HOMELESS SHELTER SET TO CLOSE; GROUP SEEKING A NEW REFUGE.

Byline: Teresa Jimenez Daily News Staff Writer

The rain may have disappeared, but the homeless haven't, according to Tim Davis, one of the 700 volunteers who helped establish Santa Clarita's first shelter for people with no place to call home.

So while Davis is grateful that the city provided a warehouse and $10,000 to open a shelter during these winter months, he's also concerned for the 30 or so homeless people who will return to sleeping in the river beds and under trees when it closes at the end of the month.

The shelter, the first of its kind in Santa Clarita, since December has provided protection to the homeless during the El Nino storms.

``We're already telling our guests they can come on the 30th, but after that they leave on the first (of May) - that's it,'' Davis said. ``They're back on the street. But that's the agreement we made.''

Still, because of the success of the shelter, members of the Interfaith Council, who come from area religious organizations, plan to open a similar one again next winter.

It won't be easy, Davis said. The city provided the Interfaith Council with a perfect location and setup that will be hard to repeat, he said.

That facility, which will eventually be converted for recreational uses, has a shower, a kitchen and plenty of room for cots. It also is located in a business park and away from residential areas.

It likely will not be available next winter because the city plans to open its Santa Clarita Recreation Complex in another warehouse on the site this summer. A new skate park also is set to open this summer.

The organization already has named the facility the Out of the Cold Shelter. And there is no question in the minds of the volunteers that the shelter will continue to bring positive experiences to the community.

In fact, this winter's city-sponsored shelter proved that help could be offered to the homeless without creating problems for the community, Davis said.

``I think the city, like us, has experienced this as being a very positive thing,'' Davis said. ``The truth is, we asked some people to leave and not come back. But with most of the people who stayed at the shelter, we had no problems. None of the problems happened that people predicted.''

Fellow volunteer Barbara Preheim pointed out that critics worried that the shelter would draw homeless people to Santa Clarita. But the shelter had a steady group of about 35 people and no more, she said.

``There are two kinds of problems: real and imaginary. We proved they were imaginary,'' Davis said.

The volunteers found that about 75 percent of the people who stay at the shelter had an income of some kind, Davis said. Some receive support because of a disability or because they served in the military, he said.

About 25 percent have jobs, Davis said.

``One guy asked us to wake him up at 5:30 every morning so he could be on the work site by 7:30,'' Davis said. ``When the contract was over he left to find work somewhere else. Some are just getting by.''

All were grateful for the assistance, Preheim said.

``When you serve them dinner, they say, thank you,'' Preheim said. ``I don't get that from my kids.''

The Interfaith Council will hold its first planning meeting for next winter's shelter at 7:30 p.m. May 5 at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church.