ESCONDIDO - The Escondido City Council said "no" Wednesday for a second time to the Salvation Army's request to open an emergency winter shelter for the homeless.

In a 3-2 vote during its late-afternoon meeting, the council rejected the organization's request to operate a 40-bed, climate-activated shelter through March 15, but unanimously approved an initiative to start up a North County task force on the homeless.

Council members Ed Gallo, Sam Abed and Marie Waldron opposed the shelter request, saying as they did three weeks ago that the city is already doing more than its share to help North County's homeless and that a shelter would attract more homeless people to Escondido.

Abed tied the shelter proposal to another matter considered by the council later in the evening, a resolution against illegal immigration.

"We are sick and tired of making Escondido a sanctuary for homelessness, for illegal immigration, for poverty, for low-income housing, for crime, for gangs," Abed said.

Mayor Lori Holt Pfeiler and Councilman Dick Daniels voted in favor of the shelter during the packed meeting attended by dozens of community members in favor of the shelter as well as people on both sides of the illegal immigration issue. Several of those who spoke said they had been or are homeless.

When the Salvation Army went to the City Council with a similar shelter request Dec. 20, no vote was made because every council member but Pfeiler voiced opposition to the shelter.

After that decision, the Salvation Army found a way to open its shelter for a time by becoming part of a regional winter shelter sponsored by area churches that rotates among North County communities. However, Sunday night was the last night the rotational shelter was scheduled to be in Escondido before moving to Poway.

Daniels had announced Monday that he was reversing his position on the issue, a decision he addressed Wednesday.

After "soul searching" and "personal reflection," Daniels said, he had decided to support the shelter, for which the Salvation Army had asked no city funds.

"It's the right thing to do in the matter of human compassion," Daniels said. "This particular proposal has no cost to the city and is something we can and should do."

More than a dozen people spoke to the council in favor of opening the shelter, while a handful spoke against it.

Abed presented a report at the meeting that he had requested city staff members to compile, which he said shows Escondido is contributing far more money than any other North County community to help the homeless.

With 777 beds for various homeless programs, Escondido has more than any other North County city, Abed said, and is second only to Del Mar in its per-capita spending for the homeless.

However, Mel Takahara, program director for the Salvation Army, told the council that all of the 777 beds are for specialized programs, and the city has no emergency shelter where anyone needing to get out of the cold can simply walk in.

Last year, Escondido lost its regular winter shelter, which was operated by Interfaith Community Services, when that organization turned the space into a permanent shelter for disabled and senior veterans.

Takahara said the proposed shelter, which would be in the gymnasium of the Salvation Army's location at 1301 Las Villas Way, near the intersection of Centre City and El Norte parkways, only would open when temperatures drop below 40 degrees or there is rain. This intermittent service would make it unlikely homeless people would come from other communities to stay at the shelter, he said.

Escondido clinical psychologist Michele LaRue told the council she had done a survey of the people who had stayed at the shelter and had found that about 75 percent had a long-term connection to Escondido.

Takahara said the Salvation Army wants to fill the important role of providing an emergency shelter.

"These shelter beds may be a small number, but they do represent a critical part of the continuum of homeless services," Takahara told the council.

He said after the meeting that he would talk with the Salvation Army's leaders to explore other ways to open the shelter, noting that while the Salvation Army requires him to get the council's permission, it isn't clear that a church would need permission.

"Let's not forget that the Salvation Army is a church," Takahara said.

- Contact staff writer Paul Eakins at (760) 740-5420 or peakins@nctimes.com.