$1 million sought for homeless

CITY HALL — Housing advocates will ask the county for more than $1 million to start an around-the-clock intake facility for the most volatile segment of the homeless population in the city if they get the go ahead Tuesday from the Glendale Housing Authority.

Called the First Step Housing Project, it would be the first of its kind for a city that has struggled to reach the chronically homeless despite a wide-ranging, comprehensive treatment network.

The 25-person housing project would be available 24 hours a day, seven days a week to people who don’t normally qualify because they struggle with substance abuse, mental illness or both, said Natalie Profant-Komuro, executive director of PATH Achieve — the organization applying for the funding.

“Frankly, this is the most historically difficult and challenging population to serve, but it’s not impossible,” she said.

Generally, they are the “fixtures” of the homeless community, loitering in alleyways, doorways, parks and other public places, Profant-Komuro said.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development defines the chronically homeless as unaccompanied adults who have a disabling condition and who have been homeless for a year, or have been homeless four times within the last three years.

Although their numbers have been falling slowly over the past few years, 76 chronically homeless were counted in Glendale this year, making up 27% of the city’s total homeless population, according to the city’s annual Point-In-Time Unduplicated Homeless Count.

Since their afflictions prevent them from entering the homeless outreach programs that come attached with drug screening, many are left without any long-term treatment, said Maggie Willis, managing partner for PATH Partners Associates.

Other programs also stop admitting clients in mid-afternoon to allow for processing times, she added.

“We’re talking about people who are left out of the system,” Willis said.

With a 24-hour entry program geared specifically for the chronic, or “system resistant,” homeless population, PATH Achieve — in collaboration with the Glendale Homeless Coalition — intends to capture a segment that has so far eluded Glendale’s comprehensive “continuum of care” system of homeless services.