By Mary O’KEEFE

The homeless are a vulnerable population when there is no pandemic but, with COVID-19, they are even more at risk. Ivet Simvelyan works with the homeless and people in need on a daily basis as the City of Glendale Community Services manager.

“I am so grateful now that I am able to lead programs to address the needs of our unsheltered clients during this pandemic,” she said.

Simvelyan and her team work closely with many organizations including the Los Angeles County Dept. of Public Health and Ascencia, which provides housing and services to homeless individuals and families. Simvelyan said to get help to those in need workers have to go out and locate them because it is not often that people come to Community Services.

“We are still going out on the street,” she said.

Much of the City staff is working from home but Simvelyan’s staff needs to go into the office then out onto the street.

Community Services has received money from the state and through the CARES Act and are now launching a weekly shower program. The City has also partnered with the Hotel Roomkey project, which works to get the homeless off the street and into local hotels.

Simvelyan said that, as of Tuesday, the City has housed over 45 homeless clients with the help of Glendale Care Program and Glendale Roomkey Projects. Once homeless individuals are placed in a motel her team then starts working on transitioning them into permanent housing.

The community has supported the City’s efforts as well.

“I want to add a special thanks and recognition to the Armenian Relief Society that was able to donate 250 surgical masks for our homeless clients and outreach services,” Simvelyan acknowledged. 

The City’s Community Services does need the public’s help because it is looking for donations of food and sack lunch donations for at least 20 people each Monday. To sign up to help call (818) 548-3720.

Below are some personal stories of how people have been supported by Simvelyan, her team and the City of Glendale:

Candice Rusk is still recuperating from the financial, mental and emotional hardship of her mother’s passing in 2016. After losing her Palmdale home, she was living in her car at the Metro link for almost a year when she met a current Ascencia client who encouraged her to connect with the agency. Reluctant at first, when she witnessed her friend finding housing and employment with Ascencia’s support, Rusk finally committed to change and called Ascencia in early 2020. Focusing on finding employment, she was hired as security guard with a local security agency. With the help of emergency housing placement during COVID-19, Rusk is able to rest peacefully, save money and work towards her housing goals. Though hopeless at the beginning, she is now seeing light at the end of the tunnel and is excited to work with Ascencia and the City of Glendale towards permanent housing.

Michele White is grateful to be receiving emergency housing from Ascencia and the City of Glendale. She lost her hotel construction job in 2018 and immediately called Ascencia for assistance. After being a resident of Ascencia’s Emergency Housing Program from November 2018 through August 2019, she feels lucky to have Ascencia’s continued support during the COVID-19 pandemic. She is currently working with Ascencia to find her forever home so that she can start her new job at the end of the global pandemic.

“Kiara is so great. Armando and Alfred are the absolute best,” White said of the staff at Ascencia.

Thelma Bailey fell into homelessness last year after being evicted when she couldn’t afford her rent increase. After receiving help from Ascencia once before as a victim of domestic violence, she turned to them again. With a history of chronic health conditions, Bailey is of high risk to contract the virus. For her safety, she was placed in the City of Glendale’s COVID-19 Motel Project. Ascencia continues to work with her to obtain permanent supportive housing. She is grateful for the assistance and has reported reduced stress after being placed in the COVID-19 motel. Feeling safe and secure, she can now focus on finding a permanent home. 

During this crisis, the City of Glendale Community Services focus is to ensure that the unsheltered population has a safe place to stay with access to resources and services that will help them to move to permanent housing and achieve self-sufficiency. The City of Glendale received additional funding under CARE ESG-CV and will be working on implementation of various programming to assist homeless and at-risk clients with homeless prevention, motel programming, crisis management, outreach services and case management. The ultimate goal is to ensure that clients move into permanent or rapid housing and have access to mainstream resources and employment, said Simvelyan.

For homeless services, contact (818) 246-7900 or (818) 548-2000 to speak with homeless services staff.