Resident, 73, is down on his luck, has nowhere to go
By Nancy Needham  nancy@theacorn.com

JANN HENDRY/Acorn Newspapers NEEDS HELP ASAP--Larry Mack, 73, and his dog, Scudder, will live in the back of his Conejo Bait and Tackle store, 664 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd., for about a week before he becomes homeless. He has no money, no one to help him and no place to go.

A fragile elderly man who's spent his life taking care of others now faces an uncertain future: Once his Thousand Oaks business closes tomorrow, he'll have no job and no home.

Larry Mack, 73, has owned Conejo Custom Tackle, a fishing supply store, for 22 years. Not long ago he made himself and his little dog Scudder a place to sleep in the back of the store at 664 E. Thousand Oaks Blvd.

When the store closes on Friday because of a 30 percent rent increase, Mack said, he has nowhere to go. The man who's survived two strokes and two heart attacks and suffers from a breathing disorder has tried to find a place to live, but he must pay for rent, food and all his other needs with less than $500 a month, the amount he gets from Social Security, he said.

"There's not a lot of help available for him," said Rick Schroeder, executive director of Many Mansions, a nonprofit low-income housing organization.

Schroeder said he and others have been trying to establish an emergency shelter where people like Mack can stay until something permanent opens up.

"There is nothing here in Thousand Oaks for him. We don't know where to send people who come to us with no one to take care of them. It's very sad," said Diana Ortuno, homeless winter shelter manager at Lutheran Social Services.

The homeless shelter that moves to a different house of worship every night is open only until April 15. Mack needs someplace to stay for at least six months so he can have time to get a doctor's statement to confirm he is disabled and show he's had six months of case management by an agency like Lutheran Social Services or Catholic Charities, explained Kris Youngman, Many Mansions service coordinator.

When that is accomplished, Mack would be given preference for housing as a disabled person. But for now, she said, there is nothing Many Mansions can do.

She said Mack came by her office last November and she referred him to other organizations that could possibly help him.

Mack has a stack of paper from many organizations that have put him on waiting lists. Mostly, the people to whom he's reached out for help have asked him questions and then agreed he's in a bad situation.

"I don't need them to tell me I'm in a predicament. I need them to help me find a place to live," Mack said.

He doesn't say it, or complain at all about his situation, but it has to be especially hard for someone who always tried to have a place with two bedrooms so that others less fortunate could stay when they needed to.

When he was a teenager, Mack became the breadwinner for his mom and younger siblings. While still in high school he took a job at a burger joint so he could buy food and bring it home to his family.

"The owner understood my situation and would sell me buns, hamburgers and hot dogs wholesale so I could bring that food to my family," Mack recalled.

Later on he was working for a company that was going through some layoffs. He had been there longer than a man with a family, but he insisted he be the one let go because the other man had more responsibilities, he said. When he couldn't find work himself, he joined the Army for a few years.

After that he worked as a policeman for about 15 years before he moved to Thousand Oaks and opened the tackle store.

After almost 20 successful years, his rent went up and his sales went down. Environmental restrictions on fishing rockfish caused him to have fewer customers, he said.

He started spending his retirement savings about two years ago to stay in business, hoping things would turn around, he said.

With his store closing he has customers coming in to buy the last of the tackle. Many of them tell Mack they hope he has a good retirement.

"They don't understand he's not having a good retirement. He's in trouble," said Tim Overstreet, sport fishing boat operator.