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# Less foam, more facts
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/less-foam-more-facts/
- Published: 2006-05-01T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T17:40:52.000Z
- Author: Guest Author
- Tags: Community, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

*By GUEST COMMENTARY BY DAVID GRUNWALD*

Foaming at the mouth, a recent Q- Line contributor suggested that Santa Monica Councilmember Bobby Shriver hold weekly keg parties for homeless people on City Hall lawn (SMDP, April 22-23, page 4). It’s a funny image, and I’m sure no one laughed louder than Bobby, but on another level, it’s really irritating.

Rather than ridicule a leader who for once is willing to spend his political capital on resolving an unpopular issue, Santa Monicans should encourage Bobby’s unprecedented commitment and effort to reduce homelessness in the city and the region.

I have worked as a homeless advocate and housing provider in Los Angeles County for almost two decades. Even though homelessness has plagued our region for that whole time, not one local politician has ever risen to the challenge. The predictable result: No progress. LA County is the homeless capital of the nation; 90,000 men, women, and children live on our streets.

For the past year and a half, I have collaborated with Councilmember Shriver to develop and begin to implement an action plan to reduce homelessness. I have never seen anyone attack a problem with more tenacity and focus than Bobby. Both Santa Monica and LA County have made some amazing progress in the past year, and Bobby’s hand can be detected, to one degree or another, in each of these developments: ■Bobby convinced the council to hire Santa Monica’s “homeless czar,” Ed Edelman — not so much to serve as co-host of the City Hall keg parties, as your reader proposes — but to foster regional cooperation to end homelessness. Shriver’s reasoning was simple: Strong regional leadership, which doesn’t exist now, is vital to Santa Monica. No amount of money spent on homeless services in this city will ever solve the problem, as long as 90,000 homeless people are a short bus ride away. By hiring Edelman, who served as a Los Angeles city coun-cilmember and county supervisor for decades, Santa Monica has jump-started the establishment of a regional governing body. The city of Los Angeles followed our lead and hired a “homeless czarina,” and LA County will soon hire an executive to head its homeless effort. ■Last summer Bobby convened a large group of Veterans Administration officials and homeless veterans’ service providers, and Santa Monica city staff. The group developed and submitted a proposal to use currently empty buildings on the West LA VA campus to provide housing and support services for 500 homeless veterans. We are awaiting the VA Secretary’s decision. ■ Santa Monica’s Chronic Homeless Program works with the people who have lived on our streets the longest. Over the past year and a half, 42 individuals have moved into housing with supportive services; 20 more are working with case managers to find housing. The council recently voted to expand this successful program. ■ Santa Monica now operates a sobering center, where police can transport public inebriates. Counseling and referral to substance abuse programs are available there. This was one of Bobby’s campaign promises. ■ State Senator Gil Cedillo has proposed a bill supporting a mental health court, and Santa Monica city staff is working to establish a homeless court, where people who need treatment rather than jail time are given that choice, thus breaking their otherwise endless cycling between the streets and jail. ■ This month the LA County Board of Supervisors allocated $100 million to begin a regional program of homeless housing and services. I have no doubt that the light and heat — and noise — generated in Santa Monica played a role in the unprecedented size and scope of the county plan. ■ Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has allocated $50 million to create affordable housing in Los Angeles, and he has proposed a $1 billion affordable housing bond. ■ Governor Schwarzenegger also has a “homeless czar” working on developing supportive housing.

These accomplishments do not strike me as a “let them drink beer” approach.

With strong public support, these and other homelessness initiatives will succeed, and tens of thousands of people will make new lives for themselves off the streets. Then we can all celebrate at an enormous regional keg party. Bobby and Ed are buying. (David Grunwald has been the CEO of Los Angeles Family Housing for the past seven years and will be leaving to become president of American Sunrise Communities, a new national effort to create homeownership opportunities for hardworking families on fixed incomes.)

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on May 1, 2006.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/050106.pdf?ref=smdp.com)