CATCHING THEIR BREATH HOMELESS MOTHERS, CHILDREN WAIT FOR SHELTER IN THE VALLEY.

Byline: SUSAN ABRAM Staff Writer

NORTH HOLLYWOOD - The family in Room 23 will move out soon. Time's up -- they have to go.

Dinah Plam tells her three children they've been down this road before. Packing their clothes, their books, the pink girl's bike that leans against the wall of the one room where they sleep in bunk beds and live their lives.

``This is just part of our journey together,'' Plam tells her children, ``just until we get to where we can have routine again.''

Routine may come soon.

In January, Plam's family will move to government-subsidized housing in Los Angeles' Mid-Wilshire District. All those meetings with caseworkers, all those signatures on documents, those days and nights that turned to months of waiting in transitional housing will finally pay off for Plam.

She is one of the lucky ones.

But it's been a long journey for her, and for thousands of other homeless families in Los Angeles and nationwide.

Los Angeles officials estimate that women and children have become the fastest-growing segment of the homeless population. Downtown's Skid Row is now home to about 1,600 women and children -- one-quarter of them from the San Fernando Valley.

And a recent survey released by the U.S. Conference of Mayors found that in 23 cities across the nation, requests for food assistance by families with children increased by about 5 percent in 2005. Homelessness among families also rose by 5 percent.

``Los Angeles is probably worse than the nation because we've had the least amount of resources from the city and the county in the past,'' said John Horn, director for the Los Angeles Transitional Housing Center in North Hollywood, where Plam and more than 60 other families live.

Where to build?

``The problem is affordable housing,'' Horn said. ``Yes, we may have the money for it, but where do you build it in the San Fernando Valley? In downtown, there are empty buildings, but where is there an abandoned building in the Valley?''

Transitional housing helps families ``catch their breath,'' by helping them to save some money before finding permanent housing, Horn said.

An average of one dozen families are on the waiting list for an opening. Nearly 200 families find themselves in the North Hollywood facility a year, Horn said.

``We get about 20 calls a week,'' Horn said. ``The demand hasn't stopped. We do see a lot more families who are here, because of not having the money to make ends meet.''

Plam has gotten as close to Skid Row as anyone. Last year, she sought shelter at night at the Los Angeles Rescue Mission, then spent the day at the Los Angeles Public Library, where her children could read, use the computers and wander through exhibits.

She found herself there because the man she and her family had been staying with stopped paying the rent, she said.

Taneshia Burson, a 31-year-old mother of six, found herself in a similar situation. A roommate with whom she shared the rent moved out, and Burson was unable to make ends meet.

No privacy

She turned to her family, but had no privacy, she said. She's been in transitional housing in North Hollywood facility for four months, hoping to save money for a place of her own.

``When I first came here, I felt like I had failed my kids,'' Burson said.

``You always feel guilty as a mother,'' Plam said.

But both women said they are thankful for transitional housing, where they have their own rooms, their children can go to school and the mothers can take classes in everything from nutrition to saving money.

And both women plan to return to school. Plam is learning computers to work in a medical office. Burson would like to work in a hair salon.

``You meet a lot of people here, people who find themselves in this situation because of something that happened,'' Plam said. ``I saw on the television that in Paris, the City of Light, there's homeless people. It just goes to show you it can happen anywhere.''

This Christmas, Plam and Burson said, they are grateful that their children are safe and warm. That they have a place to sleep and food to eat. That they go to school and make friends.

And if they can, they will give their children a little something for being patient, for understanding that while they have no permanent home, their moms are trying.

``I never like to see no kid at Christmas go without something,'' Plam said. ``Every kid should have at least one toy.''

susan.abram(at)dailynews.com

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CAPTION(S):

2 photos

Photo:

(1 -- color) Taneshia Burson, left, and four of her six children, Jeffrey, 1, Heaven, 6, Haley, 4, and Hannah, 1, pose for a photograph in their living unit at the Transitional Living Center in North Hollywood. Housing for the homeless is hard to come by in the San Fernando Valley.

(2) Dinah Plam, center, and her daughters Shavantae, 15, left, and Samira, 10, pose for a photograph in the library of the Transitional Living Center in North Hollywood.

David Sprague/Staff Photographer