By Ed Sharrow Santa Monica
The Santa Monica City Council must address the homelessness issue with greater compassion and responsibility. Any individual in need deserves our best effort to provide helpful assistance.
Improving homelessness treatment and services in our community falls into three categories. City supported services must be fiscally effective; the long term needs of those mentally unable to care for themselves must be studied and the average person must be shown greater respect and dignity.
First, services receiving any city funds must be fiscally responsible; they must assist a continually new population and they must provide long term rehabilitative services versus a quick fix.
Each organization receiving funds should be required to submit annual certified independent audits of their entire budgets. Organizations unwilling to comply should not be funded. The audits should then be used to compare the per dollar effectiveness of each organization in achieving their goals compared with similar organizations nationwide.
Each organization should set limitations on the repeated use and/or abuse of their services by specific individuals. Some homeless individuals may never be able to be rehabilitated by the services offered in Santa Monica, yet they may prevent others who can be helped from receiving services. No individual should be allowed to “clog” available services.
Each organization must offer services beyond the “quick fix” of a bag lunch and a pat on the back. Without substantial rehabilitation programs, homeless organizations run the risk of perpetuating the homeless population in our city.
Second, the city must direct the homeless coordinator and city manager to work with county, state and federal officials to develop a written plan to address the needs of the mentally ill. Undoubtedly there are many issues facing proper care of the mentally ill, perhaps funding institutions is an issue, perhaps laws to legally commit the mentally ill is another issue; we won’t be able to compassionately address the issue of the mentally ill without officially evaluating the situation.
Third, the city must adopt a policy of respecting the average working taxpaying voter in our community. Santa Monica’s average citizen has a right to use public parks without disruption by homeless individuals or exposure to human urine and feces. Even as laws prevent drunk driving in our community, laws can also prevent the long term squatting of homeless individuals on the Third Street Promenade, in our parks and on our streets. The City Council must adopt ordinances on many levels to protect the quality of life for working residents. Laws, like the proposed ordinances governing food distribution and sleeping in public doorways must be enacted. These laws give our police the tools they need to make permanent homelessness undesirable in our community. The City Council must also enact stricter laws regarding the sale of alcoholic beverages in our community.
Santa Monica is a good-hearted and generous community of 85,000 people situated in the midst of an urban sprawl of more than 10 million. We must do our best to provide compassionate services to the needy, but we are currently reaching the limit of appropriate expectations for a community of our size.
The Santa Monica City Council must: ■Require certified independent audits of all supported organizations. ■Enact the food distribution and public sleeping ordinances. ■Direct the homeless coordinator and city manager to write a report on the state of the mentally ill in our community. ■Consider crafting additional ordinances that will protect the average working citizen.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on September 28, 2002. Read the original PDF.