By Marilyn Brennan Santa Monica
There are two separate issues that are constantly bunched together under the heading of the Santa Monica homeless. To me, the definition of Santa Monica homeless implies that they are a person or family who are residents of Santa Monica who finds themselves without a home due to a series of events, mostly economic. These men, women and children should be helped in every way possible to get back on their feet and to once again become productive and able to maintain a home.
The second group that is constantly, and to my mind, erroneously, included under the heading of Santa Monica homeless, are the mentally ill, the drug and/or alcohol addicted street people who flock here from all over the United States because of City Hall’s policy to coddle and feed them while expecting no change in their behavior. By doing so, City Hall and the programs they now fund acerbate the growing problem and do nothing to really help these individuals. And it is these people that John Linfesty spoke of in his letter (SMDP, Sept. 24, page 4) and that most residents of this city, and tourists who visit and spend money here, object to. The county-wide effort to end homelessness that you spoke of lists among its guiding principles, “address the structural causes of homelessness.” If by this population they mean the true homeless as listed in the first paragraph, then the cause is most likely economic.
However, for the second group, the group that is causing Santa Monica to become a vast recreational area for the addicts of the world, the causes are very different, but just as obvious. The mentally ill should be treated for their illness; the addicts should be treated for their addictions. All funding given to programs who help this population should do this. I have said it many times, but any program that is currently, or will become, funded by City Hall should have sobriety as a criteria for obtaining any help — or City Hall should stop funding them. If someone wants to become a sober, and therefore a valuable member of society, he or she should be helped in every way to do this. On the other hand, I am all for urging the ones who prefer the street and drug life to pursue it elsewhere. And the man who feeds these street people in our parks, rendering them unfit for our children, and who I understand is not a resident of Santa Monica, I would ask why he doesn’t want to feed them where he lives? He would save on gas and with this extra money, could feed a few more.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 11, 2004. Read the original PDF.