Fox News 11 reporter Hal Eisner interviews Union Rescue Mission CEO Andy Bales about the recent closing of the winter shelters in Los Angeles.
andy bales
Oasis to hundreds closes doors Sunday – Burbank Leader.com
Christopher Cadelago of the Burbank Leader writes about the closing of the Burbank Winter shelter on Sunday. The Union Rescue Mission and EIMAGO Inc have operated the winter shelter since Dec. 1, 2008. A total of 473 men and women have been provided meals and a safe place to sleep since the winter shelter opened.
Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales is concerned about what will happen to the individuals who sought shelter over the last few months and would love to see the shelter remain open.
But the chances of that happening are slim, said the Rev. Andy Bales, chief executive of the Los Angeles Union Rescue Mission, the shelter’s operator.
“Not only do we have to contend with the shrinking economy and growing unemployment, which I believe is actually closer to 20%, but now we’re in the process of listening to complaints from neighbors and doing our best to address them,” Bales said. “It’s something that needs to be done to keep us up and running.”
Bales said he met Friday with Councilman David Gordon, who shared with him some of the community’s concerns. Among them are problems with loitering, public urination and homeless people arriving at the shelter at all hours of the evening.
Another complaint lodged against the Union Rescue Mission and EIMAGO Inc., the nonprofit that takes care of day-to-day duties, is that volunteers have failed to keep criminals away, specifically sex offenders.
To tackle issues of loitering and walk-ins, Bales said, the Union Rescue Mission has spent about $40,000 on increased shuttle service to and from the facility in the last month.
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Click here for more information on the current situation with the Burbank Winter Shelter.
Proposed state budget adds another layer of tax – Daily News of Los Angeles
Sue Doyle and Troy Anderson, Staff Writers for the Daily News, interview Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales about the potential impact of the new state budget.
The California Budget Project estimated 234,400 children statewide could be dropped from the welfare rolls, including 75,380 in Los Angeles County. Additionally, in- home care services for 81,000 Californians, including 34,290 in the county, could be eliminated.
Andy Bales, president of the Union Rescue Mission, said the possibility that tens of thousands of children could be cut from the welfare rolls would only exacerbate the rapidly growing homeless problem in the county.
“We’re already facing a tsunami of homeless families,” Bales said.
“Our fourth floor is completely full of homeless families and we have begun to fill up our chapel with families sleeping in pup tent-like units.”
CEO Andy Bales interviewed by CNN for AC360
Dave Schechter, CNN Senior National Editor, interviewed Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales about the work being done by the mission to assist the increasing number of individuals who are homeless.
Most of the families living at the Los Angeles shelter are homeless for the first time in their lives. They’re coming from everywhere around Southern California, an epicenter of the nation’s mortgage meltdown and foreclosure crisis.
“These are not people who have been in the cycle of poverty,” Bales tells me. They are working people who have lost jobs, who juggled expenses for food, utilities, clothing, health care and housing until they no longer could keep a roof over their heads.
As a result, the number families at the shelter is up 300 percent in a year and the number of individuals up 25 percent. The number of meals served is up 40 percent — to more than 1 million in a year.
Los Angeles County shelters brim with families – LA Times
Jessica Garrison of the LA Times writes about the increase in families who are homeless this season. Several individuals from Union Rescue Mission were interviewed.
The economic crisis and cold weather have created a larger than usual influx of families to shelters in Los Angeles County this year, according to shelter officials and other service providers.On Wednesday, officials at the Union Rescue Mission, which runs the county’s cold-weather shelters, held an emergency meeting to figure out what to do when they run out of hotel vouchers for families, which could happen this month. The numbers, said Chief Executive Andy Bales, are sobering: The region’s winter shelters and the skid row mission have seen 86 families in the last three weeks.By comparison, last year the agency took in 20 families at its emergency shelters over the entire cold weather season from Dec. 1 to March 15, with 15 to 20 more at its downtown mission. Two weeks ago, the mission downtown opened up its fifth floor to two-parent families and single fathers with children, something it has never had to do before. It may also convert its chapel to sleeping quarters.
Shelters see significant rise in demand – KABC Channel 7 News
KABC news interviewed Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales about the increase in individuals facing homelessness this year.
Officials at a winter shelter in Burbank say they have seen a 1,000 percent increase in demand since their doors opened on Dec. 1. They blame it all on a very troubled economy.
As they are dealing with increased demand in the valley, shelters in Downtown Los Angeles are retrofitting offices to accommodate more families.
“I’ve been doing this nearly 23 years and I’ve never seen anything close to this,” said Andy Bales, Union Rescue Mission.
Andy Bales runs the Union Rescue Mission on skid row in Los Angeles. He said homeless shelters like his are being inundated with young families.
“I believe that we’re going to have to take emergency steps to make sure that no family and no children spends time on the streets and suffers the devastation of homelessness,” said Bales.
Shelters, missions overwhelmed by homeless demand – 89.3 KPCC
Southern California Public Radio interviewed Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales regarding the increase in individuals who are homeless.
Los Angeles County’s homeless authority says on any given night 73,000 people are sleeping on the street. More than 10,000 are children or teens.
And it’s getting worse thanks to the slowing economy and big job losses. Union Rescue Mission President Andy Bales says the number of people visiting his shelters is up three fold over this time last year. He says it reminds him of the 1930s.
Andy Bales: “During the depression, the Union Rescue Mission provided 42 percent of the meals that were provided to the city of L.A. and somehow made it through. We’re trying to live up to heritage.”
Bales says it’s not easy. Demand for his nonprofit’s winter shelters is up sharply, while cash and food donations are shrinking.
L.A. County shelters being overwhelmed by homeless – Inland Valley Daily Bulletin
Troy Anderson of the Inland Valley Daily Bulletin writes about the increase in visitors to winter shelters around Los Angeles County.
Despite innovative efforts by the city, county and nonprofit agencies to help keep homeless families off the streets, officials at rescue missions and winter shelters in Los Angeles County said Thursday their facilities are being overwhelmed by homeless families.
Andy Bales, president of the Union Rescue Mission in downtown Los Angeles, said the number of homeless families staying at the mission has tripled to 45 over this time last year.
At his winter shelters in Burbank, West Los Angeles, Culver City and downtown, Bales saw more families in the first three days this year than the entire winter last year.
“I think we’re in an emergency,” Bales said. “And I think this is just the tip of the iceberg. We get vouchers from the (Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority) to put families up when they come to winter shelters and we’ve used four-fifths of the vouchers we get for the entire season already.
“We have a bigger problem now than we’ve ever dreamed of before.”
E.D.A.R. video – LA Times
Union Rescue Mission’s CEO Andy Bales is interviewed about a new invention to provide shelter to individuals who are homeless. The invention is called E.D.A.R., which stands for Everyone Deserves A Roof.
“Winter shelter opens” – BurbankLeader.com
Zain Shauk of the Burbank Leader writes about the opening of the winter shelter in Burbank. Union Rescue Mission is running the program again this year.
The city’s winter homeless shelter opened Monday, providing cots, showers and hot meals to 31 people on its first night of operation at the Burbank National Guard Armory.
Last year, the shelter drew only about 15 people on its first night and almost 150 on its most crowded evening before it closed in mid-March, said Andy Bales, director of the Los Angeles Union Rescue Mission, which runs the program.