One recent night at the Proyecto Pastoral Guadalupe Homeless Project men’s shelter at Dolores Mission in Boyle Heights, residents lined up for their evening meal, holding out plates as workers filled them with black beans, rice, and chorizo with potatoes. Several dozen men sat at long tables, speaking in hushed tones as they ate.
It’s a routine that’s been repeated here nightly for decades: for more than 30 years, the shelter has served what was once a relatively small Latino unhoused population. Many who came here were older immigrants from Mexico who’d spent much of their lives in the U.S. working low-wage jobs.
But in recent months, things have changed.
“We’re mainly serving people that come from other countries like Venezuela, Honduras, Nicaragua,” said Salvador Mendoza, the shelter’s lead case manager. “I will say yeah, 90%.”
The bulk of the shelter’s residents are now asylum seekers who’ve arrived in the U.S. in the past several months, he said. Most are from Venezuela. Some came on buses from Texas; others made it to L.A. themselves, some after being initially bused elsewhere. Many had plans to stay with acquaintances, relatives or other sponsors, but those plans fell through.
“So they come to this cruel reality, you know, of not being able to find a job, not being able to have a roof over their head, not knowing the language, not knowing where to go, what to do, so their only option is just being on the street,” Mendoza said.
A change of plans
Among the men at the long tables that night was Edwad Peña, who’d been in the shelter for one week, and in the U.S. for only two.
After a grueling six-month journey…
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