The bill might have passed, but funding isn’t there for treatment
By JASON AUSLANDER Special to the Daily Press
A newly-created state law that allows authorities to treat some of Santa Monica’s mentally ill homeless against their will probably won’t make a difference on the streets because there’s no money to fund it, an official said Tuesday.
“Unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s not going to do much,” said Joel Schwartz, Santa Monica’s homeless services coordi-nator. “Mental health services are shrinking, not growing.”
“Unfortunately, I’m afraid it’s not going to do much. Mental health services are shrinking, not growing.” — The new law will make it easier for families in that position to initially diagnose and treat mental illness, Lipka said. — JOEL SCHWARTZ Homeless services coordinator
Assembly Bill 1421, which was signed into law nearly two weeks ago by Gov. Gray Davis, is designed to treat patients with a history of mental illness who cannot survive without supervision. Previously, only people who presented a danger to themselves or others were allowed to be treated against their will, a criteria that remains in the new law.
The new law establishes a process in which a judge would determine a patient’s situation in a court hearing. The patient would be represented by a private lawyer or public defender. The court hearing also will allow family members to have more of a say in the future of a mentally ill loved one than the law previously allowed.
It is in this area where the new law may make its most positive impact, said Tod Lipka, CEO of Step Up on Second, an organization that treats homeless and mentally ill people in Santa Monica.
“Sometimes the mental health system can really chew you up,” he said, especially when families first attempt to help a loved one showing signs of mental illness.
However, while authorities can force a person to start treatment, they can’t force them to continue it, he said. Furthermore, forced treatment could backfire and drive a person away from such helpful measures.
Dr. Kita Curry, CEO of Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center, agreed with Lipka on that point. However, she said the new law can only be implemented by the county if it doesn’t take away services from those who voluntarily seek treatment for mental illness.
“We don’t have enough resources to serve everyone who wants services now,” she said, adding that she thinks very few people would be ordered into involuntary treatment anyway.
“People who are scared of the seriously mentally ill feel that laws like this are comforting because they think it will solve all the mental health problems that frighten them,” Curry said. “If we fully funded mental health, we wouldn’t need these mandatory programs.”
Curry, Lipka and Schwartz all said that many of the country’s problems with mentally ill street people can be traced back about 30 years, when many hospitals were de-institutionalized in favor of so-called community-based treatment. However, many states, including California, failed to budget adequate funds for treatment and a majority of the former patients ended up on the streets of America’s cities, they said.
“What we need is a comprehensive mental health system,” Curry said.
But because most mental healthcare programs in California are state-funded, that isn’t likely to happen anytime soon, said David Meyer, chief deputy director of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health. The state is facing a $24 billion budget shortfall this year.
“It would astound me if the state budget situation is anything but worse next year,” he said. “What we are facing is a very bleak future. There are a lot of people who will suffer.”
Schwartz said currently in Santa Monica, all places that treat the mentally ill — which make up an estimated 63 percent of the city’s homeless population — are full. In addition, many programs that used to serve the mentally ill have been scrapped, including those at St. John’s Health Center and Daniel Freeman Marina Hospital in Marina del Rey.
Schwartz characterized the current situation for the homeless mentally ill in Santa Monica as “a revolving door.”
For example, if a mentally ill person is suffering a medical emergency, they are now taken to UCLA-Santa Monica Hospital and treated. After that, they are taken to UCLA’s Neuropsychiatric Institute in Westwood, where they are usually released within 24 hours even if they are deemed dangerous, Schwartz said.
Often, if mentally ill patients are taken to UCLA-Harbor General Hospital in Torrance, they are back in Santa Monica before the police officers who dropped them off, he said.
“It sounds pretty bleak, huh?” Schwartz said.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 9, 2002. Read the original PDF.