It’s been more than a month since a federal judge signed off on a modification allowing the San Diego Police Department to ticket homeless people who refuse a bed at a nearby shelter. For those caught sleeping downtown in public between 9 p.m. and 5:20 a.m., however, a bed in a shelter might not be the answer to their problems. Derek Santangelo, who grew up in Providence, R. I., decided to call San Diego home after serving four years in the Navy. Santangelo, 39, said he never imagined being homeless, but somehow things just worked out that way. It’s been nine years since he began living on the streets, and when asked if he would go to a shelter, Santangelo lifted several layers of clothing to reveal a scar from a stab wound just above his heart, which he said he received while in a homeless shelter.  “I won’t ever go to a shelter again,” Santangelo said, as he continued to point to his scar. “Too many unstable people. I would rather take my chances on the streets.” Billed as a law enforcement tool to manage the homeless population, the agreement between attorneys for the homeless and the SDPD reversed a 2007 federal court order that prohibited police from citing homeless individuals for illegal lodging because of the lack of adequate alternatives. Advocates for the homeless expected the agreement would also provide a strategy for getting people off the streets and into safe shelters, where they could seek services if they wanted help. But sources close to the issue say not much has changed. “There may have been changes, but we’re not seeing them,” said Martha Ranson, director of homeless women’s services at Catholic Charities Diocese of San Diego, which operates the Rachel’s Women’s Center. Ranson said that for years the women-only shelter has held at least one bed per night for the SDPD’s Homeless Outreach Team (HOT), which is made up of police officers, social service technicians and psychiatric clinicians to perform outreach services for the homeless. “We always have that bed available and we would not have turned anyone away,” Ranson said. “So far, there has been no increase or decrease in activity.” Ranson said there have not been any recent referrals from the HOT team and added that it’s not unusual for long periods of time go by in between calls, which she attributed to women choosing to be less visible on the streets. Sgt. Richard Schnell, a supervisor for the HOT team, said he doesn’t expect the complaint-driven ordinance to change things too much. Schnell explained that a person can choose to move along and there will be no further enforcement action taken. But if a person refuses, his team will be called out to meet the person and assess their needs. Schnell said a member of the HOT team would then call any one of the three shelters within a five-mile radius of 25th and Market streets that have agreed to maintain beds for the program. If an officer confirms a bed is available and the person chooses to take it, they will be sent on their way and no further action will be taken. If the person refuses, they can be cited under the illegal lodging ordinance. Schnell said the only way the police can issue a ticket for illegal lodging is if there are beds available and the individual turns down the bed. “[If there is] no room in the inn, there’s no enforcement at that particular moment,” Schnell said. “The majority of people just want information on where to go and we’re just trying to get them into treatment if they want to. We can’t force them.” Mary Case, vice president of programs for St. Vincent de Paul, said that so far there have been no rumblings to report and she hopes things stay that way. Case said she does wonder what will happen once the temporary winter shelter closes and the number of available beds is dramatically reduced. “I’ll bet there will be more complaints and ticketing going on,” Case said. “The police will be looking for beds and they won’t find any.” A point-in-time count of the homeless population in San Diego, conducted by the Regional Task Force on the Homeless in January, indicated the homeless population grew nearly six percent over the previous year to 9,020. The survey also showed that the highest concentrations of homeless individuals are located in the city of San Diego. Horatio Simmons said that after getting laid off from his job as a machinist in an aerospace factory in Los Angeles, he moved to San Diego to work in the shipbuilding industry. Simmons said he became addicted to narcotics, lost his job, home and family, then began doing odd jobs and begging on the streets for spare change. “If I had money to pay a ticket, I would rather spend it on food,” said Simmons, who was once ticketed several years ago for illegal lodging. “All this has done is just drive more people further away into encampments along the freeway and out of sight.”