HomeMy WebLinkAboutCC RES 94-085� - ..
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RESOLUTION NO. 94 8 s
RESOLUTION OF Ti� CTTY COUNCIL OF TI� CITY OF
PALM DESERT, CALIFORNIA, IN SUPPORT OF THE
EMERGENCY COLD WEATi�R SHELTER PROGRAM
WHEREAS, since December 1987, when former Governor George Deukmejian created the
Emergency Shelter Program and authorized the use of the National Guard armories to augment
existing homeless shelters during periods of cold weather, and the Riverside County Board of
Supervisors has supported the counry-wide Emergency Cold Weather Shelter Program (ECWSP)
in the armories and other facilities since its inception; and
WHEREAS, the program has sheltered 6489 individuals during the duration of the program
and provided 92,699 shelter bed nights through the end of the Fiscal Year 1992/1993; and
WHEREAS, the demand for emergency shelter services has escalated since the program was
initiated, and the recession forced many middle and low income families into homelessness; and
WHEREAS, the armories most often are used to shelter a combination of intact or single
parent homeless families who have been unable to find full time shelter and the "chronic
homeless", single men and women who have a 60% to 70% probability factor of suffering from
serious mental illness or severe substance abuse problems and are therefore detached from the
regular homeless service network; and
WHEREAS, Governor Pete Wilson has notified the County that he plans to terminate the
project after Fiscal Year 1994/ 1995 without offering alternatives to assist the Counry in
providing shelter beds to replace those currently offered through the armories, or providing
monetary assistance; and
WHEREAS, the County has worked, and will continue to work, vigorousty with the various
cities, communities, churches and non-profit organizations to develop a homeless shelter
network, resulting in as average increase of 100 shelter beds per year sinc� the start of the
Riverside Counry Emergency Cold Weather Shelter Program, and continues to work to identify
alternatives to the armories; and
WHEREAS, the County recognizes and acknowledges the important and irreplaceable role
played by the armories when used to shelter homeless persons, and further recognizes and
acknowledges that in spite of the dramatic progress made toward increasing full time shelter
beds, the number of homeless continues to increase, which then increases the need for the use
of the armories as emergency shelters.
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RESOLUT�N NO. 94-85 '�
NOW THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Ciry of Palm Desert urges Governor
Wilson to direct his staff to work toward assisting local government to increase the number of
shelter beds, instead of seeking to decrease it by closing the armories and that the Governor
investigate military base use for the National Guard and reconsider the previously announced
closure of the armories to the homeless.
PASSED, APPROVED, and ADOPT'ED by the City council of the City of Palm Desert,
California, at its�regular meeting held on the 25th day of A_u�st, 1994, by the following vote,
to wit:
AYES'BENSON, CRITES, KELLT, SNYDER, WILSON
NOES' NONE �'� �
� NO�H �
�SErrr: �
ABSTAIN: NONE �� � �
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WILSON, MAYOR
ATTEST:
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SHEILA R. GILL.IGAN, CIT,1�'
CITY OF PALM DESERT, C,�