When the president of the Union Rescue Mission first approached five elderly homeless women last August about moving from Los Angeles' blighted skid row to a rustic 78-acre retreat on the fringe of the Angeles National Forest, at the northeast edge of the San Fernando Valley, he told them they were like pioneers.
What the Rev. Andy Bales recalls saying was, "If you will go out to Hope Gardens today and you will look around and decide to stay there, you will be like the civil rights pioneers of the 1960s, because you will lead the way for our homeless women and children."
He also remembers how the ladies' eyes brightened when he drove them out to Lopez Canyon Road near Sylmar and they witnessed firsthand the pristine beauty of the oak and pine trees and coast redwoods, spotted the Koi pond with the bright orange fish, and learned they'd have their own quarters and bathroom in a glass-front Alpine lodge.
"So they went from what the world thinks of as these 'bag ladies' to being these vivacious, talkative, wonderful women that I come out now and take to church every Sunday because it's a blessing to me to hang out with them," Rev. Bales says. "It's like hanging out with my aunts and grandmas.
"They are just the sweetest ladies that the world had written off. I'm very thankful that they're out here. Their lives have been transformed, and that's what we want to do for single mothers and children, too. We want to give them a life of hope out here."
These so-called "bag ladies" were the first individuals to be moved off of skid row since Los Angeles County officials came up with a highly publicized - and more than a little controversial - $150 million plan a year ago. The goal was to decentralize the largest concentration of homeless people in the western United States by establishing five regional homeless centers.
The proposed facilities were the centerpiece of a county ($100 million) and city ($50 million) effort to do something about the deplorable conditions on skid row and build new housing for the homeless and poor. Police, service providers and hospitals could drop off people who needed housing at the centers, which were supposed to have 30 short-term beds and to offer mental health and substance abuse services.
No regional centers
The idea at the heart of this bold social initiative, which marked a major policy shift in how local government handled homelessness, was to stem the outrage over the "dumping" of homeless individuals on skid row and to spread out the responsibility for caring for them beyond downtown Los Angeles.
Twelve months later, as a result of an aggressive L.A.P.D. crackdown - which the American Civil Liberties Union of Southern California has recently challenged in court for a second time - there's certainly been a decentralization of the skid row population. Sidewalks near downtown that used to be crowded with makeshift plastic tarp-and-cardboard lodgings and loaded shopping carts are almost vacant today
But as The Tidings reported last month, the heavy hammer of law enforcement has simply spread the homeless around the Southland, with greater concentrations today in Hollywood, Venice and even the valleys. Moreover, not one regional homeless center is close to opening. No sites have even been chosen yet.
Why?
The answer appears to be yet another case of NIMBYism: Practically nobody wants a bunch of former skid row residents in their own backyards. Which leads back to the Hope Gardens "pioneers," who currently number 16, and the high stakes surrounding this social experiment.
But an even bigger battle has begun, involving the Union Rescue Mission's long-held plan to move about 200 single moms and children to the mountain camp, which formerly belonged to the Ancient Order of Foresters, a fraternal organization that provides lifelong care for its members.
A group of home owners from the next canyon have steadfastly protested bringing homeless families to Hope Gardens - even though the two locales are about a mile apart as the crow flies and separated by a mountain, deep ravines and dense chaparral. By the windy back road that connects Lopez Canyon to Kagel Canyon, the distance measures 4.5 miles.
"These are our homes," Marlene Rader, co-chair of the Kagel Canyon Preservation Committee, told the Los Angeles Times. "I know that something has to be done downtown, but I don't think the Union Rescue Mission is addressing the real issue. I really believe that this is just relocating people and the problem."
In early May, the county's Planning Commission will meet to address the matter. If a majority of commissioners approve the mission's request for a conditional use permit, but Kagel Canyon residents - as expected - appeal the decision within 15 days, then the full Board of Supervisors would vote on the issue.
Long-term program
During a ride around the green camp compound - made up of half a dozen wood buildings, lawns and a children's playground nestled in talk pines and ancient oaks, and surrounded by bone-dry beige foothills - Rev. Bales, driving a four-wheel-drive Kawasaki two-seater, begs to differ.
Beaming, the 48-year-old Iowa native and father of six stops to point out a building being renovated that will house 10 family units. He takes a visitor inside a finished two-room apartment with its freshly painted walls and solid oak furniture, including bunk beds, made by homeless workers in El Paso, Texas.
Then he pokes his head inside a large community room where classes and meetings will take place, counting off the onsite services: pre-school; after-school tutoring (school-age children will attend nearby public schools); youth programs, including scouting for girls and boys; parenting classes; job-training and job-finding workshops; counseling; housing information, savings-account program and a mobile health clinic; and Bible studies and discipleship classes.
He talks about precautions taken in the fire-prone area, including an extensive irrigation system, plus flameless cigarette lighters and smokeless ashtrays located in designated concrete-floor patios.
He explains that single moms will be carefully screened to find out if they are alcohol-and-drug free and really want to change their lives through education and developing job skills.
The young women will go through three progressive treatment levels, working toward independent living. Depending on the skills and needs of the mother, each family will stay at Hope Gardens from about nine months to three years. Those moms without formal education will be encouraged to earn their GED (high school equivalency diploma) and AA degree from nearby Los Angeles Mission College in Sylmar.
Initially, 40 homeless families will move into the compound, with plans to accommodate 57 mothers and 144 kids. Twenty-four elderly women will also eventually live there.
"So we are trying to get at the serious multiple problems these women are facing so that they can make a better life for themselves and their children," Rev. Bales stresses. "And the whole idea is they can do that a lot easier when they're off skid row."
Then, the street-smart urban minister with the Midwestern accent talks about Psalm 23.
"Lay down in the green grass beside the still water, and the Lord will restore our laden soul," he almost whispers. "We know we just provide the environment and love, and the Lord will restore the souls of these ladies and kids." And he pauses to look up through the pine trees at the crystal clear blue sky. "Oh, this is much better than downtown. The first time we brought the kids out here, they laid in the grass and said, 'Ahhh, grass!'"
'Closer to God'
Since early October, Betty Green has lived in Sequoia Lodge at Hope Gardens with other homeless elderly women. The 65-year-old grandmother likes the quiet, peacefulness and privacy of the grounds and her new living quarters.
"It's gorgeous," she says, shaking her head. "You look at those pictures in a magazine and say, 'Oh, it looks so heavenly.' But this is just like that. It's helping me a whole lot. You know, it's helped me be closer to God. I can now think and relax and be myself. Hey, I've seen the change in myself. I used to have a temper, and the least little thing would get me angry. But the Lord moved all that. I'm a whole different person."
The Mississippi native believes it could do the same for others - especially young kids. "This is the place for a single mom to be because it's a good environment for the children," she explains. "And they're not going to be around a lot of vulgar stuff like on skid row. They're going to have the type of life that a child's supposed to have."
Lloyd Gunn, 63, has lived in Kagel Canyon for 11 years. He's taken a lot of flack and alienated neighbors for speaking out in favor of homeless families moving to Hope Gardens.
"The main thing is I'm for children," he reports. "And a child growing up on skid row doesn't have much of chance for anything. This is a safe place - a tranquil place without all the turmoil they've probably already had in their lives. This could make a big difference in whether a child ends up a productive citizen and a stable person when he or she grows up."
The retired grocery store worker doesn't understand how folks he knows are against the idea. He says, "It's almost like some people think it's too nice for homeless people or something," with a chuckle. "They're like prejudiced, or I don't know what else you'd call it. Selfish? They don't think they deserve a place like this."
Parishes pitch in
Parishioners at St. Didicus Church in Sylmar, Mary Immaculate in Pacoima, Holy Rosary in Sun Valley and Santa Rosa and St. Ferdinand in San Fernando also think Hope Gardens is a great place for the homeless to heal. For four months, when the place had no working kitchen, they - along with MEND in Pacoima - took turns providing pot luck hot lunches and dinners for the senior citizens.
"All along we've made friends with the ladies," says Norma Gallegos, who runs St. Didicus' food ministry and helped organize the pot luck meals. "We've invited them to come to church with us, and we set up a bingo night and crochet day."
Gallegos thinks it's a small group of Kagel Canyon residents who are fighting so hard against the Union Rescue Mission's camp program. Many more people have volunteered their time and talents to support the women, she notes.
"Maybe the ones against it have the wrong idea about the ladies and families who would be living here?" asks Gallegos. "Maybe they only see the picture, you know, of a homeless person who's on the street - dirty with maybe mental problems? But that's not the ladies who are here."
Msgr. Peter Amy, pastor of St. Didicus, used to walk his dog in the foothills around Hope Gardens when it was a retirement center run by the Ancient Order of Foresters. He only wishes there were more centers like it available to help transition the local homeless population - estimated at nearly 90,000 on any given night across Los Angeles County - back to an ordinary lifestyle.
"When they talk about getting people off skid row, Hope Gardens is a beautiful spot," Msgr. Amy points out. "Plus, for younger women who are looking for educational opportunities, they're real close to Mission College.
"It's a perfect solution as far as I can see, even though it will hardly make a dent in the homeless population downtown," he adds. "But it will get some families out of there."
That's the whole idea, according to Rev. Andy Bales.
"Hope Gardens is the first test, really, of changing the misguided plan of corralling the homeless and centralizing services, which has created skid row, which is a human disaster," he says. "If it doesn't succeed for precious women and children, then what can succeed? So this means a great deal to L.A. Will we solve our homeless problem, or will we turn our back on women and kids?
"People want homeless people to suffer," he adds. "And what they don't realize is the only way to help a homeless person out of homelessness is to surround them with love and help, and remove the layers of hurt. That's been my philosophy for a long time - loving away their layers of hurt. And it's worked." |