GILROY
– It’s been said this is the
”
most wonderful time of the year,
”
but times are tough for thousands of working poor in the
economically teetering Silicon Valley
– Gilroyans are no exception.
GILROY – It’s been said this is the “most wonderful time of the year,” but times are tough for thousands of working poor in the economically teetering Silicon Valley – Gilroyans are no exception.
As the holiday season is approaching, so is the cold weather, leaving many of Gilroy’s homeless scrambling for a solid roof and warm meal. That scramble will end Dec. 2 for many of Gilroy’s poor when they find their way up Wren Avenue.
Preparations already are under way at the Gilroy Armory building at 8949 Wren Ave. to transform the National Guard facility into a “cold weather” homeless shelter that will open Dec. 2. The shelter will provide 125 beds, food and services to local homeless through March 31, just like it has done for the last decade.
“In Gilroy, we found last year that it’s the working poor who were coming to the shelter,” said Maria Glymph, a spokeswoman for Emergency Housing Consortium, which runs the shelter. “The economy is really making it hard for a lot of people in the community.”
The EHC also will add 125 beds to its Boccardo Reception Center in San Jose for the winter months, but Glymph said no matter how many beds they add, there is always a need for more.
“If it’s a rainy winter obviously we will have a lot more people,” she said. “But rain or not, we always reach capacity once the word spreads. There will be open spaces for the first four or five days, but then it will be full for the season.”
While the Gilroy Armory will not act as a full-time housing option – meaning it is not open 24 hours and there is a limit of consecutive days one person or a family can stay – it usually sees the same faces searching for a good night’s sleep throughout the winter, Glymph said.
The majority of the people who use the shelter are single, but it is not uncommon to see full families seeking shelter at the center, Glymph said. More than 37 percent of the 20,000 homeless people in Santa Clara County are families, according to the EHC.
Trying to eliminate the number of homeless in the county, the EHC and South County Housing have been working with the local community to develop a replacement for the Gilroy Armory Winter Shelter Program.
Modeled after the Boccardo Reception Center in San Jose, a planned Sobrato Family Transitional Center already has been approved by the city. The new center on north Monterey Road will include a 140-bed emergency shelter and 60 units of transitional housing.
A gift of $500,000 from the Sobrato family has been provided to the emergency shelter that will serve low-income individuals and families.
“A lot of these people are working poor who just can’t afford to live in this area,” Glymph said.
The EHD is a nonprofit and relies on donations and volunteers to operate. It is still in need of twin-size blankets, sheets and pillows for its winter shelters, among other things. To donate or volunteer, call Darlene Gomez at 294-2100 ext. 204.
