Posted by Mr. Heart, a resident of the Old Mountain View neighborhood, on Feb 12, 2009 at 6:52 pm

The Churches should open there doors to any and all people in need. How many churches in MV? And I haven't heard of any doing this.

Posted by NW Resident, a resident of the North Whisman neighborhood, on Feb 13, 2009 at 3:49 pm

As mentioned in the article, many of MV's churches participated in the Alpha Omega rotating shelter program that ended in 2006. I don't know the reasons why the program was not continued, but perhaps the Voice staff can provide further info on that part of the story.

As a member of St. Joseph's parish on Hope St, I can say that the church is continuing to assist with the Alpha Omega homeless services program at CSA. Parishoners have been signing up the past couple of Sundays to donate specific items that will be given to the homeless who are served by CSA.

I agree that this doesn't have the same impact as a full shelter program, but I imagine that many of the churches in town are doing what they can to help CSA and other agencies.

Posted by Daniel DeBolt, Mountain View Voice Staff Writer, on Feb 13, 2009 at 5:21 pm
Daniel DeBolt is a member (registered user) of Mountain View Online

Here is a story with some background on the rotating shelter and how the city is making the transition to the "housing first" model:

Web Link

These days homeless that are looking for a cold weather shelter must go to the Armory in Sunnyvale on Maude Avenue.

Posted by Jon Wiener, a resident of another community, on Feb 13, 2009 at 5:24 pm

Good job on this Daniel.

Posted by Kent, a resident of the Shoreline West neighborhood, on Feb 16, 2009 at 5:42 pm

Why not use vacant industrial buildings with very low rent offered at shoreline area (Pear Ave.)until business/economy comes back. No ones notices there !

Posted by unknown, a resident of the Sylvan Park neighborhood, on May 14, 2009 at 3:05 pm

[Post removed due to offensive language]

Posted by , a resident of another community, on Jul 22, 2009 at 12:03 am

The industrial buildings would not have adequate facilities from the sense of building resources to sustain a large group of homeless. In addition, the city would be liable for anything that happened in these buildings and would not undertake such a risk.

I volunteered at the rotating shelters for years and was sad when they were discontinued. Maybe Mountain View can partner with Los Altos and Sunnyvale to create a year-round shelter?