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# Ten things the city can and won’t do to control vagrants
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/ten-things-the-city-can-and-wont-do-to-control-vagrants/
- Published: 2003-10-24T15:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-23T03:07:35.000Z
- Author: Bill Bauer
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless, Homelessness

Yet another analysis of how City Hall handles the increasing homeless population here is expected next week. What’s also expected is a lot of residents voicing their concerns about the issue and having all of it fall on deaf ears.

Next Tuesday night, the City Council will preside over “the 2002/2003 Annual Review of the City’s Coordinated Plan for Homeless Services and Related Issues” as required by municipal ordinance.

This annual charade provides an opportunity for the service providers, their clients and employees to laud the City Council for its largesse. And, the City Council will ignore the problems and complaints arising from failed policies, as usual.

According to the 1999 city homeless census, “1,037 homeless were within city borders on an average day.” Today’s estimates are over 1,400.

Between one-third and 40 percent of police resources and 15 to 18 percent of paramedic resources are expended on vagrants and transients — this plus the $2 million given directly to service providers amounts to tens of millions of dollars in costs every year.

Well over $100 million has been spent on the homeless over the last 15 years, yet the situation is worse now than ever before.

Approximately two-thirds of those on the streets have mental or physical issues and many have felony criminal records. A majority are substance abusers.

Meanwhile, the city puts a happy face on homelessness by minimizing danger and playing up a few success stories. That way it can provide more services and throw more money at programs that are marginally successful at best, without overwhelming public criticism.

Here are 10 common sense suggestions to make services more effective while reducing the overall transient population and its negative effects on quality of life. 1\. The number of public food handouts must be reduced, moved indoors and linked to services — now! The outdoor food lines are a disgrace. 2\. Ordinances must be strengthened and enforcement increased to stop aggressive and anti-social behavior. 3\. The city must recognize that alcohol availability is a major cause of homeless complaints and develop a comprehensive “get tough” city-wide alcohol policy. The City Council must ask our police and the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to step up enforcement of those who serve drunks. 4\. Santa Monica should encourage the Los Angeles County and homeless funders to work with other municipalities who want and need services of their own.

Three years ago, City Manager Susan McCarthy and others sent letters to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Agency requesting that SuperNOFA 2000 funds not be diverted to other municipalities that had requested them to establish their own programs. McCarthy wrote, “I strongly urge LAHSA Commissioners to continue funding proven programs...”

Santa Monica hogs resources, making it difficult for others to do their part, despite all the “sharing the burden” rhetoric. 5\. Establish a priority system for accessing services based on length of time in the city. We should urge those recently from out of town to go back and seek services where they lived most recently. 6\. Services must have a sunset clause. Forward progress should be mandated and if it isn’t, cut ‘em off. Nobody should be allowed to access services indefinitely, and there must be strong incentives to stay in programs.

Drop-in services that allow individuals to exist in drunken, drugged-out stupors, mental fogs, and in pain and misery on the streets must be terminated. 7\. More comprehensive services for the mentally ill, the elderly, families and women are needed. Funding should be directed to long-term, regenerative programs for the most vulnerable in our society. 8\. Notify nearby cities that we’re cutting back services. That way, maybe they’ll establish their own programs and stop sending them here. 9\. Improve communication between the Santa Monica Police Department’s Homeless Liaison program and service providers to facilitate locating and serving those in need.

Additional funding should be allocated specifically for the SMPD HLP Team, SMPD park rangers, SMPD vice and mental health professionals working with mentally challenged homeless. 10\. The hundreds of day-workers seeking employment near Colorado Avenue and 11th Street also must be addressed. City Hall must do more than provide portable toilets. How about a supervised facility for them to seek employment off street corners, like it’s done elsewhere?

If you speak against the homeless status quo at the City Council next week, you’ll probably be whistling in the wind. Unfortunately, the only way to change how City Hall deals with vagrants and transients is to change the City Council. (Bill Bauer is a longtime Santa Monica resident and by choice, can’t be reached by phone or e-mail).

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on October 24, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/102403.pdf?ref=smdp.com)