By Jorge Casuso
July 14, 2009 – Despite Santa Monica’s reputation as a liberal bastion, the City is mounting a hostile campaign to effectively deport the mentally disabled homeless to nearby cities, the ACLU of Southern California charged in a lawsuit filed Tuesday in U.S. District Court.
The lawsuit claims that the City is violating the constitutional rights of chronically homeless people by arresting and harassing them, even though Santa Monica lacks sufficient shelter beds to accommodate them.
“Santa Monica stands out for the hostility of its police toward chronically disabled homeless people,” said Mark Rosenbaum, legal director of the ACLU of Southern California.
“Santa Monica is functionally operating a deportation program against its mentally disabled homeless, acting to eliminate the homeless, not homelessness,” Rosenbaum said.
City officials -- who have instituted programs that have served as a regional model for addressing the homeless problem -- said they were taken aback by the lawsuit.
“We’re extremely surprised, disappointed and very perplexed,” said Julie Rusk, who runs the City’s homeless programs. “We are at the forefront of developing solutions that work and help those who are most at risk.”
“Santa Monica spends more per capita and has more shelter beds (per capita) than any city in the state,” said Council member Bobby Shriver, who has been a driving force behind the City’s homeless policies.
Filed on behalf of six homeless plaintiffs, the lawsuit charges that the City uses its police force to “harass and intimidate” the disabled homeless residents, the ACLU said in a statement.
In recent years, police have been citing and arresting the homeless for "sitting or sleeping in public places, and compelling them to 'move on’ to other cities,” ACLU officials said.
Santa Monica has passed laws that prohibit sleeping after hours in public spaces or in doorways Downtown, sitting on curbs on the Third Street Promenade or panhandling from Promenade benches.
“These ordinances are being selectively enforced in a discriminatory manner,” said Jennifer Pasquarella, a staff attorney with the ACLU.
“By all accounts there has been an increase in arrests and citations, which indicates there appears to be a new policy and practice to drive the homeless out of Santa Monica, and the tool for that is greater selective enforcement,” she said.
When asked, Pasquarella said that the ACLU did not request information from the Police Department concerning the number of citations and arrests of homeless persons.
The lawsuit was spurred by some of those who work for Santa Monica’s social service providers and was corroborated by homeless residents, Pasquarella said.
“We spoke to probably 20 homeless residents and took their stories,” she said. “Prior to this we were speaking to numerous service providers. That’s how we were introduced to this problem.
“The police abuse was reported to us by people who are active in Santa Monica or who are in City government,” she said.
Santa Monica is the third city to be sued by the ACLU of Southern California in recent months for “criminalizing” chronically homeless people, typically those who are disabled and have lived on the streets for years, ACLU officials said.
The ACLU previously sued Laguna Beach and Santa Barbara, and reached a settlement with the City of Laguna Beach last month.
“It’s not only illegal but callous and inhumane for any city to have its police officers cite, arrest and harass mentally ill or physically disabled homeless persons, even as it fails to provide them with sufficient shelter space,” Rosenbaum said.
“But it’s particularly shocking and hypocritical in Santa Monica, which touts itself on its website as a forward-thinking, caring community,” he added.
The ACLU's complaint vastly underestimates the number of emergency and temporary shelter beds for the estimated 915 homeless people living in Santa Monica on any given day, City officials said.
ACLU officials place the number of beds at 180, far fewer than the 450 beds Santa Monica officials say the City provides.
City officials also note that Santa Monica has shifted its homeless strategy from providing emergency services to permanently housing the chronically homeless. The City has placed more than 1,500 homeless in housing over the past five years, officials said.
“The focus is no longer on developing shelters,” Rusk said. “That is not the answer, and we are very clear about that.”
Outside of Santa Monica, there are few if any emergency or temporary shelter beds on the Westside, except for the cold weather shelters at the Culver City and West LA armories, according to information from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
Neighboring cities such as Beverly Hills, Malibu, West Hollywood and Culver City, as well as Marina del Rey and West Los Angeles, do not provide any emergency or temporary shelter beds.
Santa Monica officials find the timing of the lawsuit ironic.
On Tuesday, Santa Monica’s Homeless Community Court launched by the City more than two years ago convened its first session at the LAX Courthouse. The court allows the homeless who are arrested for a misdemeanor to avoid jail time if they agree to enter a social service program. ( "Homeless Court Is Now in Session," February 5, 2007)
"Here we are after we fight so hard to develop this court, and we're facing a lawsuit from the ACLU," Rusk said. "It's really unfortunate."
The plaintiffs in the lawsuit were sleeping on the streets because there were no shelter beds available or because they were driven from the beachside city of 88,0000 by police, according to the lawsuit.
One of the plaintiffs in the case, Nadine Chlubna, a chronically homeless woman who is a paranoid schizophrenic, has been arrested and jailed at least three times by Santa Monica police officers for “camping” on city streets, according to the lawsuit.
Chlubna, who believes spaceships are trying to kill her, currently sleeps on a sidewalk near Venice Beach after Santa Monica police told her repeatedly to “move on,” the lawsuit states
Another plaintiff, Keith Greene, a 38-year-old recovering addict, was arrested by Santa Monica police for sleeping at 4 a.m. just outside a local homeless shelter where there were no available beds.
According to the lawsuit, Greene showed police his employee badge at a Vernon produce plant and pleaded to be allowed to go to work.
Police told him “there was a city policy to arrest anyone sleeping in public, handcuffed him and jailed him for two days,” ACLU officials said. Greene was fired from his job.
Related Stories:
“Santa Monica Works with New York to Tackle Homelessness,” March 30, 2009
“Santa Monica’s Homeless Population Dips Despite Hard Times,” February 24, 2009
“Santa Monica Tackling Chronic Homelessness, Emergency Food Shortages, City Officials Report,” December 16, 2008
“City Finds Housing ‘Chronically Homeless, No Easy Task,” May 9, 2007