Robin Hall’s eyes filled with tears when she tried to think where she would go once the Santa Clarita Valley Emergency Winter Shelter closes early Tuesday.

Hall has been trying to find an apartment since things fell through with her sister, but hasn’t found any stable housing.

“I don’t know,” the 51-year-old said softly, wiping tears from her eyes. “I didn’t realize how important this place was until last week.”

Hall has never been homeless before, and has been at the shelter since December. She looks forward to the hot meals, friendly staff and warm beds every night.

“I don’t know what I would have done without it,” she said. “It helped me more than I could ever repay.”

Recognizing the need for consistent services to address homelessness, shelter officials are starting plans to establish a local year-round shelter by late 2011.

“I think there’s definitely a need,” said Mark Young, board president for the Santa Clarita Community Development Corporation, which operates the shelter. “The recent economic distress that our community has been through increases that already existing need.”

The shelter is wrapping up its 13th season, which brought a jump in demand. One night saw 58 clients. Past seasons have typically seen about 40 clients a night.

The design
After its 105-day season, clients often go back to the tents they’ve set up in washes and near bridges, shelter executive director Tim Davis said. Several sleep in their cars while others will find temporary housing with help from friends and family.

Shelter leaders envision a shelter that would be open 365 days a year.

Along with a 60-bed shelter, there would be a 20-bed transitional living facility, Davis said. This would allow clients who no longer want to be homeless to get off the streets while finding stable work and housing, he said.

The year-round shelter, which would close during the day, would also enhance case management services by having health and legal offices as part of the location, he said.

Tony Bell, spokesman for Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich, focused on the need for services.

“The primary goal has got to be to provide access to mental health services,” Bell said. “Without mental health services, we’re creating a revolving door and this is not an acceptable way to address homelessness.”

Money and support
Establishing a year-round shelter would create a need for more volunteers and require the board of directors to find a place for the shelter and more money, Davis said.

A state law approved in 2007 makes it easier for shelters to find a place to operate.

The city of Santa Clarita has identified three areas that have been zoned for a homeless shelter: Valencia Industrial Center, Rye Canyon Business Park and Centre Pointe Business Park. The current location, made up of portable rooms on Golden Valley Road, is in an approved zoning area.

As for funding, a year-round shelter would require about $700,000 a year to operate. That’s a jump from the shelter’s current annual budget of roughly $280,000.

In the coming months, the shelter plans to launch community-based fundraising initiatives with the hope of minimizing the amount of government money used to operate the shelter.

For example, one goal would be to find 3,000 people who would be willing to pay $10 a month toward the shelter, Davis said.

The need
A common concern is that a homeless shelter brings clients from places outside of the Santa Clarita Valley.

It’s an issue shelter leaders are quick to address.

“Historically, about 90 percent of the winter shelter clients have had their last place of residence in the Santa Clarita Valley,” Young said. “They are not people coming up here from Hollywood, Santa Monica. They are our people. We like to try and take care of our own. ... It’s a matter of reaching out to them and giving them the tools they need to get out of a situation which everyone finds intolerable.”

For many of the clients, a year-round shelter would be a way to get off the streets.

Hall, who lives on a small worker’s compensation paycheck, said she has nowhere else to go.

“We’re good people,” Hall said. “There’s a lot of us who just want a chance to get on our feet.”