Santa Monica Makes "Meanest Cities" List

By Jorge Casuso

August 5 -- Santa Monica's recent crackdown on the homeless has landed it on a list of the nation's top 20 "Meanest Cities," according to a report issued Tuesday by the National Coalition for the Homeless.

Titled "Illegal to be Homeless: The Criminalization of Homelessness in the United States," the report chronicles new laws and activities that "demonstrate an increasingly hostile attitude" towards the homeless in 147 communities across 42 states, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia.

Santa Monica placed 17th on the list, which was topped by Las Vegas, San Francisco, New York City, Los Angeles and Atlanta, respectively. Other California cities in the top 20 were Sacramento, which placed 11th, and Santa Cruz, which was 13th on the list. California topped the list as the "meanest" state, followed by Florida.

“Instead of the compassionate responses that communities have used to save lives in the past two decades, the common response to homelessness is to criminalize the victims through laws and ordinances that make illegal life-sustaining activities that people experiencing homelessness are forced to do in public,” said Donald Whitehead, executive director of the National Coalition for the Homeless, who was formerly homeless.

Santa Monica made the top 20 list for two laws passed by the City Council last year that will make it more difficult for the homeless to grab a free meal in a park or sleep the night in storefront doorways Downtown.

Approved by a 5 to 2 vote, one ordinance targets roughly 30 food providers that sometimes serve as many as 300 people by requiring groups serving 150 or more to adhere to community event laws and County health standards. The law is being challenged in court by homeless advocates.

The second ordinance, which was approved unanimously, tightens antiquated trespassing laws to prohibit sitting or lying in storefront doorways Downtown between 11p.m.and 7 a.m. if the owner posts a sign barring such conduct. Both laws impose a maximum $1,000 fine or up to six months in County jail, or both.

Mayor Richard Bloom, who co-sponsored the ordinances, called the study "hyperbole."

"That's all just hyperbole," he said. "What's important to me is that we have a well-thought-out continuum of care," Bloom said. "Santa Monica should be very proud of its record in taking people off the streets and heading them towards productive lives, and that's all that matters to me."

Councilman Bob Holbrook, who has long criticized the City for what he believes is its lenient treatment of the homeless, was surprised to learn Santa Monica had made the list. "We're mean towards the homeless?" he asked in disbelief.

"If passing ordinances makes us one of the meanest cities, let's just cut out all the funding for homeless programs, then we won't need ordinances," Holbrook said. "We'll be like the 5,000 cities in the country, and we won't be on anybody's list."

Former City Attorney Robert Myers, who was fired 11 years ago for refusing to write an anti-camping ordinance, criticized the City for writing laws that "punish" the homeless.

"The important point is there's a big difference between taking affirmative action not to help the homeless. On the other hand taking affirmative action to punish and criminalize the homeless is in another ballpark," Myers said. "Consistently, Santa Monica has been doing it.

"The City likes to pat itself on the back for the good things it does, failing to take into account the punitive stuff," Myers said. "It's like a parent who buys a Christmas present for their kid and the next day they break it over the kid's head."

Authored by the by the National Homeless Civil Rights Organizing Project (NHCROP), the second annual report uses several criteria for designating a City among the meanest. They include "the number of anti-homeless laws," the "enforcement and severity of penalties" and the "general political climate toward homeless people."

"Almost 70 percent of the cities surveyed in the first report have passed at least one or more new laws specifically targeting homeless people since January 2002, making it increasingly difficult to survive on the streets," according to a press release issued with the report.

"Cities are attempting to make it illegal to perform life-sustaining activities in public, while at the same time refusing to allocate sufficient funds to address the causes of homelessness.