Council Hearing Turns Into Candidate's Forum on Homeless

By Jorge Casuso

Tuesday night's City Council meeting turned into what seemed more of a candidate's forum on the homeless than a public hearing on an issue that continues to divide Santa Monicans.

In a reminder that the issue that helped shape city politics six years ago remains a persistent - if less visible - problem, council members defended the City's expenditure of $1,783,200 this year for homeless services as a compassionate answer to a national problem.

"We have to remember that the people on the streets are our brothers, sisters, parents, friends," said Councilman Richard Bloom, who is running for re-election in November. "These are not just things on the street. These are people that belong to all of us."

"Homelessness should make us uncomfortable," said Councilman Michael Feinstein, who also is running for one of four open council seats. "Among awful things, it's one of the most awful. Are we doing more than other communities? Yeah.

"I'm proud that this community is compassionate and tries to stay ahead of the curve," Feinstein said. "I think we have nothing to be ashamed of in dealing with a very serious problem."

Sometimes delivering angry speeches, opponents - including three Council candidates - called the City's policy a magnet for the homeless and an invitation to criminal behavior.

"It's not getting better, it's getting worse," said council candidate Donna Block. "We can't accommodate the homeless from all over the country. We can't keep welcoming these people. We're not nurturing compassion in our children, we're nurturing fear. It's a crisis situation, and it's getting worse."

"I don't think my City Council is responding to my needs," said council candidate David Cole. "I don't think people want more money thrown at it. I think they want the problem solved. I don't see any improvement in my neighborhood.

"I see a community that has thrown out the red carpet," Cole said. "I think it's time to roll up the red carpet, cap the numbers we can serve and serve those we can."

The sparsely attended public hearing focused on the annual review of the City's Coordinated Plan for Homeless Services mandated by the Public Safety Initiative approved by the council in 1994.

The initiative - which curbed the City's lenient homeless policies and shifted the focus from temporary services to permanent solutions - was adopted after opponents gathered some 20,000 signatures to place the measure on the ballot.

The update found "a high achievement in housing placements, despite a shrinking supply of affordable housing and a 52% increase in the number of homeless people served since FY98-99," according to the staff report.

"This increase in the number served," the report found, "does not indicate a marked increase in the City's homeless population (according to the homeless census conducted this year). Rather, the increase indicates success in the efforts of those providing services finally being able to engage the hard-to-reach 'dually diagnosed' homeless, such as those with untreated mental illness coupled with an addiction to alcohol and/or other drugs."

A survey of homeless service providers found that of the 2,953 persons enrolled in City-funded homeless programs, 743 obtained transitional housing (a 36% increase over last year); 471 moved into permanent housing (38% more than last year); and 597 found jobs (a 10% increase), according to the staff report.

"That's a remarkable achievement," said Joel Schwartz, the City's Homeless Services Coordinator. "That's because agencies have been able to work together... to bring more people into the case management system."

"The agencies overall have put in a great amount of effort cooperating and working with each other and intensified their efforts," said Rhonda Meister, executive director of St. Joseph Center, which started a program to reach out to homeless seniors on the Third Street Promenade. "We are all working very hard with neighbors to create a whole community for all of us."

But if the service providers backed their case up with numbers, opponents questioned their conclusions with a series of dramatic snapshots and a video.

As council candidate Chuck Allord spoke, he showed more than a dozen pictures of homeless people he said he took in a short period of time.

"We have a serious problem here and you guys are not addressing it," Allord said. "You're perpetuating the problem. You guys are inviting the entire country to come to Santa Monica. The whole entire community is tired."

"You and your policies have brought a plague upon our city," said Bill Bauer. "We should be thinking quality (of services), not quantity."

Some residents complained of the homeless defecating and having sex near their homes and leaving behind used condoms and empty liquor bottles.

"How am I supposed to explain this to my kids?" said Jeff Mirkin. "We're tired of walking over homeless people to get to our cars, to get to the market. This social experiment must end."

After watching a video of a homeless man exposing himself in public after drinking in a parking lot with two friends, Mayor Ken Genser asked staff to explore why laws against such behavior are not being more aggressively enforced.

""I truly hear the concerns of many of the people who spoke," said Genser, who also is running for re-election. "I think we need better enforcement of our laws. We can't tolerate that form of behavior on our streets."