Venice Issue : There’s Help, Homeless at Beach Told

Los Angeles County health officials and outreach workers descended on Venice Beach on Wednesday morning, encouraging homeless people who have become an object of community outrage to get back into the mainstream of life.

The event was organized by Los Angeles County Supervisor Deane Dana, whose aide, Mary Lee Gray, said the supervisor hopes that the hundreds of vagrants who are living in Venice will take advantage of available service programs.

“All Deane wants to do is mobilize the county’s resources,” said Gray, who claimed that Dana’s action had nothing to do with recent media disclosures about problems caused by homeless people in Venice. “This is not political.”

Some social workers, however, say the county is actually trying to drive vagrants out of Venice. Several who operate private programs with county grants said they were forced to participate in Dana’s program against their will.

One worker, who asked to remain anonymous because he depends on county funding, said Dana’s program is poorly organized and ill-conceived. He said Westside homeless shelters are already full and that most vagrants are not interested in welfare or food stamps.

“Why aren’t they seeking our expertise on this?” the social worker asked. “This is not the way to do outreach. It is a bizarre kind of a thing.”

Some of the homeless also resent the county’s efforts. Carlos Gonzales, 25, who has lived on Venice-area beaches for the last year, crumpled a white sheet of paper listing the telephone numbers and addresses of the nearest welfare and food stamp offices moments after it was handed to him.

“There is a very bad joke being perpetrated on the homeless people out here,” Gonzales said. “This is nothing but a bad publicity stunt.”

Another vagrant in a torn T-shirt, asked by a social worker if he would like any general relief, replied: “No thanks. I’m already relieved.”

Chuck Sladky, who has lived in Venice for four years, was one of the few vagrants who welcomed the effort. “I’m glad that they have finally realized there’s a problem and that they are doing something about it,” he said.

The Venice outreach started at a beachfront parking lot where free meals are served to vagrants, and it later spread to their encampments--a multicolored tent city on a stretch of the Venice beachfront. More than a dozen social workers and county employees participated in the program.

Several Venice residents stood by as the social service referral sheets were distributed. Vagrants are the focus of mounting concern in the community. They have been accused of harassing residents, scaring children, urinating on private property, committing burglaries and dealing drugs.

The Venice Homeless Task Force, a private group that is preparing to release a study on vagrants, has been leading the push for action on the homeless problem. The group, which has collected more than 1,000 signatures of support, claims that Los Angeles officials and police have ignored their complaints, even though thousands of homeless people have converged on the Venice-Santa Monica area.

They say that Venice’s homeless population is skyrocketing because police there have a reputation for being more lenient than in other areas, such as Skid Row in downtown Los Angeles.

Figures Vary

Others say that the number of vagrants in Venice is much smaller. Rhonda Meister of the St. Joseph Center, which provides free meals to homeless people, said the figure is closer to 350. Gray said the homeless number fewer than 1,000.

Los Angeles City Councilwoman Ruth Galanter, who represents Venice, said that homeless people have become a chief concern. She has scheduled a press conference for this morning to discuss plans for a hearing on the problem.

Galanter had no comment on Dana’s action, but she said that the number of homeless people who are living in Venice may be irrelevant.

“The issue for the council is not so much is the problem getting worse,” Galanter said. “The question is, are we getting solutions? Whether there are 350 or 1,000 homeless people in Venice, we still need solutions.” Meister said that new programs are desperately needed. She said that existing shelters and services are already overtaxed.

Gray said that Dana is offering one of the best solutions by encouraging homeless people to take advantage of social services, such as welfare and food stamps. The outreach program will continue through Friday.

“We don’t feel that we are the heavy in this situation,” Gray said. “This is not a quick fix. We just want to inform people of our services.”