In the never-ending quest to bring more social services to Santa Monica, 1826 Pearl St. has become the latest cause celebre.
It’s a single-family, four-bedroom bungalow with two one-bedroom apartments over garages at the rear of a property, which is directly across from Santa Monica College and a block or so east of John Adams Middle School in Sunset Park.
Step Up on Second plans to acquire the property for a transitional living facility for young adults, 18 to 28, suffering from the early stages of mental illness such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder and depression.
According to Step Up’s executive director, Tod Lipka, the program will service seven or eight young men and women already in existing Step Up programs such as the nearby Daniel’s Place, who’ve been referred by case workers as being ready for transitional housing opportunities. “The program will provide early treatment and support to keep these young adults from becoming homeless mentally ill on the streets of Santa Monica, Lipka said in a phone interview last week.
“The program is a two-year to 26-month structured program for young adults to better manage their illnesses and to help them learn independent living skills such as cooking and managing a household,” he added. “Initially residents would live in the main house and ultimately ‘graduate’ to an even more independent living situation in an apartment in the back. Some are already students at SMC.”
Clients would have to pass an intensive screening before entering the facility. Lipka stressed that there will be a professional, adult supervisor living on the property at all times and that none of the prospective residents will have a history of violent behavior.
Nevertheless, neighbors are upset — seeing this as just another social service program being foisted on them in a neighborhood rife with homeless and/or mentally ill service centers catering to clients coming here from outside Santa Monica.
But Lipka said most of the residents would be young adults who have families in Santa Monica and the Westside.
“Very few are ‘homeless’ or young adults from outside the area,” Lipka told me.
City Hall is reviewing Step Up’s revised loan application for $456,000 to purchase the Pearl Street property.
Step Up also will raise private money and seek other public funding to finish the project. A previous loan request for $1.7 million was declined by City Hall for technical reasons.
Obviously, this is a worthy program. But there is the issue of a city already saturated with social service programs. Within a few blocks of 1826 Pearl St. is the Hirshorn Manor, which houses and services mentally ill clients and the Clare Foundation, which provides services to alcoholics. Add to that the number of low-income housing units and numerous other service programs, and it’s easy to see why neighbors feel besieged.
Letter writers to this and other newspapers predict dire consequences if a hoard of mentally ill young adults are loosed on the neighborhood. I understand the concerns of those living around the proposed project, however Lipka assures me that nobody who poses any danger to the community whatsoever will be placed at 1826 Pearl St.
Unfortunately, other letters to the media from supporters calling opponents “wild-eyed,”“crazy,”“ignorant” and “mean spirited” are unacceptable. Abusive dialogue from abusive people harms the very cause they defend.
I agree with neighbors that south Santa Monica already is a dumping ground and there’s probably too many social services. Although they’re all worthwhile, as is this project, when do you say enough is enough? One hard fact to ignore is that most of these services are funded by City Hall,which is why the homeless and mentally ill are here to begin with.
There’s also the argument that as more and more properties are converted to nonprofit or social service uses, they’re removed from tax rolls. And taxpayers are continually subsidizing most of these programs, making all of us pay both ways.
Proponents and opponents need to stop name-calling. Step Up must reach out to neighbors. Lipka’s suggestion of an ongoing joint committee of Step Up staffers and neighbors to calmly discuss and resolve issues is an excellent start.
Step Up on Second will be hosting a second community forum on Thursday, Oct. 12 at 7 p.m. at Grant Elementary School. Those for and against the project are urged to attend. (Bill Bauer)
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 2, 2006. Read the original PDF.