Santa Monica Agencies Get $4.4 Million for Programs

Santa Monica, a city known for its progressive social agenda, will spend $4.4 million next year on services to provide, among other things, hot meals for home-bound senior citizens, legal services for victims of domestic violence and shelter for the homeless.

The Santa Monica City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to adopt the $4.4-million Community Development Plan, which represents an increase of about $320,000 over last year’s budget.

About 82% of the money will come from Santa Monica’s general budget, and the rest will be provided by federal and county grants.

Under the Community Development Plan, almost $3.2 million will be granted to nonprofit agencies that provide a range of community services through 40 programs.

Homeless Population

These agencies include the Ocean Park Community Center, which primarily helps the homeless; Westside Center for Independent Living, which offers help for the disabled; Family Service of Santa Monica; Westside Independent Services to the Elderly, and the Legal Aid Foundation.

Although Santa Monica may be seen as an affluent community, census figures show that more than 40% of residents are of lower-moderate income and about 8,500 live below the poverty line. The city estimates the number of homeless people living on Santa Monica streets and in shelters is between 500 and 1,000.

The city’s population also includes 19,000 senior citizens, 14,000 children and teen-agers, and sizable disabled and minority communities, which put extra demands on social services, officials say.

Projects for the homeless population will receive about 33% of the 1989-90 budget for services; senior citizen agencies will receive about 25%; youth and family services will get about 17%, and slightly more than 4% will go to programs for the disabled.

Almost 20% falls into the “other” category, which includes legal services, grants to some social service agencies for computer purchases, and the Latino Aid Foundation.

Five new programs were accepted for funding this year. These include a job-training program for homeless adults, an expanded weekend drop-in center for homeless mentally ill adults, a money management program for elderly residents, a family law project, and assistance to Santa Monica Community College to move its Emeritus College to new facilities.

For the first time in several years, cost-of-living increases were also given to continuing programs.

An additional $1.2 million was earmarked for community and neighborhood improvement projects, primarily aimed at building affordable housing projects for low-income residents.

Under the neighborhood improvement program, 75 affordable housing units will be renovated, and 177 will be bought or constructed. Some will be modified for disabled low-income residents.

Trust Fund

The Pico Neighborhood Housing Trust Fund will receive about $510,000 for low-income housing projects; Community Corp. will receive $377,700, and about $290,000 will go to the Neighborhood Resource and Development Corp.

Several agency representatives asked the City Council to consider requests for more funding, which had been denied by the city staff. The council decided to review these on June 27, when the general budget is discussed.