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.

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.

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.

Good job on this Daniel.

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 !

[Post removed due to offensive language]

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?