COUNCIL: Mike Wilson has support for his view that other desert cities need to build shelters too.
10:00 PM PDT on Tuesday, April 4, 2006
By DAVID OLSON, The Press-Enterprise
With the Coachella Valley's two largest homeless shelters planning to expand their Indio facilities, the City Council today will discuss a long-term plan for homelessness that city officials say should include more shelter beds in other desert cities.
Councilman Mike Wilson said Indio has a responsibility to serve the homeless. But, other than a small shelter for women and children in Palm Springs, no other desert city has a shelter, he said.
"The way other cities deal with the homeless is to send them to Indio," he said. "We have certainly gone above and beyond in helping the homeless."
Shelters should be built in the western and central parts of the Coachella Valley to serve homeless populations there, he said.
Jim Lewis, CEO of the Coachella Valley Rescue Mission, said spreading shelter beds throughout the valley would better serve the homeless, many of whom want to stay close to their support networks.
"A lot of Palm Springs homeless don't come to Indio," he said. "Very few Desert Hot Springs homeless come to Indio. Indio should not be required to shoulder the whole burden."
The rescue mission is proposing to build a 250-bed facility on Van Buren Street between Indio Boulevard and Highway 111, across the street from its current 80-bed building, which would then close. Lewis wants the rescue mission eventually to house homeless people elsewhere in the valley as well.
The rescue mission also operates a winter shelter at the Indio Armory that serves 90 to 130 people per night, said Darla Burkett, the mission's development director.
Martha's Village and Kitchen wants to build a 100-bed tentlike structure for homeless people next to its 120-bed building at 83791 Date Ave., said Gloria Gomez, executive director of Martha's Village. The tent would replace an emergency shelter that has operated the past five summers in the building's dining room, she said. The group hopes to open the tent by June 1.
Martha's Village plans to use the tent for the next several years, until it can build a permanent 100-bed facility, she said. Martha's Village also wants to build apartments where homeless people can live without time limits, after living in temporary housing.
Reach David Olson at (760) 837-4411 or dolson@PE.com
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