repetitive.)

GO TO OUR LINK FOR http://www.shelterlistings.org/  NATIONAL

BURBANK LEADER ARTICLE from 2012

So Glendale and Burbank want to lean heavily on the non-profit called Ascenia, the previously named PATH- Glendale, to deal with homeless.  We believe that every city should have it's own year round shelter so people who become homeless can stay in their own familiar surroundings




IF YOU GET TO THIS POST IN 2015 or thereafter you may find shelters by calling your local city or county hotlines for information.







ORANGE COUNTY'S FOOD BANKS and CHILD HUNGER in ONE OF THE RICHEST COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES

ORANGE COUNTY WEEKLY - FOOD INSECURITY IN ORANGE COUNTY by Matt Coker    

"What does Orange County have in common with Los Angeles, New York, Houston and Chicago? Well, besides whatever it is you filled in the blank, O to the C is among the top 10 counties or metropolitan areas in the entire United States where food insecurity is most rampant for those under the age of 18. Fortunately, our charitable types say there are things you can do to turn that sorry statistic around...."     

ORANGE COUNTY FOOD BANK  link

OC Food Bank
11870 Monarch St. Garden Grove, CA 92841
Phone: 714.897.6670

ONE IN FIVE CHILDREN IN ONE OF THE NATION'S RICHEST COUNTIES IS GOING HUNGRY!


SECOND HARVEST FOOD BANK

Need food?
Email us at agency@feedoc.org or call 949-653-2900.

We will need your location in order to direct you to a nearby agency. 

Sunday, September 28, 2014

BEDBUG TRAP SO SIMPLE AND CHEAP THE PROFESSOR ON GILLIGAN'S ISLAND COULD HAVE RIGGED IT UP!

but it was invented by PHD types such as Phil Koehler, UF/IFAS urban entomology professor.

SCIENCE DAILY - $1 HOMEMADE BED BUG CATCHER INVENTED BY SCIENTISTS  full article

Here's how to make one:
• Cut four pieces of rough-surfaced tape. Each piece should be at least as long as the wall of smaller container is tall.
 
• Evenly space and firmly press the four pieces of tape vertically on the inside surface of the smaller container. The tape allows the bugs to escape the small container easily and fall into the space between the small and the large container wall, where they are trapped.
 
• Wrap tape around the exterior of the larger container from the base to its upper edge so the bedbugs can enter the trap easily.
 
• Glue the smaller container onto the center of the bottom of the larger container.
 
• The traps work best if you apply talc, including baby powder, to the space between the small and large container walls to make it harder for the bugs to escape. Many people use incorrect methods to treat bedbugs. Koehler advises against using flammable liquids, mothballs, treating mattresses with pesticides and using bug bombs.

Friday, September 26, 2014

DID YOU KNOW SHELTERS TAKE GOVERNMENT FUNDS SO YOU CAN LIVE WITH THREE TO FIVE OTHER PEOPLE IN A ROOM WITH BUNK BEDS?

If you have never lived in a homeless shelter, you may think that you're going to live in a room by yourself rather than in an open gym with people of both genders close together on cots, or in a shared room of cots, or in a small room with two or more bunk beds in it.

If homelessness were just a few days or even a few weeks of deprivation you might think of it like camping, but when months and years go by in these situations, when grown adults are close in together like that, tensions rise.

If you're heading for a homeless shelter this may be a big improvement from being in a sleeping bag on the street or park, but not for long.

If you are donating to a shelter you might want to ask how many people they have living there at any one time, what the rooms are like, if people sleep on beds, and how many people are in what sized room.

THE ANSWERS MAY SHOCK YOU!

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

SHELTERWISE MITERBOX HOMES are 150 SQUARE FEET EACH

SHELTERWISE OFFICIAL SITE - TINY HOMES   Derin Williams is the inventor.

ZILLOW BLOG ON TINY HOMES

"To make this possible, almost everything in The Miter Box serves a dual purpose. The kitchen has a hydraulic dining room table that converts into a bed, while a “wet bath” is designed as both a shower and lavatory with a flushing toilet.

These design choices make the house feel bigger, which is especially important in a space the size of some people’s closets.

“We are bombarded with buy, buy, buy,” Williams said. “If you limit your living space, you have to make smart decisions about what to fill it with.”

After visiting Africa with his wife and seeing how people live with less, Williams was inspired to design more space- and energy-efficient houses. To keep building costs down and make his designs portable, Williams’ tiny homes are also on wheels.

“People just keep asking us to put them on wheels,” he said."


*****

OUR QUESTION IS, does the design makes this house on wheels different than living in an RV when it comes to parking it and the police?

Sunday, September 21, 2014

HEY KFI "MOTEL KIDS" ARE HOMELESS KIDS! CATARINA'S CLUB FUNDRAISING NOW

hKFI640 BILL HANDEL - CATARINA CLUB INSPIRATION PASSES AWAY

Caterina's Club  - Bruno Serato
887 S. Anaheim Blvd.
Anaheim, CA 92805
thecaterinasclub.org
714-772-1381

CATERINA's CLUB ORG feeding 1000 motel kids a night in Orange County.

OK we've been listening to KFI and what is it that some of their "personalities" REFUSE TO SAY THAT MOTEL KIDS ARE HOMELESS KIDS?  Anyway, we blogged about Caterina's Club before and we want to give them a plug.  Now, we are hoping the menu has varied some from spaghetti...

**************************  NEW VIDEO DEC 2014


THE NONPROFIT IS NOW COMING UP WITH FIRST AND LAST DEPOSITE MONEY

Saturday, September 20, 2014

B-TAC IN NEED OF FINANCIAL AND FOOD DONATIONS - EXPANDING SPACE IN BURBANK

BURBANK TEMPORARY AID CENTER

Burbank Temporary Aid Center

1304 W. Burbank Blvd.
Burbank, CA 91506
Phone: (818) 848-2822
Fax: (818) 848-8280
General Email: info(at)theBTAC.org
Tax exempt ID #: 95-3309130

Open: Monday – Friday
9:00am – 12:00pm
1:30pm – 5:00pm
Closed Holidays

BTAC takes donations from individuals as well as stores and is always in need of personal care supplies as well as food.

BURBANK LEADER on EXPANSION OF BTAC    Executive Director Barbara Howell on expansion.  More elbow room, not more volunteers or employees.

"The agency serves dozens of households daily, providing about 45 lunches, 22 showers, nine loads of laundry, 25 grocery orders and six case-management sessions, said Barbara Howell, the agency’s chief executive officer.

Every morning before the center opens, a handful of people are usually waiting to shower, do laundry or pick up food, she added. The agency also provides gas and taxi vouchers as well as bus tokens."

Thursday, September 18, 2014

MILEY CYRUS FINDS HER CALLING - ADVOCATING FOR HOMELESS TEENS - JESSE HELT - MY FRIEND'S PLACE

HUFFPOST ON MILEY CYRUS - YOUTH HOMELESSNESS article

"It wasn't enough that Miley Cyrus' acceptance speech (or lack thereof) at last month's VMAs had nothing to do with music and everything to do with youth homelessness. Now, she's taken the critical issue to Facebook, engaging her more than 49 million fans regarding the crisis.

Cyrus had opted out of giving a speech at the Aug. 24 awards show, letting homeless 22-year-old and VMA date Jesse Helt take the mic instead. Helt accepted Cyrus' prize "on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States," and Cyrus seized the moment to help raise more than $200,000 for LA-based youth homeless shelter My Friend's Place within 24 hours, the New York Times reported.

But the star's commitment to young people like Helt didn't end with the event.

Last week, Cyrus used Facebook to fight back against the media's attention to Helt's troubles with the law, focusing instead on her Prizeo fundraising page collecting funds for My Friend's Place. Cyrus used the post to interact with fans who were touched by the singer's admirable mission..."

PRIZEO LINK TO MILEY'S CAMPAIGN FOR MY FRIENDS PLACE HOLLYWOOD


JESSE HELT said ...  Thank you all,  my name's Jess and I'm accepting this award on behalf of the 1.6 million runaways and homeless youth in the United States who are starving, lost, and scared for their lives right now.  I know this because I'm one of these people.  I've survived in shelters all over the city, I've cleaned your hotel rooms, I've been an extra in your movies...  Los Angeles Entertainment Capital has largest population of homeless youth ...  music industry will make over 7 billion dollars -- and outside this doors are 54000 human beings whole have no place to call home..."

MY FRIENDS PLACE LINK

Location:
5850 Hollywood Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA 90028

Phone:
(323) 908-0011
1-888-YOUTH-50

Hours of Operation:
9:00 a.m. – 5:30 p.m.
Monday through Friday

Tuesday, September 16, 2014

TAY DROP IN CENTER - AT RISK TEENS can HANG OUT AT VILLAGE TEEN CENTER NORTH HOLLYWOOD

THE VILLAGE TEEN CENTER

"In the past two years alone, we have served more than 3,000 children, adults and families in the San Fernando Valley and beyond.

In the past year, our Foster Care program placed more than 800 abused children and teens in loving foster-care homes. More than 600 at-risk and homeless youth accessed our Transition Age Youth (TAY) Drop-In Center. And some 400 children and teens graduate from our Mental Health program every year."

********
TV – Wii – Cyber Lounge – Outdoor Patio – Group Rooms – Kitchen – Showers – Laundry

TAY Drop-In Center   drop-in@thevillagefs

A Center for Transition Age Youth (TAY)
Empowering at-risk, foster, LGBTQ and homeless youth ages 14-24.
6801 Coldwater Canyon Avenue
North Hollywood, CA 91605
(located on the first floor of Valley Community Clinic…use rear entrance).

(818)755-8786 Main

THEY ARE WORKING ON:

TAY Emergency Shelter

shelter@thevillagefs

An Emergency Shelter for Transition Age Youth (TAY)
A safe place to stay for homeless youth ages 18-24.

*******

OK so we're telling a couple kids we know, one just graduated high school and has a job lined up and is sofa hoping, the other is 16 and locked out of his parent's apartment, so he's doing a lot of sitting in fast food restaurants, about this place.  It sounds good.  Like all our postings though, we would like reports about your true experiences dealing with this non-profit.

Sunday, September 14, 2014

SAN FRANCISCO BART STATIONS REFUGE FOR HOMELESS BEING TARGETED BY POLICE

SF GATE : CRACKDOWN ON HOMELESS IN BART STATIONS HEATING UP 
By Heather Knight
Some of the article

... "But boy, has that changed. The Coalition on Homelessness late last week released a video in which homeless people who sleep in BART stations are interviewed and talk about being roughed up and treated poorly just because they have nowhere else to go.

"We are facing an unprecedented housing crisis in San Francisco," reads the press release accompanying the video. "Mothers with their children are being forced to sleep at the Civic Center station while waiting six months for proper shelter. People are so desperate for a place to sleep, free of harassment, they are sneaking into elevator shafts and down train tunnels, literally risking their lives to get some rest."

(It's true, by the way, that homeless families are waiting many months for shelter. And that regular homeless shelters are 97 percent full each night. And that a transient was crushed to death in an elevator shaft at the Montgomery Street BART Station last year.)

Jennifer Friedenbach, director of the coalition, and Public Defender Jeff Adachi say BART police are misreading a section of the state penal code. It applies to public transit systems throughout California and states that people are subject to imprisonment for "willfully blocking the free movement of another person in a system facility or vehicle."

Adachi said most of the arrests are happening because people are lying or sitting against a wall in a 20-foot wide hallway or wide-open plaza, which he maintains hardly constitutes an obstruction. They're not lying at the bottom of escalators or sprawled across narrow passageways, he said...."

Friday, September 12, 2014

VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO CALL FOOD BANKS - ASK ABOUT THEIR HOMELESS POLICIES

We have a list of about 20 FOOD BANKS and would like some volunteers to call them.  We prefer that you use your own cell or other phone and we have a list of questions for each of them.  Would you like to help us so we can report on what these food bank's have to offer the homeless?

Some food banks have more to offer the homeless than others.

If so, please leave a COMMENT with your e-mail address.  One of us will e-mail you about this little project.  We do not publish these comments so your name and e-mail address will not be seen by the world.

THANKS!

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

SAN BERNARDINO NEW HOMELESS PROGRAM - H.O.P.E. THROUGH SHERIFFS

HESPARIA STAR - SAN BERNARDO HOMELESS PROGRAM

"Help for the homeless will be the topic at the High Desert Resource Network (a program of the Academy for Grassroots Organizations) from 9 to 11 a.m. Sept. 4, at the Desert/Mountain Educational Service Center, 17800 Highway 18 in Apple Valley.The H.O.P.E. (Homeless Outreach and Proactive Enforcement) Team was created in January by San Bernardino County Sheriff John McMahon to address the quality of life issues for the homeless community in San Bernardino County. The four-person team goes into the homeless camps and attempts to connect the inhabitants with available resources throughout San Bernardino County. By networking with non-profit, faith-based and government entities the H.O.P.E. Team seeks to give incentives to the homeless population to break the cycle of incarceration or addiction by getting them back into mainstream society and on the road to success."

SBC COUNTY SHERRIFF CONTACT

Sunday, September 7, 2014

NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS REPORTS ON FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBAMA'S SPEECH

NATIONAL ALLIANCE TO END HOMELESSNESS  First Lady Michelle Obama recently spoke on ending Veteran's homelessness.  Plus lots of other articles on policies, action, and other things that effect YOU as a homeless person. 


CLICK ON THAT LINK - UPDATED JANUARY 2016!


http://www.endhomelessness.org/

Friday, September 5, 2014

OC REGISTER - ANAHEIM, COSTA MESA, FULLERTON - WHAT THEY ARE DOING ABOUT HOMELESSNESS

OC REGISTER - HUNTINGDON BEACH HOMELESS  Full article includes the following:

Anaheim: The Anaheim Police Department formed a Homeless Outreach Team to help the homeless find shelter or work.

The city is also partnering with Mercy House to hold belongings for up to a week while the homeless look for jobs and find a temporary place or permanent home to stay in.
The city reports there are 447 homeless people in the city during the day. Police field more than 4,400 calls for service related to homeless people.

Costa Mesa: City leaders are working to find a way to house the homeless.
City officials had earmarked Civic Center Park for a 50-unit apartment complex for transients. But council members backed off from the project earlier this year, saying the decision to build a housing project there was rushed.

The city is studying other options for sheltering the homeless that include converting a motel, building a new project or buying various apartments in the city and subsidizing rent.
Since 2009, volunteers and students from Vanguard University each year count the people sleeping on the street for a homeless census. In the most recent count in October, volunteers said there were 109 people with a margin of plus or minus five. There are typically about 120 people who sleep on Costa Mesa's streets, according to the city.

Fullerton: The Police Department in 2013 launched an effort to catalog the estimated 200 people who call the city streets home in Fullerton.

The work included identifying each person, photographing them and recording next-of-kin and health information to create a database police officers could tap into.

City officials are also working on a plan to provide year-round shelters for the homeless, which would decrease the number of people on the streets. The county agreed to put up about $3.1 million for the shelter.

A plan to convert a furniture store into an emergency shelter was protested by residents and eventually rejected by the City Council in June.

Residents opposed to the shelter said they were concerned about how close it was to a local elementary school.

City officials have not yet set their sights on an alternative plan for the shelter.

Santa Ana: City Council members in August approved a city rule that allows emergency shelters in industrial zones. The new ordinance allows for some shelters to expand to up to 75 beds, which was a provision added to accommodate the rebuilding of the Salvation Army Hospitality House.

A 2011 study said an estimated 1,388 homeless live in Santa Ana and about 1,060 of them need shelter.

Sources: Articles from Register staff writers Art Marroquin, Antonie Boessenkool and Lou Ponsi and Register archives

County's 10-year plan

The county in 2012 launched a 10-year plan to end homelessness, a complex mission that includes finding ways to provide housing and emergency shelters as well as implementing prevention measures.

The plan involves representatives from nearly 20 organizations, including nonprofits, advocacy groups and government agencies.

These representatives are planning projects and securing funding to meet their goals.

Development of the plan was handed down by an initiative of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, which persuaded cities and counties to create comprehensive plans to target the issue.

The county is currently in phase three of its 10-year plan to end homelessness.

This phase is expected to conclude in 2015.

Here's the work that's being done now:

Establish year-round emergency centers: The county in 2013 identified $4.5 million in funding that could help develop year-round emergency shelters and multi-service centers in Orange County.
The Board of Supervisors in January 2013 also approved $3.2 million in funding for an emergency shelter in Fullerton, but the site was not approved by the City Council.

The county is looking to find space for emergency shelters and service centers in Anaheim, Fullerton and Santa Ana.

Strengthen transitional housing: OC Community Services and representatives from the county's HUD office in July analyzed how resources could be used differently to provide transitional housing.

Implement prevention strategies: Continue to develop list of resource centers for the homeless and earmark funding of homeless prevention.

Implement rapid re-housing strategies: This provides financial assistance to those living in transitional housing to get them back into their own place. More than $3 million in various grant funds in 2013 went toward these programs.
 

 

Tuesday, September 2, 2014

99% OF THOSE WHO SELF REPRESENT IN EVICTION PROCESS LOSE THEIR HOMES - EVICTION DEFENSE NETWORK

EVICTION DEFENSE NETWORK - LOS ANGELES   FREE AND LOW COST LEGAL HELP FOR TENANTS AND HOME OWNERS FACING EVICTION.

OUR OPINION FIRST!

THE NUMBER ONE HOMELESS PREVENTION TECHNIQUE IS AFFORDABLE HOUSING!

Greedy apartment building owners, slum lords, land owners and developers and the politicians who aid them have worked together to turn Los Angeles into a place where the majority are just holding on, living paycheck to paycheck, in need of public funds to supplement earnings to feed themselves and their children.   Several years ago in one San Fernando Valley neighborhood several hundred long term tenants (that means they paid their rent on time) were legally evicted because small buildings were being turned into condos.  In some places teachers arrived to teach and found their classrooms near empty because so many children had moved and those children were no longer enrolled in school anywhere because their transcripts were not going with them.

Those who are evicted from rent controlled apartments may never regain while cities like Burbank have no rent control at all.  We know someone whose rent just doubled and the landlord is still not fixing the air conditioner.

These days you can't even afford to move to live closer to a new job and so you can't give up your car very easily.  MTA just doesn't go there from here all the time, not reliably. And we as a nation just keep on helping illegals and never mind our NATION OF HOMELESS RIGHT HERE.

That's our opinion.  But then one of us remembers going to BET ZEDEK to beg for help to prevent an eviction and being told that if we didn't have all owed money including fines in hand at appearance we had no chance.  So we didn't go and became homeless.  

If you face HOMELESSNESS because you are about ready to loose your apartment or house, and you are low income this may be the place to call.  WE STRONGLY SUGGEST THAT YOU ATTEND INFORMATION CLINICS AS SOON AS YOU THINK THERE IS ANY POSSIBILITY YOU MAY NOT HAVE YOUR RENT.  DO AS MUCH AS YOU CAN BEFORE YOU'RE FACING BOXING UP.

FROM THEIR FLYER:


IF YOU WORK DURING THE DAY GO TO ONE OF THE FOLLOWING TENANT'S RIGHTS CLINICS. A $15 to $25 donation is requested.  Counsel and advice only.  No one turned away due to lack of funds.

YOUTH SPEAKS COLLECTIVE
11243 Glenoaks Blvd Suite 11
Pacoima, CA  91331

TUESDAY 6 PM

LINCOLN HEIGHTS TENANTS RIGHTS CLINIC
3510 North Broadway
Los Angeles, CA  90031

WEDNESDAY 6 PM

ALLIANCE OF CALIFORNIANS FOR COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT (ACCE)
3655 South Grand Avenue Suite 250
El Mercado La Paloma
Just South of Downtown

THURSDAYS 6:30 PM

COALITION FOR ECONOMIC SURVIVAL
7377 Santa Monica Blvd
West Hollywood
Senior Center in Plummer Park

SATURDAY 10 AM

FREE ASSISTANCE PREPARING YOUR ANSWER
99% of tenants that represent themselves in court lose their homes'Go to this agency for help filing your answer

OUR OPINION: One of us has tried the self help centers around the Van Nuys Court House.  Sorry but people who are stressed out and not good with forms really do need more help than someone passing out complicated forms to you to go help yourself.  WHAT IS NEEDED ARE ACTUAL LEGAL PEOPLE - at least paralegal students if not lawyers - WHO ARE FAMILIAR WITH THE FORMS AND COURT PROCEEDINGS.  If you are facing eviction you are in emotional and psychological overload.

DOWNTOWN COURT
Shriver Project
111 North Hill Street
Room 115
Los Angeles

M-Th  9 AM- 12  1-4 PM
F 9 AM - 12 Noon

PASADENA COURT
Self Help Center
300 E. Walnut
Room 300
Pasadena

M-Th 8 AM - 4 PM
F 8 AM-12PM

SANTA MONICA COURT
Self Help Center

1725 Main Street #210
Santa Monica, CA

M-Th 8:30 to 12, 1:30-4:30
F 8:30 -12

LONG BEACH COURT
Self Help Center
415 Ocean Avenue
Room 505
Long Beach CA
M-Th 8:30-12, 1:30-4:30
f 8:30-12

LANCASTER COURT
Self Help Center
42011 4th Street
West #3700
Lancaster, CA

M-Th 8:30-12:00
1:30-4:30
F 8:30-12:30

AFTER THEY ARE DONE ASK : "WILL YOU BE GOING TO COURT WITH ME?"
If they don't say YES, go to the EVICTION DEFENSE NETWORK IMMEDIATELY.

THE EVICTION DEFENSE NETWORK
EN DEFENSE DE INQUILINOS
1930 Wilshire Blvd Suite 208 Los Angeles, CA  90057
(213) 385-8112
Monday to Friday 9 AM to 6 PM (must sign in by 4PM)

"We provide representation based on ability to pay.  Payment plans are available. Just walk in.  Representation in court by experienced eviction defense lawyers.  We are a 501 (C) (3) community based nonprofit organization.