Business community expected to question City Hall’s effectiveness
(Editor’s note: This is the first article in a series this week that addresses the issues surrounding Santa Monica’s homeless population. The Santa Monica City Council on Tuesday will hold a public hearing that reviews an annual report, assessing the effectiveness of its social services programs).
When it comes to Santa Monica’s increasing homeless population, just about everyone has an opinion.
Some believe City Hall does too little to help the homeless, others say it does too much.
But despite the opposite views, just about everyone agrees on one thing — they don’t like it. Not the residents, visitors, business owners, politicians, police or the homeless themselves, like the fact that fellow human beings are barely surviving on the street, hungry and cold. Many of them can’t help themselves because they are mentally ill, or have chemical addiction problems. But there is a segment of the population that refuses the help offered to them and they are the ones who make life here almost as intolerable as their own situations, some say.
The problem, which persists on a national level, puts Santa Monica’s elected leaders in a precarious position — they are accused of being too compassionate and not receptive to residents’ concerns, yet they want to help solve the tragic dilemma of homelessness.
“It polarizes people in the business community and in the social services,” said Lois Cunningham, who manages Patagonia on Main Street. “It’s like each other demonizes one another and there is no real need for this situation to be this way as it stands.”
On Tuesday, the Santa Monica City Council will review and discuss an annual report that is designed to gauge how effective its social services have been and if the $1.8 million in city funds thrown to them has been spent wisely. It’s also an opportunity for the public to tell elected leaders their feelings about how Santa Monica is handling the situation.
While they are empathetic to the council’s dilemma, many business owners and residents say City Hall’s program has failed. They cite a perceived increase in crime, a downturn in business and a decreasing quality of life as a direct result of Santa Monica’s estimated 2,000 homeless residents.
Social service providers and city officials say their efforts have been a tremendous success, however much more has to be done and limited resources prevent it from happening. The homeless themselves agree more should be done — they say society’s treatment of them keeps them down, and the opportunity for jobs and a place for them to sleep, eat and hang out is sorely lacking in Santa Monica.
Staff members from City Hall’s human services department will present the annual report to the council, which will be followed by what is expected to be hours of testimony from the public that could stretch into the early morning hours of Wednesday.
The Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce’s public safety committee, which has been addressing homeless issues for the past year, met last week to rally business owners to speak in front of the city council about how damaging the vagrants are to the local economy and residents’ quality of life.
“I think the review is a rubber stamp and says, ‘you’re doing a good job,’” said Chamber executive director Kathy Dodson. “But anyone who lives in Santa Monica knows it’s not working.”
“I think the review is a rubber stamp and says, ‘you’re doing a good job. But anyone who lives in Santa Monica knows it’s not working.” — — KATHY DODSON Chamber executive director
The growing vagrant population has been the No. 1 concern of residents and business owners for five years in a row, yet they perceive there is little response from City Hall. Citizens say they’re being ignored by City Hall officials, who continue with their compassion to a point that it’s degrading their own community.
That’s why chamber officials are urging business owners and citizens to speak up at City Hall on Tuesday.
“We don’t believe the program is adequately addressing the homeless, the residents and the business community,” said Rykk Mesure, a chamber member. “This is one of the few formal chances to give input into the system and we do need to be present and we do need to be vocal in a diplomatic fashion.”
However, chamber officials fear that turn-out will be low because the City Council has placed the public hearing as the last item on the agenda, which means it could be late into the night before people are heard.
In the report, social service providers say much has been accomplished to address public concerns, including laws designed to prevent loitering, trespassing, public camping, panhandling, public urination and defecation, and sleeping in public places.
Yet, all of it still occurs throughout the city, which frustrates residents and business owners. But because of constitutional freedoms that all people enjoy, there is only so much that can be done to control individuals on public property, officials say. And while local police enforce the laws, it takes more resources than what’s available to make arrests and send people through a criminal court system that’s already maxed out, officials say.
The Santa Monica Police Department has a specialized unit to deal with homeless individuals. Those officers responded to 770 calls relating to homeless people last year, according to the report. And in six months, local paramedics responded to 908 calls involving homeless people, the report said.
SMPD Chief James T. Butts Jr. told the City Council last year that while transients constitute a little more than 1 percent of the population, they generate one third of the calls for service.
But despite the problems associated with the social services programs, which officials acknowledge in the report, they still say they are making progress. City-funded agencies provided 2,773 homeless people with support services and 1,592 of them received temporary or permanent housing last year. And 682 homeless people who were unemployed before entering the system found and maintained jobs leading to self-sufficiency, the report said.
There are dozens of success stories from individuals in the report that show how the system worked for them. There also are numerous letters from social service providers who say their resources are stretched and their facilities are at capacity.
What’s missing are reports from emergency personnel and the police department that itemize the costs associated to the homeless population. There also are few statements from business owners and residents about their concerns, however city staff acknowledges the complaints exist — but that City Hall doesn’t track them.
The report also offers strategies for the next year to improve the system, including increased housing, improved day services, managing public spaces better, address public intoxication and asking nearby cities to help shoulder the burden.
A group of homeless individuals also contributed in the report their insights to the problems and offered recommendations to solve them.
The chamber of commerce also plans to provide a list of recommendations and a plan that has yet to be formulated. In the meantime, business owners want the City Council to critically analyze its own plan.
“People want this to be handled,” Cunningham said. “This is a typical report from the city... the verbiage is typical, which is ‘we are trying.’ Well, you know what? It ain’t working.”
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 27, 2003. Read the original PDF.