City Officials Embrace "Regional" Approach to Homeless

By Cindy Frazier
Senior Writer

October 7 -- After years of using a carrot and stick approach to homelessness -- and drawing fire from residents and business owners sick of coping with panhandlers and street-dwellers -- City officials are hoping that a new regional approach to the hot-button issue will take the burden off of Santa Monica.

City officials are among the 50 stakeholders taking part in “Bring LA Home,” an ambitious program headed up by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, whose Blue Ribbon Committee released a draft report last month with some 300 proposals on a wide range of strategies to “prevent and end homelessness in ten years” in the county.

On Thursday, the panel -- composed of representatives from the federal and state governments, the county and four cities, as well as various service agencies and community members -- will continue refining its strategies during a public meeting in Santa Monica.

The committee hopes to release a final report -- and begin the process of ending homelessness -- in December, according to Santa Monica Mayor Richard Bloom, a committee member.

Draft proposals include a “zero tolerance” policy toward releasing unhoused people from prisons and hospitals to the streets; supporting a “housing wage” so the employed can afford market-rate rents, and inducements or penalties so more cities will allow affordable housing projects within their borders.

The draft report -- which does not include cost estimates -- was met with criticism from panelists and the public when it was released last week and with skepticism from the press.

Even some committee members are doubtful about the lofty ten-year goal, which would require housing an estimated 84,000 homeless in the county, or the equivalent of the population of Santa Monica.

“It’s a staggering number of people,” said Bloom. “People have a right to be skeptical. We need a realistic plan and the resources to implement it.”

“The draft plan has 300 recommendations and no estimate of the cost,” he added.

“It’s not realistic that homelessness can be eliminated in ten years," said committee member Jennifer Wolch. "But it’s good to have an ambitious goal.”

Wolch, a USC geography professor, is a member of Santa Monica’s Recreation and Parks Commission and Sustainable Cities Task Force, and has written about the homeless issue.

“There are a lot of reasons for homelessness, and everybody has to play a role in addressing it she said. "Santa Monica does more than others.”

Santa Monica is among the few cities that have been willing to tolerate the homeless, or provide local funding for services. City officials believe it's time other cities step up to the plate and help out.

“The challenge of ending homelessness in ten years is a bold assertion, and getting the plan endorsed by 88 cities will be a big step,” says Julie Rusk, who oversees Santa Monica’s social service programs.

“There’s a role for all sectors of the community, and this is key for Santa Monica,” Rusk said. “We’ve been stepping up to the plate and doing our fair share and then some.”

Santa Monica spends about $2 million a year on the homeless, whose population in the city has been counted at slightly more than 1,000 on any given night.

Rusk cannot estimate what the City spends on homeless services per person, but assistance ranges from cash grants for service agencies to a special four-member homeless liaison task force in the police department.

Homeless persons -- and the services that many argue draw them to the city -- have been a perennial source of frustration for business owners and residents, and a frequent election issue.

One of Santa Monica’s biggest problems with the homeless is inebriation, according to City Manager Susan McCarthy, who responded to a survey initiated by Bring LA Home. The vast majority of arrests in the city are for public intoxication.

Ten years ago, when homeless encampments in city parks had reached a peak in Santa Monica, the rage of residents resulted in the progressive group Santa Monicans for Renters' Rights losing its long-held majority on the City Council and prompted a cap on spending.

Homelessness has again become an issue in this election, with one council candidate, incumbent Herb Katz, proposing that the homeless be allowed to sleep at night in a beach parking lot near the Santa Monica Pier, with public toilets provided. Katz has sressed that for his proposal to work, it must be part of a regional effort to deal with the homeless problem and that those who sleep there must do community work.

Katz's plan to give street-dwellers an alternative to bunking down in doorways and defecating on sidewalks has been criticized by the Police Union, which failed to endorse Katz for the first time in his four council bids, and drawn fire from rival candidates. Bloom -- who also running for reelection -- calls the proposal “a terrible idea.”

“It sends the wrong message to the homeless, to businesses and residents,” Bloom said.

The vast majority of homeless are in downtown Los Angeles, and Bloom contends that business interests there are now demanding ordinances to eliminate aggressive panhandling and encampments -- which Santa Monica did years ago.

“Most things Santa Monica does are being copied in other areas,” Bloom said. “We have a terrible situation in Santa Monica, but it’s magnified one hundred fold in Los Angeles.”

Bloom also notes that the Bring LA Home effort originated in the Bush Administration, and that similar efforts are under way around the country.

“I hope it’s not a mission like ‘No Child Left Behind,’ which is well-meaning but there is no funding behind it,” Bloom said. “It will take a lot of political will to fund these plans around the country.”

One of the ideas being floated by the committee is to get State legislation requiring cities to participate in the homeless effort.

“We are leaving no stone unturned,” Bloom says.

The panel will take place Thursday at the Ken Edwards Center, 1527 Fourth St., from 6:30 to 8:30 p.m.