Many say they go to PATH. Others say a bridge or a park with good overhangs is where they go. “I’m good as long as I have a heavy comforter,” said Richard Proctor. David Heller added that a kind homeless woman lent him extra blankets this past week. The damp cold has been miserable lately, and though Santa Barbara has an emergency homeless shelter, an unexpected dip in temperature on February 6 caught the Freedom Warming Center unawares.
Scott H., a homeless man who was waiting for a bus on Milpas Street last Friday, knew the PATH (People Assisting The Homeless) shelter offered rain beds during wet weather. It was reliable, he said, as long as you were sober and showed proof you’ve been working to improve your situation. And it didn’t make residents leave if it was still raining the next morning, which the Warming Centers do. Nonetheless, Scott thought the Warming Centers should get their own facility. They open for a low-temperature forecast of 35 degrees, no questions asked. Proctor’s view was that the centers should open at 42 degrees, because temperatures as low as 35 are uncommon in Santa Barbara.
The Freedom Warming Center in Santa Barbara is temporary and dependent on the generosity of churches for the shelter it offers. It opens its doors when a 50 percent chance of rain is forecast or temperatures dip to 35 degrees or below, and it cleans up and clears out by 6 a.m. The five centers — in Santa Maria, Lompoc, Carpinteria, and Santa Barbara (Isla Vista’s shelter church is being renovated) — are budgeted $50,000 to open up to 50 days between November 15 and March 31. They already have clocked nearly three times as many bed-nights as last year, said Kimberlee Albers, the county’s homeless program manager, 3,400 this year compared to 1,200 before. The county found another $50,000 to make available, she said, with still nearly two months to go in the rainy season. Supervisors Das Williams and Steve Lavagnino have written to Santa Maria and Santa Barbara to ask for additional funds to cover any shortfall.