By Nicholas Vrataric Executive Director, CLARE Foundation
I applaud Santa Monica’s Community Court, the city’s most recent effort to deal with homeless people in a way that is humane, farsighted and draws on a consortium of human service agencies. Kevin Herrera’s excellent article, “Wiping Slates Clean,” (Feb. 3-4, page 1) captures the ways in which this initiative can help turn lives around. There is more to the story, however.
Every person who came before Judge Tillmon in that landmark first session told the court of his or her stay at the CLARE Foundation, and the recovery from alcoholism or addiction they achieved there. Without this, it is unlikely any of them would have been able to show up at court. CLARE has been working in Santa Monica and other Westside communities for 37 years to provide homeless and low-income individuals more than a handout or a meal or a bed for night. CLARE provides a way out of the cycle of homeless addiction and despair with compassion and treatment. A recent study from the Urban Institute describes what has been known in the recovery community for years, that 80 percent of the homeless population suffers from alcohol or substance addiction.
As demonstrated by the clients present at the first session of Santa Monica’s Community Court, at CLARE, we give our clients the care that enables them to create a life — working, living in their own home, connecting to family and friends — in contrast to jailing them for a few hours or days only to turn them back out on to the streets. We applaud the city in this new endeavor and we appreciate the strong partnership between the city, the CLARE Foundation and the other service providers in Santa Monica.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 10, 2007. Read the original PDF.