Cold is putting a strain on the homeless

Most nights, Daniel Parra wards off the bitter cold inside three sleeping bags and two blankets.

Parra, 54 and unemployed, often sleeps in a tent in the Newport Beach city yard. But Sunday night, frigid temperatures drove him to seek a warm bed at the Lighthouse Outreach Ministries in Costa Mesa, which offers interim shelter in inclement weather.

Shelters are stepping up aid for the homeless as the region braces for a record cold front this week. The National Weather Service said temperatures would reach freezing Wednesday night in coastal areas of Orange County.

Early last year, two homeless people died in Costa Mesa as temperatures dropped into the 30s.

Temporary winter shelters in Santa Ana and Fullerton opened last month, providing a meal, shower and warm place to sleep for up to 200 people at each location. Monday night, 148 sought shelter in Santa Ana, up from 139 the previous night.

The numbers are expected to continue to rise, according to Larry Haynes, executive director of the nonprofit Mercy House, which runs the facilities. The overnight shelters could remain open around the clock if wintry storms lead the governor to declare a state of emergency, Haynes explained.

In Costa Mesa, Lighthouse Outreach Ministries on Anaheim Avenue has offered shelter for the past four years when the weather turned bad. Tim Brown, an administrative assistant and volunteer at the Lighthouse, said the shelter has reached its capacity of about 50 people. He has spent the last few days distributing blankets and sleeping bags to those sleeping outdoors.

Brown said those who don’t seek shelter often spend their nights near the Santa Ana River channel. He said the homeless also rent rooms in area motels around the first and last part of the month, when disability checks or similar payments arrive.

Last year, Costa Mesa ferried the homeless to the Santa Ana shelter via taxi and provided a bus pass for a return trip to Costa Mesa in the morning. But reports by a city Neighborhood Improvement Task Force found that 25 individuals used the transportation during the 13 days it was available in December 2013. With the lack of demand, the city dropped the program this year, explained Muriel Ullman, a consultant who advises the city on housing and the homeless.

In the last few years, the city has focused on streamlining services and tailoring them to the needs of the city’s homeless. Last year, 22 chronically homeless Costa Mesa residents were placed in temporary or permanent housing, according to an April 2014 city task force report.

“If someone wants to get out of the cold, we can help them,” Ullman said.

The city also has hired a part-time social worker to refer homeless individuals with longstanding ties to Costa Mesa to services, such as housing and substance-abuse treatment, Ullman explained. A second part-time social worker will start Monday, Ullman said.

In Huntington Beach, Bill Wright, the site manager with Beach Cities Interfaith Services, sees stepped-up efforts to provide the homeless with housing, mental health services and other assistance. About 75 people attended the first meeting this month of the Huntington Beach Homeless Collaborative, a group made up a residents, churches and nonprofits.

In preparation for the winter storm, Wright has handed out cold-weather clothing like coats, hats and socks this week. The organization posted fliers to direct homeless individuals to temporary shelters in Santa Ana and Fullerton.

But countywide, a protracted push to open a year-round shelter has faltered.

In November, after an outcry by Santa Ana residents, the Orange County Board of Supervisors opted against purchasing a $3.6-million industrial building in Santa Ana to use as a year-round homeless shelter. The year-round shelter is part of the county’s 2010 Ten-Year Plan to End Homelessness. On any given night, roughly 4,200 people in the county are homeless, and 12,700 experience homelessness during the year, according to the latest count in 2013.

Parra hopes to leave the ranks of the homeless. In June, he lost his job as a caretaker after an argument with his boss. With little savings, he was quickly on the streets.

Sitting on a grass berm a block away from the Lighthouse shelter on Monday, he talked about his plans to find a job, save money for a security deposit and move into an apartment.

This week, he hopes to spend most nights in the shelter. “It got so cold,” he said.

It’s his first winter on the streets, he said. He quickly learned that a tent, three sleeping bags and two blankets couldn’t keep him warm.