CHURCHES URGE SHELTER FOR HOMELESS; COALITION SEEKS YEAR-ROUND SITE.

Byline: Cynthia Teed Daily News Staff Writer

The city is working with a coalition of churches to find a permanent haven for Santa Clarita's homeless because the shelter used the past two winters is no longer available.

City officials and representatives of the Santa Clarita Community Development Corp., a group of area church members, will brainstorm Thursday and while networking with area social service providers to get the project moving.

Job and family counseling, nutritional services and educational training are some of the social services needed for the homeless, said Mark Young, vice president of the development corporation.

``We can get grant money for homeless, if we provide additional social services,'' Young said. ``And besides, it's the right thing to do.''

By providing additional services, shelter organizers said their project would better qualify for federal grant funding for a permanent shelter.

The church group opened the city's first shelter two years ago in an unused warehouse at the new Santa Clarita Sports Complex.

At first, the temporary shelter was to be open only during the rainy season made worse by El Nino's winter storms, shelter organizers said.

But the regular use of shelter facilities by the area's homeless has convinced the shelter organizers that a need exists for a permanent haven to be open year-round.

Santa Clarita resident Al Rizzo has seen the homeless come to the churches for help after the shelter closes down in April.

``Some of the homeless are transients who come from off the freeway, and some are local people who have just had some difficult experiences,'' Rizzo said. ``And they know where to go from January through April to get a place to bathe, eat and sleep.''

More than 15 to 19 homeless people came to the temporary shelter every evening during this past season from December through April, Young said.

Of that homeless group, many were newcomers, Young said.

``It's really hard to know how many homeless are out there, they're hard to contact and hard to help,'' he said, but added that he is determined.

``In the last week of April, four or five children stayed at the shelter,'' according to Young's records. And that's four or five children too many, he said.