City
Launches Program to House “10 Most Vulnerable”
|
By Jorge Casuso
February 1 -- For the past decade, OPCC Executive Director
John Maceri has devoted his life to helping Santa Monica’s
homeless get off the streets. But too often, the battered lives
his agency tries to turn around have been hidden behind faceless
numbers.
Last week, the sense of personal urgency was renewed for Maceri,
who as the head of the city’s largest homeless services agency
was one of 60 volunteers who combed stretches of the beachside city
looking for the homeless persons who faced the greatest risk of
dying on the streets.
“I saw Betty between Santa Monica and Arizona leaning on
a bench with a broken umbrella, the rain pouring down,” Maceri
recalled at a community briefing Thursday. “That image haunted
me and continues to haunt me. She’s gotten under my skin.”
Betty, an 80-year-old woman who has been homeless for more than
20 years, is one of the ten homeless persons most likely to face
death on the streets of Santa Monica, according to the results of
a week-long survey conducted by the City.
Taken in selected areas, the survey, which will be used to create
a service registry of the “most vulnerable and chronic homeless
people in Santa Monica,” found that of the 261 subjects interviewed
(16 declined), 110 were “vulnerable.”
The average age of those found to be vulnerable -- based on length
of homelessness and physical and mental health status -- was 55,
compared to 49 for all those surveyed. In both groups, 77 percent
were men, most of them white. Of those found to be vulnerable, 44
were older than 60.
Those who are vulnerable have been homeless for an average of 11
years, compared to 8 for all those surveyed, and 30 percent of those
who are vulnerable have been homeless in Santa Monica for more than
15 years.
The homeless person most at risk of dying on the streets of Santa
Monica is a 49-year-old white man from Texas who grew up in foster
care and came to Santa Monica 30 years go, according to the survey.
“We’re holding up a mirror to the community of something
you don’t usually see,” said Becky Kanis, director of
innovations for Common Ground in New York, which helped conduct
the survey. “This is like a camera lens. We’re tightening
the focus a little to get a sharper image.
“Counting is not enough, it’s just the first step,”
Kanis said, as pictures of the homeless taken in the early morning
hours over the past week flashed on a large screen. “A number
is anonymous. When you take away the anonymity, it’s more
actionable.”
Julie Rusk, who heads the City’s homeless programs, agreed.
“We’ve got to continue to focus on stripping away anonymity,”
said Rusk, who took part in the count. It’s so easy to get
overwhelmed with hard numbers.”
The survey will be used to focus he efforts of the City’s
existing “Chronic Homeless Program,” which provides
housing for those who have been living on the streets the longest,
officials said.
Under the City’s plan, the ten most vulnerable individuals
identified in the survey will be housed immediately, while officials
look for hosing for the hundred others.
“We’re saying, ‘We’re going to focus on
those who are most vulnerable, those who are most susceptible to
disease, crime, death,” said Mayor Pro Tem Richard Bloom.
“Some have been here on the streets of Santa Monica 18 to
22 years, right under our noses. You’ll recognize their faces.
“This is the start of something very, very big,” Bloom
said. “We’re taking about a program where we’re
able to help those most in need.”
Rusk added: “One hundred and ten homeless people is something
we can get our hands on in Santa Monica. There’s no reason
we can’t house the 110 people who have been on the streets
for a long, long time.”
But she acknowledges there are obstacles. While the City has “well
over 100 housing vouchers,” Rusk said, “we need housing
units. The biggest issue is finding units.”
The survey, which was conducted by City staff, nonprofit social
service agencies, the Department of Veterans Affairs and the County's
Department of Mental Health, found that:
- 56 of those deemed vulnerable had three conditions that placed
them at risk.
- 21 had been in the emergency room or hospitalized more than
three times. In fact, those found to be vulnerable accounted for
82 percent of the hospitalizations of homeless individuals last
year.
- 61 percent of those who are vulnerable were homeless before
coming to Santa Monica, compared to 53 percent of all those surveyed.
- 67 percent of those who are vulnerable have been in jail and
14 percent in prison, compared to 59 percent and 10 percent respectively
of all those surveyed.
- 16 percent of those surveyed reported being a victim of a violent
attack.
The survey was conducted in the early morning in the beach and
Downtown areas and along Colorado Avenue and Wilshire and Olympic
Boulevards.
Despite the challenges, Santa Monica officials are confident the
new strategy, based on one implemented in New York’s Times
Square, will work.
“When we are successful with this program in Santa Monica,
we will have a model that intuitively will translate to other communities,”
Bloom said. “It is a question of a shift in our thinking about
the homeless.”
“It’s not just about these 110 people,” Rusk
said. “It’s about changing he perception hat homelessness
can’t be solved.”
|
