Now that Los Angeles County supervisors have allocated $100 million toward solving the homeless problem in 88 different cities, Santa Monica needs to go on the defensive.
Why? Because supervisors will be looking at Santa Monica as one of five potential cities to put a “regional stabilization facility,” the main concept behind the plan approved Tuesday. The idea would be to convert existing smaller facilities that serve as drop-in centers and temporary shelters into 24-hour, seven-day-a-week operations that will be used to house up to 40 people and provide them with social service programs.
The local facility being eyed by supervisors is Ocean Park Community Center’s SAMOSHEL, an-already crowded shelter located at the corner of Seventh Street and Colorado Avenue. The shelter is attached to OPCC’s day center, which offers drop-in services such as clothes, food and counseling.
We applaud the supervisors for allocating the money in an attempt to solve the growing issue of homelessness, especially since the federal government continues to ignore the national problem. We also applaud our local elected officials for taking recent steps to ensure other jurisdictions understand that they must play a role in the solution.
The majority of our City Council knows that Santa Monica has taken on more than its fair share of humanitarian causes when it comes to this issue and now it’s time for other cities to do the same. Therefore, these new “regional stabilization facilities” need to go somewhere else besides Santa Monica. We agree with City Councilman Bobby Shriver that placing a regional center here would be counter to the local government’s efforts to get others involved.
It’s pretty safe to assume that all cities will fight against such a facility being put in their communities. We expect the “Not In My Back Yard” syndrome to become the mantra for years to come while officials sort it all out. We expect that to be the case here in Santa Monica and support it.
As part of the county initiative, local governments have no power to block construction of the shelters. While we understand the purpose is to force the hand of some cities who would never agree to it, Santa Monica could become one of them. We call upon our local leaders, especially our new “homeless czar,” Ed Edelman, who is a former county supervisor, to nurture their relationships with high-ranking politicians and convince the current county board to keep Santa Monica out of its plan.
Local officials are right when they say it’s time for surrounding Westside cities to step up to the plate and begin bearing some of the burden of helping the homeless population. Santa Monica already has close to 2,000 people sleeping on the streets daily, and that’s partly because of the services the city offers to them.
This eight-square-mile city can’t handle the influx of homeless individuals these centers will bring. They’ll be used by law enforcement as an alternative to arresting homeless people with minor offenses but in need of social services. The centers also will serve people who are discharged from county jails and hospitals who have no where to go.
Most plans dreamed up by politicians, like the one unveiled Thursday which will supposedly end homelessness in 10 years, are typically unrealistic. While it won’t put a dent in getting the 90,000 homeless people off the street in LA County, the supervisors’ plan does give people who really need help a chance to get it through on-site counseling for everything from drug and alcohol abuse to mental illness and applying for government aid.
Arguably, the two most dense areas of homeless populations are Skid Row downtown and the Westside cities of Santa Monica and Venice. Some say providing regional centers is one way to spread the population, but others contend it’s just spreading the problem. Perhaps. But until the federal government gets serious about taking care of its own, it’s going to have to a patchwork of solutions from state, county and municipal governments.
Santa Monica has done its part. Now it’s somebody else’s turn. How about it Brentwood? Beverly Hills? Culver City? We’re comin’ a knockin’, hopefully you’ll let us in.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 7, 2006. Read the original PDF.