Panel Unveils Plan on Dealing With Homeless
A citizen task force has presented Santa Monica with a multi-pronged strategy to deal with the city’s homeless problems that emphasizes public safety and stresses rehabilitation programs over handouts.
The 67-page document is the product of eight grueling months of work.
The task force, composed of 18 members, grappled with an issue that has become a festering sore in the beach community, as hundreds of homeless people have taken over public places. The last year has brought a steady crescendo in complaints from residents that the invasion has made the city unsightly, unpleasant and, most important, unsafe.
But meanwhile, another sizable segment of the community is protective of the homeless, arguing that they are victims of government policies who should not be hassled or otherwise made unwelcome by those who are more fortunate.
The task force, co-chaired by a developer and the director of a homeless program, was established in March by the City Council. It was asked to sort out the conflict and devise a plan for dealing with a situation that everyone agreed was out of control.
The task force members heard in person and by letter from about 800 residents. They also debated extensively, sometimes heatedly, with one another.
Their final recommendations, they say, represent a consensus that they believe balances the legitimate needs of all members of the community. They ask the rest of the community to follow their lead--to listen, to respect differing views, and to seek compromise rather than bloodshed.
Their report will be presented to the City Council on Tuesday night at 7 in the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium, and then the council will hold a public hearing. A second public hearing is set for Dec. 17.
Task force co-chair Dan Kingsley, vice president of the Maguire Thomas Partners development firm, said the report is an “intelligent and reasonable compromise” to the thorny issue.
“It does not neglect public safety and health and does not pretend law enforcement is going to solve the problem,” Kingsley said. “We doubt whether the City Council could improve on it.”
Conway Collis, who chairs the task force public safety committee, described the document’s public safety section recommendations as “very strong, very comprehensive. I think that they will really reverse the image of Santa Monica as a haven for non-enforcement of criminal activities.”
The task force report, if adopted, would be a “giant step forward for Santa Monica and put the city in the forefront of how a municipality can deal with a problem like this,” said Collis, a former member of the State Board of Equalization who owns a Santa Monica recycling business.
Collis warned that the task force’s consensus could crumble if the City Council upsets the balance in the report by rejecting large chunks or nit-picking it to death.
“It’s important to take it as a package,” he said. “Don’t chop it up.”
The group’s recommendations are based on two premises. One is that homeless people will either comply with new behavior standards or go elsewhere, thinning out the numbers that contribute to Santa Monica’s problems. A second premise is that public safety cannot be sacrificed until permanent solutions can be found for the plight of the homeless.
Among the report’s general conclusions and recommendations:
* 1,000 to 1,500 homeless people sleep each night in Santa Monica.
* There are financial and physical limits to how many homeless people Santa Monica can serve. In essence, the report concludes that those who believe the city of 90,000 can and should help everyone who crosses its borders are simply out of touch with reality.
* City homeless services should emphasize rehabilitation, not--as is now the case--emergency services, which help for the moment but don’t get people off the streets.
* Homeless people receiving services should be required, if they are able, to work as a component of their rehabilitation.
* The city should aim for a maximum of 131 new shelter beds and 170 housing units for the homeless.
* New homeless services should be funded in part by increasing the price of a parking ticket from $13 to $23 and with $500,000 in seed money from the city. The city should also aggressively pursue county, state and federal funds.
* An alternative sentencing program should be established so that those who violate minor laws can be prosecuted and held accountable for their actions, even though there is no room in the jails to punish them.
* The daily food handouts on the City Hall lawn should be replaced by smaller programs tied to services. Feeding programs in public places should be outlawed.
* A concerted and continuing crackdown on drug use and sales is the most important step toward improving public safety.
* The city should explore the possibility, if legal grounds can be found, of suing higher branches of the government for not providing housing or other services for homeless people.
On the public safety issue, the task force recommends “zero tolerance for crime” with emphasis on curbing unruly behavior of homeless people, including aggressive panhandling.
The report says that Santa Monica should set clear standards governing behavior in public, and uphold them with a visible presence of police, park rangers and outreach teams.
On the other hand, the report said the public must be educated that their perception of danger is sometimes the result of people’s appearance, not behavior, and that homeless people should not be treated as criminals.
The group also recommended enforcement of a state law under which it is a misdemeanor to obstruct or intimidate business people and their customers.
On the most volatile issue--how to handle sleeping overnight in the parks--the task force acknowledged that the law should be enforced when needed to protect public health and safety, but it was made a lower priority than other public safety enforcement concerns.
The task force specifically asked, however, for a law prohibiting “permanent and semi-permanent encampments,” but it did not define the terms.
Such a law is a central goal of a community group called Concerned Homeowners of Santa Monica, one of the sponsors of a mailing sent out this week to 19,000 Santa Monica households. Chairwoman Jean Sedillos said the yellow flyer asks people to return a postcard if they want a law against encampments in parks.
Sedillos said she is seeking a law similar to one in West Hollywood that would, under her interpretation, make it illegal for people to settle in with their belongings in a park for an extended period.
If the City Council does not pass a strong law against encampments, Sedillos said, her group will try to qualify an initiative to that effect for next year’s ballot. That could affect City Council elections if those who want a crackdown on the homeless turned out in force to vote.
Four council members, including three supported by the city’s major renters’ rights group, are up for reelection next year. They could be hurt if the public blames them for mismanaging the homeless situation.
One thing that is not included in the report is a price tag for the ambitious social service programs advocated. At the last minute, the task force voted not to include a cost analysis because members lacked the time to be definitive about costs. They call for the analysis as a needed next step.
“We really need to know how much it would cost,” Sedillos said. “If it can’t be financed, what is the point?”
Members of Task Force on Homeless
The members of Santa Monica’s homeless task force were appointed early in the year by City Manager John Jalili.
Its members include two religious leaders, two researchers on homelessness, one person who has himself been homeless, a psychologist and the chief executive officer of a bank. At least six of its members are social service professionals, a fact that has led some critics to contend that the group has a vested interest in expanding the city’s services to the homeless. Dan Kingsley, vice president of the Maguire Thomas Partners development firm, and Rhonda Meister, executive director of the St. Joseph Center in Venice, serve as co-chairs.
The other members are:
* Polly Benson-Brown, a representative of the Concerned Homeowners of Santa Monica.
* Conway Collis, president, California Recycling Co.
* Daphne Dennis, a coordinator of social services for the city of West Hollywood.
* Sharon Gilpin, a city planning commissioner.
* Rabbi Mel Gottlieb, rabbi of Congregation Kehillat Maarav.
* Chris Jackson, a homeless activist who has been homeless.
* Paul Koegel, RAND Corp. anthropologist and researcher on homelessness.
* Peter Lewi, a developer.
* William Mortensen, chairman, First Federal Bank of California.
* Vivian Rothstein, director, Ocean Park Community Center.
* Jeanne Segal, psychologist.
* The Rev. Donald Shelby, senior minister, First United Methodist Church.
* Madeline Stoner, associate professor, USC School of Social Work.
* Derrell Tidwell, manager of St. John’s Hospital’s outreach program for homeless mentally ill.
* Mona Lisa Williams, chairwoman, Santa Monica Child Care Task Force.
* Michele Wittig, psychology professor, Cal State Northridge.
