City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: May 11, 2022
Agenda Item: 8.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: David White, City Manager, City Manager's Office
Andy Agle, Director, Community Services Department, Ramon Batista, Police Chief, Police Department, Danny Alvarez, Fire Chief, Fire Department, Rick Valte, Public Works Director, Public Works Department, Susan Cola, Interim City Attorney, City Attorney's Office
Subject: Update on Local Efforts Addressing the Regional Homelessness Crisis Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Review and comment on the Annual Interdepartmental Homelessness Report, including the 2022-2023 Homelessness Workplan;
2. Endorse three key investments for FY2022-23 budget consideration: expanding the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) Team); creating an additional multidisciplinary street team to provide coverage outside of the Downtown Santa Monica and beach areas; and redesigning the SAMOSHEL program scope to facilitate after-hours intakes for City referrals;
3. Direct staff to return with an action item to revise the Below Market Housing (BMH) waitlist priorities to prioritize households with Emergency Housing Vouchers;
4. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) for legal and support services to Santa Monica renters at risk of eviction. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.250 (b) and is for a total amount not to exceed $200,000 with future-year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
Executive Summary
Based on the most recent Homeless Count data from 2020, 28% of people experiencing homelessness in the United States were in California, and of those, 41% were in Los Angeles County. While homelessness is a complex regional issue that cannot be solved by any single community, Santa Monica has an extensive history of deep investments 2 of 50
and coordinated efforts to prevent and address homelessness. In March 2021, the City Council reaffirmed addressing homelessness as a top community priority. The City’s continued strategic investments – with a focus on permanent solutions – have helped prevent a local increase in homelessness as demonstrated by the 2022 Homeless Count results. Nevertheless, the impacts of homelessness are felt sharply on our streets every day.
A 2019 report by the California Policy Lab found that 46% of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness reported experiences of trauma or abuse that caused or contributed to their homelessness. Further, surveys found that 84% of unsheltered people had physical health conditions, 78% had mental health conditions, and 75% had substance abuse conditions. These challenges are worse for people of color and other marginalized groups who face additional hurdles to accessing housing, healthcare, and employment. The City of Santa Monica has made investments in each of these areas, as well as advocated at the regional and state level to address homelessness on the scale being experienced in the Los Angeles region. Finally, it is critical that the City keeps our public spaces safe for everyone through enforcement of our local laws.
Santa Monica has implemented a diverse set of strategies to identify the most vulnerable on our streets, repeatedly engage them to establish trust and address their needs, connect them with appropriate medical and behavioral health services, and move them into housing while working closely with first responders to keep our community safe.
This report provides a brief history and overview of Santa Monica’s local strategies to prevent and address homelessness, including the evolution of these strategies over the past five decades. Santa Monica’s coordinated interdepartmental efforts have historically relied on close collaboration with an emphasis on prioritizing resources for the most vulnerable chronically homeless individuals and judiciously enforcing applicable laws to promote public health and safety, while acknowledging that City 3 of 50
resources alone are insufficient to address the region’s pressing crises of homelessness, affordable housing1, systemic racism2 and behavioral health3.
This report will present the results of the 2022 Santa Monica Homeless Count, which was conducted in February 2022. An analysis of these results will shed light on trends, changes from previous Homeless Counts, and provide opportunities for measuring and refining the City’s local strategies. Countywide results from the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count – anticipated to be released this summer – will help place Santa Monica’s local results in a regional context, providing further insight into where resources and advocacy might be directed.
The City adopted the Four Pillar approach for preventing and addressing homelessness in March 2019 (Attachment B). The Four Pillars are:
1. Preventing housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless and increasing affordable housing opportunities;
2. Addressing the behavioral health needs of vulnerable residents;
3. Maintaining equitable access to safe, fun, and healthy open spaces; and
4. Strengthening regional capacity to address homelessness.
This report provides an update on the City’s implementation of the Four Pillar approach over the past 18 months, highlighting specific interventions and outcomes under each Pillar, and offers recommendations and opportunities for enhancing the City’s coordinated efforts through potential new investments. Where indicated in the report, staff is seeking Council input and direction. This report also introduces the 2022-23 Homelessness Workplan for Council discussion. Utilizing the Four Pillars framework, 1 California Housing Partnership (2021). Los Angeles County 2021 Affordable Housing Needs Report. https://chpc.net/resources/los-angeles-county-housing-need-report-2021/ 2 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (2018). Report and Recommendations of the Ad Hoc Committee on Black People Experiencing Homelessness. https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=2823- report-and-recommendations-of-the-ad-hoc-committee-on-black-people-experiencing-homelessness 3 California Policy Lab (2019). Health Conditions Among Unsheltered Adults in the U.S. https://www.capolicylab.org/health-conditions-among-unsheltered-adults-in-the-u-s/ 4 of 50
the Workplan provides both structure and streamlined processes for tracking and reporting the City’s efforts across departments, tying each activity to clear community needs and establishing metrics for measuring impacts.
Attachment H reflects a range of recently considered citywide investments, including estimated projected costs and timelines for implementation. Specifically, staff seeks Council endorsement of three key investments for consideration as part of the FY2022-23 budget:
• Expanding the Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) Team to have 7 day a week coverage;
• Creating and deploying an additional multidisciplinary street team to provide coverage outside of the Downtown Santa Monica and beach areas; and • Redesigning the SAMOSHEL program scope to facilitate after-hours intakes for City referrals.
Staff also recommends that Council direct staff to return with action items to revise the Below Market Housing (BMH) waitlist priorities to align with implementation of the Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) program, and to authorize the City Manager to enter into an agreement with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to provide emergency legal and administrative support to Santa Monica tenants facing eviction utilizing the American Rescue Plan Act funding Council set aside for tenant protection.
The report concludes by outlining the timeline for the implementation of several key strategies discussed in the report, pending Council endorsement.
Background
Homelessness is the result of a variety of factors including: inadequate housing across affordability levels, an increasing chasm between housing costs and wages, and gaps in behavioral healthcare systems. Systemic racism has also contributed to an overrepresentation of Black people experiencing homelessness, as further described in a 2018 report by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA). 5 of 50
Homelessness is a complex regional issue that no single community will resolve on its own and cannot be addressed with a “one-size-fits-all” approach. Addressing the impacts of homelessness requires a deeply coordinated approach that balances effective engagement with enforcement of applicable laws for the purpose of public health and safety. Over the past five decades, Santa Monica has developed a local homeless service delivery system that has been repeatedly recognized as a regional and national model for addressing the multifaceted issues that contribute to and perpetuate homelessness. These coordinated strategies have helped prevent steep increases in local homelessness compared to those observed throughout the County and City of Los Angeles. The evolution of Santa Monica’s local system has been well documented in previous reports, including the May 8, 2017 Information Item (Attachment A). These core policies and programs, while not directly referenced in the Four Pillars approach, are the foundation upon which the Pillars are built and are critical to the effectiveness of the strategies outlined in subsequent sections of this report.
The City’s coordinated efforts contributed to an overall 8% decrease in the City’s 2020 Point-In-Time Homeless Count prior to the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. In contrast, the 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count (conducted in January 2020) found 66,436 people experiencing homelessness countywide – an increase of 12.7% – from 2019. The number of people experiencing homelessness on the Westside (County Service Planning Area 5) increased by 14% between 2019 and 2020, further demonstrating the success of Santa Monica’s local efforts within the regional context.
A. Evolution of Guiding Principles: Service Prioritization, Fair Share In 2004, the City made the deliberate shift away from a “first-come, first-served” model to one that strategically prioritizes finite local resources for a clearly identified target population of the most vulnerable and chronically homeless individuals, including those who are most likely to die on our streets.
To guide this work, the City created the Chronic Homeless Project (CHP), bringing together an interdepartmental team representing the Community Services Department 6 of 50
(CSD), SMPD, Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD), the City Attorney’s Office (CAO) alongside Los Angeles County departments, nonprofit service provider agencies and business community stakeholders to coordinate around an initial group of 25 chronically homeless individuals. The CHP team embraced an approach to do “whatever it takes” and the City adopted the Housing First model to focus on developing and pursuing permanent solutions. The creation of Homeless Community Court (HCC) in 2007 and the Service Registry (by-name list of Santa Monica’s most vulnerable chronically homeless individuals) in 2008 further reinforced the City’s commitment to working collaboratively across departments to address problematic behaviors while providing individualized pathways to permanent housing and supportive services.
Participants enrolled on the Service Registry have been chronically homeless in Santa Monica for many years and have scored the highest on the standardized Vulnerability Index – Service Prioritization Decision Assistance Tool (VI-SPDAT), which is used throughout the county. Individuals with the highest VI-SPDAT acuity scores are those presenting with the most urgent needs – including advanced age, co-occurring medical, mental health, and substance use disorders, and frequent interactions with emergency services – and who are thus the most likely to die on the streets without assistance.
For individuals recently arriving in Santa Monica who do not meet local or regional criteria for priority in housing, Santa Monica created the Project Homecoming program in 2006, which offers one-time assistance to reunite participants with friends or family who agree to provide permanent housing and necessary supports in their communities of origin. In 2021, 103 participants utilized Project Homecoming, at an average cost of $320 per participant, making it a cost-effective intervention that prevents additional burden on strained local and regional homeless services systems.
B. Human Services Grants Program
For more than 40 years, the City’s Human Services Grants Program (HSGP) has provided direct operating grants to local nonprofit agencies serving low-income families, vulnerable youth, seniors, people with disabilities and people experiencing homelessness. In FY 2021-22, the HSGP distributed $8 million in grants to 19 agencies 7 of 50
Figure 2: Exits to permanent housing for City
and countywide interim housing programs
and 35 programs. While it could be argued
that all programs in the HSGP provide critical
economic, social and health stability that helps
residents retain stable housing, there is a
smaller subset of programs exclusively
serving people experiencing homelessness.
These programs provide a range of services
including basic needs, case management,
interim housing, and permanent housing
retention services. Since the onset of the pandemic, The People Concern’s (TPC) Access Center was the only continuously operating homeless access center on the Westside offering basic services (e.g., meals, showers, laundry, and mail).
In FY 2020-21, City HSGP-funded interim
housing programs also served 237
participants, with 45 of the 103 participants
(44%) who exited the program leaving to
permanent housing. By contrast, in 2021,
LAHSA reported that only 17% of participants
that exited countywide interim housing
programs left to permanent housing. Low
exits to permanent housing due to a regional
lack of affordable and permanent supportive housing result in longer stays in shelter, restrict the flow of participants through the system, and result in fewer people served by the shelter system.
For decades, Santa Monica has hosted more than its fair share of homeless services infrastructure serving the Westside community and L.A. County. Prior to the recent additions of bridge housing programs in Venice and Westchester, Santa Monica was home to a disproportionate number of the Westside’s year-round interim housing beds, which serve the entire region. As the City considers future investments, this concept of fair share and the role any new infrastructure plays in the regional response to Figure 1: FY2021-22 HSGP funding
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homelessness should be carefully weighed. Further, new investments in additional front-end responses – such as street-engagement teams, treatment programs, and interim housing – will yield the greatest impact when coupled with increased back-end housing capacity locally and across the region.
C. System Optimization and Gaps
1. Shortage of Affordable and Permanent Supportive Housing Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, LAHSA released its Homeless Services Systems Analysis4, which identified the gaps between an optimized – or balanced – system and the current regional homeless services system. LAHSA described that an optimized system would have five permanent housing options for every one interim housing resource. The ratio of the current countywide system is closer to 1:1, and the current ratio in Santa Monica is roughly 1.8 permanent housing units or rental subsidies for each interim housing bed. The LAHSA report cited the increasing inflow of households experiencing homelessness for the first time, and a disproportionate concentration of resources on the “front door” of the system, resulting in bottlenecks and increased lengths of stay in interim/temporary housing programs.
Lack of available options to which to transition people from temporary housing to permanent housing means shelter beds are not operating in the manner they were designed. Rather than short stays of 90-180 days, participant stays stretch into years, meaning those beds are not available for new participants and more people remain on the streets. Long stays also create frustration for participants who may choose to return to the streets rather than continue waiting. Figures 3 and 4 below depict the current regional homelessness system – with insufficient permanent housing resources – and a balanced system as defined by the optimal ratio of five permanent homes for each interim housing bed.
4 Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (March 2020). Homeless Services System Analysis:
Envisioning an Optimal System in Los Angeles. https://www.lahsa.org/documents?id=4311-homelessservices-system-analysis-envisioning-an-optimal-system-in-los-angeles 9 of 50
Figure 3: Current, unbalanced homeless services system
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Figure 4: Optimized and balanced homeless services system Unless outreach teams or interim housing programs can successfully connect individuals to a system that has the capacity to house them, these “front door” efforts run the risk of traumatizing individuals, which erodes the individuals’ trust in service providers and the system, exacerbates behavioral health issues, and makes it much harder to reengage them in the future. Santa Monica’s local system has long invested in both permanent and interim housing resources, as well as treatment for people experiencing substance use disorders. Despite this focus, the City would still need to add 841 permanent housing options in order to reach an optimal 5:1 ratio with existing interim housing. This includes building more affordable housing options, as Santa Monica’s allocation of federal housing subsidies, such as the Housing Choice Voucher program, has not increased significantly over time. Current efforts – including 191 new affordable homes in development, which would reduce the local gap to 650 homes – and potential opportunities to increase affordable and permanent supportive housing capacity will be described later in the report.
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2. Behavioral Health System Challenges
As stated in the introduction to this report, a 2019 report by the California Policy Lab found that 46% of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness reported experiences of trauma or abuse that caused or contributed to their homelessness. Further, surveys found that 84% of unsheltered people had physical health conditions, 78% had mental health conditions, and 75% had substance abuse conditions. Despite a growing number of people statewide experiencing severe and persistent mental illness, recent efforts to amend the 1967 Lanterman-Petris-Short (LPS) Act – state law establishing criteria for involuntary mental health treatment – were unsuccessful. In July 2021, the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH) delivered a report5to the County Board of Supervisors on its implementation a 12-month pilot program aimed at disrupting the cycle of chronic homelessness through targeted outreach and facilitation of LPS conservatorship proceedings on an outpatient basis for gravely disabled people experiencing homelessness. In March 2022, Governor Newsom introduced a proposal for a Community Assistance, Recovery, and Empowerment (CARE) Court6 as an additional tool to provide pathways to housing and behavioral health treatment for people experiencing severe psychotic disorders who lack medical decision-making capacity.
Even with recent added capacity of street-based engagement and alternative crisis response teams, the regional behavioral health treatment systems are dramatically under-resourced to meet the needs of every person in need of behavioral healthcare. Interim housing programs throughout the county do not accommodate 24/7 intakes or drop-offs by first responders, and there are only eight psychiatric urgent care beds and very few adult inpatient psychiatric beds sited on the Westside. According to SMPD. nearly two-thirds (62%) of methamphetamine arrests in 2021 involved people experiencing homelessness, continuing a trend described in 5 LA County Department of Mental Health (2021). Report Response on Disrupting the Cycle of Chronic Homelessness – DMH Homeless Outreach and Mobile Engagement (HOME) Team Pilot. http://file.lacounty.gov/SDSInter/bos/supdocs/146760.pdf 6 California Health and Human Services Agency (2022). Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment (CARE) Court. https://www.chhs.ca.gov/care-court/ 12 of 50
previous reports. Further, SMPD has observed a 36% increase in calls for service for drug overdoses from 136 in 2020 to 185 in 2021. The effects of substance use – especially methamphetamine, which has increased significantly in recent years – often mimic symptoms of persistent mental illness, making it challenging for providers to triage participants to the appropriate system of care. Participants often cycle between a mental health system that lacks capacity for treating substance use disorders, and substance use treatment providers that cannot always serve participants who also present with mental health issues. Staff will continue exploring the feasibility of developing an integrated behavioral health center that can provide a “no wrong door” approach to effectively serve Santa Monica’s unique behavioral health needs, regardless of participants’ specific diagnosis or insurance coverage.
3. Workforce Challenges
The pandemic disruptions to the workforce continue to impact the ability for the City, County and community non-profits to hire and retain qualified employees to deliver services. All sectors report longer vacancies in key positions due to fewer qualified applicants, difficulty meeting salary demands for the best qualified applicants, and frequent turnover. As the City looks at the efficacy and sustainability of current and future investments in homelessness, the need to reinforce salaries and subsequent increases in costs to deliver services – without increases in program capacity – will be a key factor for consideration. High turnover and frequent open positions have detrimental impacts on the level of services available to participants and can disrupt the trust required to support high-need participants to move into housing. Hiring challenges are also hindering the expansion of services into overnight and weekend hours, as illustrated by the delays in launching the DMH Therapeutic Transport van.
Expanding street-based engagement teams working 40 hours per week – starting with weekday business hours – would likely be more feasible than overnight/weekend teams, and would likely result in these teams staffing up more quickly and deploying sooner. If the City chooses to explore 24/7 services, it may be that the costs for staffing these programs will be higher than anticipated in order to effectively recruit qualified employees willing to work non-traditional hours.
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4. Enforcement Challenges
Constitutional legal precedent also makes enforcement of local quality of life ordinances challenging. In Martin v. City of Boise, 920 F.3d 584 (9th Cir. 2019), cert. denied, 140 S. Ct. 674 (Dec. 16, 2019), the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution precluded criminal enforcement of Boise’s anti-camping ordinance against individuals with no home or other available shelter. Noting that the record established that this ordinance was “frequently enforced against homeless individuals with some elementary bedding, whether or not any of the other listed indicia of ‘camping’ – the erection of temporary structures, the activity of cooking or making fire, or the storage of personal property – are present,” the court found that this statute was being used to “criminalize the simple act of sleeping outside on public property, whether bare or with a blanket or other basic bedding.” 920 F.3d at 617-18. The court held that “so long as there is a greater number of homeless individuals in a jurisdiction than the number of available beds in shelters, the jurisdiction cannot prosecute homeless individuals for involuntarily sitting, lying, and sleeping in public. That is, as long as there is no option of sleeping indoors, the government cannot criminalize indigent, homeless people for sleeping outdoors, on public property, on the false premise they had a choice in the matter.” 920 F.3d at 617.
The court emphasized that its holding was a “narrow” one, and noted that “[e]ven where shelter is unavailable, an ordinance prohibiting sitting, lying, or sleeping outside at particular times or in particular locations” or “barring the obstruction of public rights of way or the erection of certain structures” may be “constitutionally permissible.” 920 F.3d at 617 & n.8; see also 920 F.3d at 589 (Berzon, J., concurring in denial of rehearing en banc). What this means as a practical matter is that the City can still enforce its anti-camping ordinance and prohibitions on sitting/lying in doorways, but it must be discerning in its enforcement to avoid instigating a civil rights lawsuit similar to the ones recently settled by the City of Los Angeles, the County of Sonoma, and the County of Orange.
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Other legal challenges, post-enforcement and outside the City’s control, include the County’s Emergency Bail Schedule, which mandates zero bail for low-level misdemeanors like camping, lying in doorways, urinating in public, being in the park after closure, and trespassing, etc. This makes it very difficult to keep perpetrators of low-level misdemeanors in custody after arrest, and ensure that these perpetrators appear in court for sentencing and/or imposition of probation conditions, including stay away orders. Even if defendants are brought into court, changes in recent state law (AB 1950) require that courts impose a maximum one year probation for misdemeanors (with limited exceptions including domestic violence and driving under the influence convictions) and a maximum two year probation for most felonies. Convictions of drug possession and drug use, alone, are not likely to result in incarceration. Additionally, new state law has created judicial diversion for most misdemeanors, over any prosecutor’s objection. This allows the court to determine punishment without a defendant having to enter any plea. Notwithstanding the foregoing legal challenges, the CAO and SMPD have continued to aggressively enforce the City’s quality of life ordinances to the extent legally possible.
5. Homelessness Audit
Future decisions on the City’s homelessness policies and investments will be informed by a comprehensive audit of the local homelessness system being conducted by Moss Adams, the City’s internal auditor. During the FY 2021-22 midyear budget process in February 2022 (Attachment G), Council authorized the City Manager to modify the agreement with Moss Adams. Under the modified agreement, Moss Adams is conducting a comprehensive evaluation that includes a review of the City’s homeless services planning and strategy, as well as its communications related to homelessness efforts, and compare them to best practices; review the roles of the City and the local, regional and State agencies that work in this area in addition to the service offerings in each of these areas; and evaluate the various City resources and organization structure dedicated to this area.
Staff have started meeting with Moss Adams and have provided them with the first set of documents and materials to begin their work. The findings of the final report, 15 of 50
anticipated by the end of the year, will look at the City’s costs, investments and impacts and will develop a method for consistent reporting for the future. Until then, staff has identified key opportunities for future citywide investments in addressing homelessness for Council endorsement.
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
5/8/17
(Attachment A)
Council received Information Item: Local Homeless Efforts in a Regional Context
3/26/19
(Attachment B)
Council received Annual Homelessness Report and approved the Four-Pillar Strategy
2/23/21
(Attachment C)
Council received Annual Homelessness Report, affirmed City’s existing strategies to address homelessness, affirmed continuation of MDT’s/Parks Ambassadors, and identified priorities for FY21-23 biennial budget process
5/26/21
(Attachment D)
Council reviewed and commented on the FY2021-23 proposed biennial budget, which included $500,000 a year for two years for emergency needs for vulnerable Santa Monicans
9/3/21
(Attachment E)
Council received Information Item: Update on Homelessness Strategies
1/6/22
(Attachment F)
Council received Information Item: Overview of Homeless Outreach and Hygiene Services
2/8/22
(Attachment G)
Council authorized the City Manager to execute a second modification to agreement #10929 with Moss Adams to complete a homeless services delivery audit and Human Services Grants Program grantee monitoring
Discussion
2022 HOMELESS COUNT RESULTS
On the night of February 23, 2022, 807 people experiencing homelessness were counted in Santa Monica, a decrease of 11% from the 907 individuals counted in January 2020, due to a significant reduction in the local shelter capacity following public health guidance. The number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness in Santa Monica increased by 1% from 601 in 2020 to 608 in 2022. The homeless count, conducted at night when most people are bedded down for the night, provides a very different snapshot of homelessness than what people experience in Santa Monica 16 of 50
during the day in our public spaces. As with previous years, no families experiencing homelessness were observed during the street count.
While COVID health and safety protocols changed the 2022 Homeless Count training and deployment process, the count methodology remained the same as previous years.
Thanks to the dedication of 250 City staff and volunteers, every street, alley, and park in the city was counted while following COVID-related safety measures. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) is expected to release the results of the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count this summer, which will help contextualize Santa Monica’s results at a regional level.
Street Count
While the overall number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness has remained flat, there was a 36% increase in people living in vehicles, tents, and makeshift shelters. Within this category, the number of makeshift shelters increased from 20 in 2020 to 41 in 2022. The high visibility of tents and makeshift shelters Figure 5: 2022 Santa Monica Homeless Count Results
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contributes to the perception that street homelessness has increased significantly even though the actual number of people counted was largely unchanged. Throughout the pandemic, federal CDC and LA County guidance was designed to prevent the displacement of people living on the streets to prevent the spread of COVID-19 and facilitate contract tracing and vaccination follow-up. The County took the extra step of making tents available to high-risk unsheltered individuals to allow people to shelter in place where they were.
Shelter and Institution Count
The 35% decrease in the Shelter Count is the direct result of the reduced capacity of local interim housing programs responding to the direction of the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health to reduce the spread of COVID-19, and the number of people experiencing homelessness counted in local hospital emergency departments and the jail. Although there were fewer local beds available, the overall number of regional interim housing options increased during the pandemic. This added regional capacity had positive local impacts, helping to prevent a spike in the local street count.
As more communities increase capacity outside of Santa Monica, the City will continue to see local benefits as regional reliance on local infrastructure decreases. As the City considers future potential investments to address homelessness, staff recommends balanced investments that couple front-end resources like multidisciplinary teams with back-end permanent housing capacity to support a more optimized system that moves people out of homelessness.
Where People Were Found
The results of the 2022 Homeless Count continue the positive trends observed in 2020, when homelessness decreased locally by 8% while increasing by 13% to 66,436 across Los Angeles County. The 2022 Homeless Count Results Map (Attachment I) reflects where people experiencing homelessness were found on the night of February 23, 2022. While the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness citywide remained essentially flat, the 2022 Homeless Count saw a 14% increase in the number of people in the Downtown Santa Monica and beach areas from 214 in 2020 to 246 in 2022, which is consistent with observations made by staff and members of the 18 of 50
community. People may have been drawn back to the downtown and beach areas in part due to the availability of public restrooms, as the pandemic closed many of the restaurants and other public places across the City where they had previously found places to sit and use the restrooms during the day. Early in the pandemic, with the abrupt closure of indoor public facilities, the City installed several portable toilets and handwashing stations in key locations throughout the Downtown area to reduce the risk of COVID transmission. While these facilities have been removed, several restrooms located on the beach and in our parks remain available to the public.
The data and trends reflected in the 2022 Homeless Count results underscore that increased regional capacity yields local benefits, allowing limited City resources to be prioritized to house and serve the community’s most vulnerable members. The forthcoming countywide results of the 2022 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count will provide further context to the scope of this regional issue, and where local and regional resources should be deployed.
UPDATES ON SANTA MONICA’S FOUR PILLAR STRATEGY FOR
ADDRESSING HOMELESSNESS
The March 26, 2019 staff report (Attachment B) introduced the Four Pillars upon which the City’s strategies for preventing and addressing homelessness are built:
1. Preventing housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless and increasing affordable housing opportunities;
2. Addressing the behavioral health needs of vulnerable residents;
3. Maintaining equitable access to safe, fun, and healthy open spaces; and
4. Strengthening regional capacity to address homelessness.
The following section of the report will discuss the interdepartmental implementation and impacts of the Four Pillar strategy since the last homelessness update to Council, as well as identify potential new opportunities to advance the Four Pillars. 19 of 50
PILLAR 1:
Homelessness is largely driven by a statewide housing affordability crisis, an increasing gap between rental costs and household wages, and a host of other factors including a lack of resources to support individuals with mental health and substance use disorders.
A March 2021 report by the National Low Income Housing Coalition7found that for every 100 extremely low-income renter households in California, there are only 24 affordable and available rental homes. A May 2021 report by the California Housing Partnership found 78% of extremely low-income households in L.A. County pay more than half of their income on housing costs, and renters need to earn more than $38 per hour (more than 2.5 times the minimum wage) to afford the average rent of $1,988 in L.A. County. The report also estimates that there is a shortfall of nearly 500,000 affordable homes in L.A. County.
LAHSA’s presentation of the 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count Results contextualized the importance of homelessness prevention in a balanced system.
According to LAHSA – in a report published before the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent economic crisis – an average of 207 people in Los Angeles County exited homelessness every day, while 227 people became homeless. In order to reduce the inflow of newly homeless households, Santa Monica has strengthened its commitment to preventing homelessness and increasing affordable housing options while promoting a diverse and inclusive community. 7 National Low Income Housing Coalition (March 2021). The Gap: A Shortage of Affordable Homes. https://reports.nlihc.org/sites/default/files/gap/Gap-Report_2021.pdf 20 of 50
PILLAR 1: CURRENT ACTIVITIES
A. Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) Program
Last year (2021), under the American Rescue Plan, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) allocated 104 Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) to the City of Santa Monica to be issued to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
The City prioritized its allocation of EHVs to exit people in local shelter programs and unsheltered individuals referred by City-funded street engagement teams into permanent housing with supportive services. As interim housing beds become available, City staff are working closely with SMPD, SMFD and the City’s multidisciplinary street teams to refer vulnerable individuals from our streets, parks and open spaces either directly to permanent housing via EHV or to an available shelter.
EHV participants began moving into their own apartments in February 2022, and to date 54 vouchers have been issued and 6 participants have ended their experience of homelessness in Santa Monica by securing homes not only in Santa Monica but in communities throughout the County and City of Los Angeles including San Pedro and Ladera Heights.
The lack of affordable and permanent supportive housing options throughout the region has underscored the reality that vouchers alone are inadequate to address homelessness. Without a corresponding supply of affordable properties where participants can use their housing vouchers, a large number of voucher holders are left to compete for a small number of available rental properties – resulting in prolonged episodes of homelessness and lengths of stay in interim housing programs. Staff is seeking Council direction to return this summer with an action item to revise the City’s Below Market Housing (BMH) waitlist priorities to give current EHV participants access to affordable deed-restricted homes where they can use their vouchers.
B. Affordable Housing and Permanent Supportive Housing Developments In line with the City’s commitment to increase affordable and permanent supportive housing opportunities, 134 new affordable residences opened since 2020, and at least 191 additional homes are in various stages of development. Last year, two new affordable senior housing developments opened in Santa Monica: Greenway Meadows, 21 of 50
located at 1820 14th St and constructed by Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM), opened last spring with 38 apartments. Magnolia Villas, located at 1445 and 1453 10th Street and constructed by EAH Housing, opened in the fall, providing 39 apartments.
The proposed Laurel development at 1413 Michigan Avenue, also developed by EAH, would create 57 new homes of permanent housing with supportive services for people experiencing homelessness. The Laurel is anticipated to be completed by the end of 2023. CCSM has several other developments underway, including 13 affordable apartments at 1342 Berkeley Street, which will include at least eight homes for vulnerable young adults experiencing or at risk of homelessness.
In 2019, the Council initiated efforts to explore converting Parking Structure 3 (located at 1318 4th Street) into a 100% affordable housing development. In January 2022, Council authorized the City Manager to negotiate and execute an exclusive negotiation agreement for the development of affordable housing on this City-owned parcel. At the same meeting, Council selected EAH Housing as the developer, who will lead a community engagement process regarding the proposed development plans.
Congressman Ted Lieu secured $2 million in federal funding for the development to support the affordable housing development. After a series of prolonged legal challenges, demolition of Parking Structure 3 began in April 2022, and is expected to continue floor-by-floor through Fall 2022.
The City has consistently been a leader in the production of affordable housing that depends on leveraging funding from State grant programs with Santa Monica’s own local housing trust funds. Santa Monica has been awarded a total of $10 million from the Local Housing Trust Fund (LHTF) program for the 2020 and 2021 funding rounds and is also eligible to receive an estimated $3.285 million from the first five years of the Permanent Local Housing Allocation (PLHA) entitlement program. The awarded State grants, as well as future State grants, are essential to Santa Monica’s ability to create affordable housing on City-owned land and further the goals of the City’s Housing Element.
22 of 50
C. Eviction Prevention Efforts
Many of the City’s prevention efforts have pivoted to focus on keeping residents housed during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. On July 13, 2021, Council requested that staff create an enhanced communications campaign to inform renter residents and property owners about the State Rental Assistance program, Housing is Key. Council subsequently allocated up to $25,000 in discretionary funds to this project on July 27, 2021. Since outreach began in August, it is estimated that an additional 1,400 applications were submitted by Santa Monica residents. The program closed on March 31, 2022. As of May 2, 2022, 2,040 Santa Monica households were served with an average assistance of $15,234 and $31,077,068 total funds paid.
The two goals of the City’s rental assistance communications campaign are education and support with application completion. Educational efforts focus on multilingual outreach to the most vulnerable residents who may not have access to online information and will consist of information in Seascape, postcards, door hangers, flyers, utility bill inserts, and ongoing media outreach. Digital communication via email newsletters, santamonica.gov, social media, CityTV, and text messages were completed, and information was shared with community partners including Meals on Wheels, Food Pantry Boxes and After School Programs at Virginia Avenue Park, the Santa Monica Public Library, the Farmer’s Market, neighborhood groups, business improvement districts, and other community locations.
For application support, the City worked with its 311 customer service team to answer questions about the application process and to connect residents with the State’s help center and established partner organizations that provide application support.
Additionally, the City ran a clinic at City Hall to provide in-person support with staff/volunteers from CAO, Rent Control, and Santa Monicans for Renters’ Rights. The clinic operated on Wednesdays from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. during the month of September for Santa Monica applicants who made an appointment by calling 311. The clinic continued to run until the state funds were depleted and rental applications were 23 of 50
no longer accepted. 85 residents were assisted through 311 and 10 through the inperson clinics.
In July 2020, CSD implemented the COVID Emergency Rental Assistance Program (ERAP) using $2,549,979 in federal Community Development Block Grant funds (CDBG) and General Funds of $251,535 to provide three months’ rent up to $5,000 to 640 households economically impacted by COVID. A total of 1,106 applications were submitted; 104 households did not qualify for or declined assistance, and an additional 362 households were not offered assistance due to lack of funding (of these 86 received assistance through the LA County program). Funding for program administration came from CDBG and the re-purposing of a County homelessness grant through the Westside Cities Council of Governments (WSCCOG).
The Los Angeles County Development Authority (LACDA) also administered a rental assistance program that opened in August 2020 to assist applicants throughout the County with a total of $133 million from the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act (CARES) and County General Funds. At the close of the program, 435 Santa Monica residents were awarded approximately $3.81 million in assistance through the County program.
Locally, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) supported residents in maintaining housing through their general legal services program, which provides eviction defense services, and the Right to Counsel program, through which LAFLA attorneys will represent tenants in court in addition to other eviction services. In FY2020-21 LAFLA’s general legal services program served 590 Santa Monica households utilizing $506,149 in Human Services Grants Program funding. Since April 2021, under the City’s Right to Counsel pilot program and County’s Stay Housed LA Program, LAFLA has provided 81 tenants facing eviction with legal representation.
These programs have supported tenants in navigating the ever-evolving landscape of eviction moratorium laws during the course of the pandemic. Tenant/Landlord forums were also held jointly by the Rent Control and CAO departments to educate residents 24 of 50
on the laws as well as provide resources and information about the state rental assistance program. Additionally, the Pepperdine conflict resolution program provided mediation to tenants and landlords for non-payment of rent. City Housing and Human Services Division Flexible Funds were used to cover gaps and support residents with cleaning, home modifications, and short-term rental assistance to stay housed.
On December 14, 2021, the CAO Public Rights Division and the Rent Control Board hosted its annual Landlord/Tenant Forum virtually. City staff provided information about state rental assistance, eviction protections, and other topics to more than 50 Santa Monica tenants, landlords, and property managers.
D. Senior Homelessness Prevention Programs
Led by CSD staff, the interagency Senior Housing Task Force has met continuously via teleconference to help vulnerable senior households maintain stable housing and avoid falling into homelessness. Task Force participants include the CAO, Rent Control, Code Enforcement, Santa Monica Police and Fire Departments, WISE & Healthy Aging, Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and CCSM. The group convenes by-name case conferencing meetings to develop and implement coordinated action plans to promote health, safety and housing stability for at-risk seniors. In FY2020-21, the Task Force coordinated services for 30 Santa Monica senior households at-risk of homelessness.
The City’s Preserving Our Diversity (POD) program remains in effect, providing cashbased assistance to eligible long-term rent control senior households to achieve a minimum after-rent income. In FY2020-21, the POD program served 196 low-income senior households providing an average monthly assistance of approximately $500 per month, allowing participants to age in place. Applications for POD are accepted both online and by mail, with assistance for those seeking a reasonable accommodation.
PILLAR 1: NEXT STEPS
The Santa Monica Below Market Housing (BMH) program offers housing opportunities for households that meet income requirements, and the waitlist currently prioritizes people who live or work in Santa Monica. Pending Council direction, staff will return 25 of 50
within 30-60 days with a proposal to update BMH priorities to put EHV holders first on the waitlist after those who are facing eviction due to the Ellis Act or similar reasons.
This alignment will further support the City’s implementation of the EHV program, while facilitating the turnover of additional interim housing beds so that vulnerable individuals encountered by City first responders and street engagement teams can move out of Santa Monica’s parks, beach and streets and into shelter. In the short term, this change might result in other households waiting slightly longer on the BMH waitlist.
Staff is also seeking Council authorization to enter into an agreement with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) to provide immediate support to expand their capacity to respond to Santa Monica renters who are facing eviction. With moratoriums expiring and rent relief programs winding down, tenants who are still struggling are being served with eviction notices at an alarming rate. From July 2021 – December 2021, LAFLA reported closing 9 housing-related cases. From January 2022 – March 2022, LAFLA has taken on 28 unlawful detainer eviction cases. While the City proactively implemented a two-year Right to Counsel pilot in 2021 to contract with LAFLA to provide full scope legal representation in eviction defense matters, LAFLA is inadequately staffed to support this surge of eviction cases. Additional one-time funds not to exceed $200,000 would allow LAFLA to hire additional support staff to handle clerical duties, meeting calendars, client communications, intakes, and administrative assistance for clients to complete benefits and assistance applications, freeing up attorneys to focus on legal work. Funding would come from the existing American Rescue Plan Act funding that Council set-aside for COVID tenant protection at the May 26, 2021 FY2021-23 biennial budget study session (Attachment D), which has been held in reserve while other state and local assistance programs and evictions protections were in place. Staff recommends LAFLA to furnish these services as an exception to competitive bidding per Muni Code 2.24.080(b). Competition does not reasonably exist due to the unique capacity of LAFLA to meet the particular services being sought as they are already providing the legal services to Santa Monica residents that these administrative services are designed to enhance. An exception is warranted given LAFLA’s excellent performance on other City contracts and ability to leverage existing City funding to serve Santa Monica residents holistically. LAFLA is also the only 26 of 50
non-profit legal aid agency that maintains a dedicated office in Santa Monica, and is a well-established presence at the Santa Monica Courthouse. LAFLA is one of the largest providers of legal services to low-income and vulnerable populations in LA County, serving well over 100,000 annually. LAFLA’s resources, capacity and ability to fold these additional services seamlessly into their existing team to meet this unprecedented and urgent demand make the organization uniquely suited to provide the required services. This service would be separate from existing contracted services and would be time-limited in scope to address an urgent community need resulting from the pandemic.
To further support homeless prevention staff has also begun a community feedback process to gather input on how the City could use the federal one-time allocation ($2.2 million) of HOME-ARP funding. These one-time federal funds have a limited set of eligible activities focused on addressing and preventing homelessness and are designed to work in coordination with goals and priorities established by the regional Continuum of Care. The regional CoC Lead Agency, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), has provided guidance to local jurisdictions on their recommended uses of local HOME-ARP funding (Attachment J).
LAHSA is recommending that jurisdictions focus HOME-ARP on permanent housing and homelessness prevention/problem solving. LAHSA is specifically recommending jurisdictions NOT utilize these funds for non-congregate sheltering, due to the lack of permanent housing exits in the current system and the lack of operating dollars available to sustain new programs. Within these recommendations, the City would like to consider uses that can be entirely funded with the limited HOME-ARP funds or in conjunction with other committed and available resources, with a focus on homeless prevention to mitigate the growing wave of evictions as COVID assistance and protections have lifted. Staff will be discussing HOME-ARP funds at the May 23, 2022 meeting of the Social Services Commission, where the public will be invited to provide comment. Staff will return to Council later this year with a proposal to use federal HOME-ARP funds that is reflective of Council direction and community input. 27 of 50
PILLAR 2:
On January 6, 2022 (Attachment F) staff published an Information Item providing an Overview of Homeless Outreach and Hygiene Services, responding to inquiries of the Council Ad Hoc Committee on Homelessness. The report focused narrowly on the types of outreach teams operating in Santa Monica and countywide, the distinction between proactive and reactive outreach, and some of the challenges and limitations of homeless outreach in a regional system significantly lacking appropriate housing and treatment options. The City’s policies and priorities have long focused on serving the most vulnerable chronically homeless individuals, who often have co-occurring medical and behavioral health challenges, and in many cases histories of experiencing trauma.
To effectively meet these complex needs with limited resources, the City has strategically invested in several street-based interventions and alternative crisis response teams to deliver behavioral healthcare right when and where people need it.
PILLAR 2: CURRENT ACTIVITIES
A. Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs)
The City currently funds a variety of street-based engagement teams that either exclusively or frequently engage with people experiencing homelessness in the City’s public spaces. Launched in 2016, the Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST) operated by The People Concern, services a discrete cohort of 25 chronically homeless individuals identified as the highest utilizers of local police and fire services. HMST is 28 of 50
staffed by licensed mental health professionals, housing case managers, substance use specialists, licensed medical providers (nurse practitioner, physician’s assistant, or physician), psychiatrist, and a peer with lived experience. In addition to the one HMST team, the City also funds two C3 (“City + County + Community”) teams. Staffed similarly to HMST, C3 teams are deployed proactively to the areas of Santa Monica with the highest concentration of unsheltered homelessness. One C3 team serves the Downtown Santa Monica area (including Tongva, Palisades, and Reed Parks) and the second focuses on the south beach (including the Pier, beach parking lots, and adjacent parks).
The 2019 and 2020 Homeless Counts observed double-digit percent reductions in the areas where the C3 teams had been deployed. A 2019 evaluation by RAND Corporation found that HMST improved the housing and health of clients served, but also yielded reductions in emergency service utilization offsetting between 17-43% of the City’s investment. In 2021, the three City-funded MDTs, operated by The People Concern, made more than 11,000 contacts with people experiencing homelessness and provided direct medical or psychiatric services to 808 participants. Last year, these teams placed 57 people into interim housing and 24 individuals into permanent housing. By comparison, in FY2020-21, County-funded E6 teams on the Westside (County Service Planning Area 5) engaged 3,373 unduplicated individuals, placed 85 individuals into interim housing and 12 individuals into permanent housing8. Last year, the City of Los Angeles voted to replicate Santa Monica’s HMST with a dedicated team in L.A. City Council District 2, based on the demonstrated impact of Santa Monica’s HMST on both participant housing and health outcomes, but also reduced City emergency services spending. Looking ahead to FY 2022-23, Attachment H includes a proposal for an additional street-based engagement team to cover the balance of the City not covered by the current C3 teams.
According to the Steinberg Institute and other supporters of pending legislation SB-964, California is experiencing a statewide behavioral health workforce shortage. Impacts are 8 Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative (2021). Quarterly Report #20. https://homeless.lacounty.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2021/06/Quarterly-Report-No.-20-Item-47-A-Agenda-of-2-9-16.pdf 29 of 50
felt locally with nonprofit service providers consistently reporting difficulty hiring and retaining psychiatrists, clinical social workers, and other behavioral health professionals.
As more mental health job opportunities move to virtual/telehealth practice settings, an increasing number of behavioral health professionals are seeking employment offering the ability to telework – an arrangement that street-based engagement teams cannot offer. Additionally, representatives from the L.A. County Department of Mental Health (DMH) have communicated that their department has been unable to fill positions for overnight and weekend clinical positions. Staff anticipates that staffing up an additional team operating during weekday business hours will occur more quickly and yield more impactful results than one that operates after hours.
B. Santa Monica Fire Department Community Response Unit During the FY 2021-2023 biennial budget process, Council approved funding ($479,643) for the SMFD to pilot a Community Response Unit (CRU) as a priority project to address homelessness. The mission of the CRU is to improve the safety, health, and wellbeing of our community’s vulnerable populations. The CRU is a force multiplier among the City’s network of service providers and adds value by leveraging 9- 1-1 interactions as opportunities to better assist and navigate our community’s vulnerable populations to the services they need.
A standard Paramedic Fire Engine and Ambulance is designed to quickly assess, treat, and transport patients to hospital emergency rooms and then be ready for the next emergency. But when the 9-1-1 call is less urgent and the solution is not necessarily the emergency room, the CRU has the latitude to spend more time on scene with those in need, make connections, and help get them to the right resources to solve their problem. The CRU, composed of two firefighters (one of whom is also a paramedic), went in service in September 2021, after members received 80 hours of specialized training in mental health emergencies, crisis communications, de-escalation, and substance use disorders. The CRU works in collaboration with other City staff – especially the Housing and Human Services Division of the Community Services Department and the SMPD HLP Team – regional agencies, and non-profits to provide linkages to local and regional resources for housing and supportive services. The 30 of 50
CRU’s ability to provide in-depth care and participate in collaborative meetings with partners allows other first responders and emergency room resources to be freed up for higher acuity emergency calls. SMFD also received approval from the Local EMS Agency (LEMSA) to allow the CRU to transport non-emergency patients to destinations other than local hospital emergency rooms, including Exodus Recovery’s 24-Hour Mental Health Urgent Care Center. Since its launch on September 13, 2021 through April 22, 2022, the CRU has responded to 300 calls for service, with 196 of those involving people experiencing homelessness. Handling these lower acuity calls in this manner has freed up front line Paramedic Fire Engine Companies 164 times, keeping those resources available for more urgent calls. The CRU has transported 10 patients to Exodus Psychiatric Urgent Care Center, bypassing local emergency rooms.
The CRU has developed a list of the top 35 residential callers of 9-1-1, who are often elderly and disabled residents who need care beyond the 9-1-1 system. The CRU attaches to 9-1-1 calls to those addresses whenever they are in service. Because of this engagement, three residents have been reported to Adult Protective Services (APS) for neglect and abuse. In all, 118 service referrals have been given, and the CRU regularly follows up with West Coast Care, SCAN, WISE & Healthy Aging, Housing and Human Services and hospital emergency department social workers regarding these ongoing cases.
C. Department of Mental Health Therapeutic Transport Program In the summer and fall of 2020, the 15-member Public Safety Reform Advisory Committee formed and presented its initial recommendations to the City Council.
Following one of the committee’s recommendations, the City, in partnership with DMH, agreed to launch an alternative response pilot for those experiencing mental health crises. The Therapeutic Transport Program will be exclusively dedicated to Santa Monica to be deployed to de-escalate mental health crises occurring on the streets, provide services, and transport a person to the hospital if needed. This model offers a safer, more dignified response than law enforcement alone, expedites access to vital services and case management, and frees up first responders to focus on other 31 of 50
community safety priorities. The van, staffed by licensed mental health clinicians, a therapeutic driver, and a community health worker with lived experience, have recently launched in other parts of Los Angeles County, including West Los Angeles.
Once fully staffed and operationalized, the Santa Monica Therapeutic Transport Program is expected to be available on a 24/7 schedule and deployed through the City’s existing Public Safety Communications system, however staffing has been a significant obstacle to deploying this service. Overall, the County is challenged in hiring staff, but specifically challenged in finding staff willing to commit to working 7pm – 7am and on weekends. They are also challenged because so many staff do not want field positions right now, but rather want to telework.
City staff continues to meet with County DMH staff to determine if there are alternative hiring approaches, such as phasing in shifts starting with daytime and expanding into overnight and weekends as staff become available. This might trigger modifications to the MOU, which would need to then go back the Board of Supervisors, so staff will be looking at all approaches to launch the DMH van as soon as possible even if it is in a more limited-service model initially to avoid further delay. While not exclusively dedicated to homelessness, this new resource will increase the City’s capacity to respond to behavioral health crises with street-based interventions.
D. Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI)
The City’s strategies for addressing the impacts of homelessness have long relied on both effective service delivery and the enforcement of applicable laws for the purpose of public health and safety. In line with local and nationwide calls for criminal justice reform, the Santa Monica CAO, in collaboration with SMPD and Exodus Recovery, launched the Santa Monica location of the Alternatives to Incarceration (ATI) Pre-Filing Diversion Program, funded by Los Angeles County Measure J.
Building off nearly two decades of collaborative therapeutic justice initiatives, the City’s latest diversion program connects those arrested who self-report experiencing homelessness, substance use disorders, or mental health issues with an alternative to a 32 of 50
criminal filing by immediately connecting them with an onsite service provider. Exodus Recovery staff are imbedded in the Santa Monica Jail 24-hours a day, 7 days a week, to screen those who are booked to determine eligibility. Some charges and criminal history disqualify participation in the program. Based on the assessed needs, Exodus describes the program including housing or treatment options available to the candidate. Once a candidate accepts the program, Exodus arranges for immediate transport from the jail to the housing or treatment location. A case manager is assigned to the participant and a care plan is created. If the participant follows the care plan, after 90 days their criminal case will not be filed. If the participant rejects the program or refuses to participate in the care plan, their criminal case will be filed.
The Santa Monica ATI Pre-Filing Diversion Program launched in September 2021. To date there have been over 200 arrestees screened by SMPD. Of those, 53 qualified for ATI. There are currently 28 people enrolled in ATI and 7 have successfully graduated from the program. The seven individuals that successfully completed the program have not been rearrested in Santa Monica since their graduation. Understanding that Santa Monica’s unique local needs are different from other Pre-Filing Diversion sites throughout the County, the CAO and SMPD staff continue to advocate with ATI leaders to adjust the program’s eligibility criteria to maximize its impacts among people arrested in Santa Monica.
E. Behavioral Health Center Feasibility Study
As discussed earlier in this report, the City recognizes the need for greater capacity to address the unmet behavioral health needs of both housed and unhoused residents, especially on a 24/7 basis. The City is studying different models to address this gap, assessing resources and identifying partnerships both locally and in the region. In March 2022, CSD released a Request for Proposals (Attachment K) seeking a crossdiscipline expert team to advise the City and support the development of a comprehensive behavioral health strategy, to include a community engagement process, and to evaluate the feasibility and development of an operational plan and site assessment for a potential 24/7 behavioral health center on City-owned land. Staff 33 of 50
anticipates returning to Council in summer 2022 with recommendation of award of contract. Community engagement would follow.
F. Providence Saint John’s Development Agreement Community Benefits On March 22, 2022, Council adopted a resolution approving the Providence Saint John’s Health Center Phase Two Master Plan. The community benefits of the Master Plan include ten units of deed-restricted affordable housing and a significant financial investment of at least $10 million to support City initiatives to address the community’s unmet behavioral health needs. It is staff’s hope that the results of the behavioral health strategy community engagement process will inform Council’s decision to use Providence Saint John’s Development Agreement funds for capital needs or operational funding to advance identified community priorities. The City has also initiated discussions with Providence Saint John’s and the Department of Mental Health to discuss shared goals and identify appropriate roles in the development of added behavioral health programs and facilities serving vulnerable Santa Monica populations.
PILLAR 2: NEXT STEPS
Attachment H outlines key citywide investments for consideration to advance the delivery of behavioral health services to vulnerable individuals, led by the creation of an additional multidisciplinary street team to provide coverage outside of the Downtown Santa Monica and beach areas. The new multidisciplinary team would also provide services that advance Pillar 3 and maintaining safe and healthy open spaces. Two additional investments outlined in Attachment H primarily advance Pillar 3 strategies, but also impact services to vulnerable populations: expanding the SMPD HLP Team and redesigning the SAMOSHEL program scope to facilitate after-hours intakes for City referrals.
Staff will return to Council this summer with a recommendation to grant an award for the Request for Proposals seeking an expert team to develop a Citywide behavioral health strategy, and community engagement will follow. Staff will seek opportunities for local implementation of Governor Newsom’s framework for CARE Court to provide additional pathways to appropriate treatment for the community’s most vulnerable members 34 of 50
suffering from persistent psychotic disorders. As stated previously in the report, any new front-end responses such as street-based engagement teams will yield the greatest results as part of an optimized system as permanent and affordable housing resources increase throughout the region.
PILLAR 3:
PILLAR 3: CURRENT ACTIVITIES
A. Santa Monica Police Department Homeless Liaison Program The HLP Team is dedicated to contacting and connecting persons experiencing homelessness with social service providers. A key component of the team’s strategy is to change the behavior of certain persons through enforcement, diversion programs such as the Alternatives to Incarceration and mental health assistance. The HLP Team began in the 1990’s with varying deployment strategies being utilized. Currently, a key to the team’s strategy is to emphasize that enforcement and outreach work simultaneously with coordinated follow-up with City and County partners and service providers.
The HLP Team normally consists of one Police Sergeant and nine Police Officers, but due to staffing shortages, the unit is operating with an acting sergeant and six officers and one Department Mental Health Clinician that works collaboratively with the Santa Monica CAO, SMFD and CSD to identify those eligible for local and regional social services. Each department networks together in the field, court or a care facility to ensure that, when appropriate, alternatives to incarceration are an option. SMPD continues to maintain a relationship with the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health (DMH). DMH provides the Department with two full-time clinicians, with one 35 of 50
assigned to the HLP Team and the other assigned to Patrol Operations Division. In 2021, the DMH clinicians attached to SMPD completed 284 crisis evaluations resulting in 170 linkages to psychiatric urgent care or hospitalization.
Several of the HLP Team’s responsibilities include but are not limited to the following:
• Enforce local quality of life laws and ordinances,
• Advocate for and connect individuals experiencing homelessness, mental health and substance abuse issues with appropriate services,
• Maintain and make available to all SMPD employees a comprehensive list of assistance programs and other resources available to persons experiencing homelessness,
• Regularly meet with social service providers and representatives of other organizations that render assistance to persons experiencing homelessness, • Remain abreast of all laws dealing with the removal or destruction of personal property when dealing with encampments or detainments,
• Coordinate and participate in clean-up efforts conducted in the city which may involve enforcement or removal of personal property, and • Develop training to assist officer's department-wide in comprehending the most up to date legal challenges and social issues when dealing with persons experiencing homelessness.
In addition to the HLP Team which deploys Monday-Thursday, on a daily basis SMPD responds to a wide variety of calls for service involving individuals experiencing homelessness. The Police Department’s Neighborhood Resource Officers (NROs) are widely responsible for neighborhood and business complaints of persistent crime and quality of life complaints in the City that are directly tied to homelessness. SMPD is utilizing additional technologies to assist its field-based personnel, to include mobile cameras. As an example of the work being done by SMPD, during the week of April 10, 2022, the Police Department received 2,409 9-1-1 calls for service. Of those, 329 calls (13%) were related to homelessness. In this 7-day period alone, the Police Department addressed 55 calls involving reports of homeless encampments. During the week of 36 of 50
April 10, 2022, the PD made 41 total arrests, and 63% of arrestees during this week self-identified as homeless.
Lastly, the SMPD’s Public Safety Officers (PSOs) are deployed on the Promenade and the most active parks such as Reed, Palisades, Ocean View, and Tongva Parks with the specific task of maintaining public safety in the parks. On a daily basis, the PSOs work collaboratively with SMPD officers and HLP Team members to address the issue of homelessness on the Promenade and our public parks.
B. People, Outreach, Providers Citation Clearing Events In light of COVID-19’s impact on the regional court system, including the emergency zero bail schedule and recent statutory reduction in misdemeanor sentencing, the CAO, SMPD, and CSD developed a new opportunity to connect justice-involved individuals to regional resources. The quarterly People, Outreach, Providers (“POP”) Citation Clearing Events offer services to people who have recently received certain qualifying nonviolent misdemeanor citations. In return for their meaningful participation in services, the CAO agrees not to file charges. The event, held in Santa Monica, brings representatives from various local and regional service providers into the community to help address the underlying issues contributing to an individual’s involvement with law enforcement through connection to mainstream benefits and the county service system. This event focuses on individuals who are new to Santa Monica and have limited contact with law enforcement. The goal is to connect these participants to regional resources outside of the City so that they can begin the process of removing barriers to housing. In 2021, SMPD issued approximately 120 POP eligible citations and more than 40 citations were dismissed for 40 participants who connected with regional services at the quarterly POP events.
C. DTSM Parks Ambassadors
The Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) Ambassadors provide hospitality and maintenance services in the Downtown Santa Monica business assessment zone, and in 2017 expanded their service areas to include Tongva and Palisades Parks. Based on the success of the program, in 2019, the City expanded the agreement to add Parks 37 of 50
Ambassadors at Reed Park. While not specifically a homeless-based service, all Ambassadors receive specific training on de-escalation, engaging people experiencing homelessness and providing referral information to local/regional social service agencies. DTSM’s Quality of Life (QOL) Ambassadors possess enhanced skills/training and work collaboratively with the City’s outreach teams and first responders to effectively engage people experiencing homelessness while addressing disruptive and unsafe behavior in the downtown area. In line with the City’s commitment to ensuring a clean and safe Santa Monica, Council continued funding for the DTSM Parks Ambassadors through the FY 2021-22 biennial budget. In calendar year 2021, DTSM Parks Ambassadors provided more than 1,100 social service referrals, while also educating visitors on park rules and maintaining restrooms and inviting open spaces.
D. Public Works Efforts
On a grander scale, the Public Works department cleans, maintains and improves the City’s public spaces for the enjoyment of all Santa Monicans. Every day, hundreds of groundskeepers, equipment operators, custodians, maintenance workers and RRR staff support a “Clean and Safe” Santa Monica by ensuring that high levels of sanitization and safety are achieved at our beach, in our parks, on our streets and in our facilities (bathrooms, public buildings). Over time, the impacts of homelessness on City operations has grown substantially as the reliance on City facilities (i.e., bathrooms, public buildings) has increased, and behavioral health issues of some unhoused residents impact staff safety and ability to access facilities, resulting in more time and resources being dedicated to maintenance efforts than in the past.
In addition to the enhanced maintenance of City facilities, Public Works has also needed to actively reduce nuisances in several hotspot locations throughout the City’s park system. Notably, Chess Park was substantially altered in late winter 2022 amid concerns of dangerous day and nighttime activity at that location. Similarly, in 2021, the City made modifications to Palisades Park by removing benches and screens in hotspot locations, converting the Petanque Courts into a new landscaping feature, and adding surveillance devices to the Senator Jones Memorial bench in an effort to thwart vandalism and encampments at that location. To further support collaborative efforts, 38 of 50
later this spring, SMPD personnel will provide specialized de-escalation training to Public Works staff to help promote more effective engagement and reduce negative encounters with people experiencing homelessness or behavioral health issues.
E. Santa Monica Public Library Engagement Efforts
The Public Library’s efforts in maintaining equitable access to open public library spaces include a strong front-line team of Library Services Officers (LSO) that serve as connections to the HLP Team, Housing and Human Services Division staff, and outreach workers for people experiencing homelessness. Through a greeter desk and interior and exterior patrols at each library location, the LSO Team engages with unhoused individuals every day. Their responsibilities include the consistent monitoring of behaviors and conduct to ensure a safe, enjoyable public space for all visitors.
Access to vital resources such as the internet, computers, literacy programs, and reading and media materials equip even the most vulnerable individuals with tools to help improve their lives. By removing economic barriers, such as library fines, and providing trained library staff to address information needs, SMPL remains a trusted resource for unhoused individuals and families.
PILLAR 3: NEXT STEPS
Attachment H outlines key citywide investments for consideration that primarily advance Pillar 3, including expanding the SMPD HLP Team and redesigning the SAMOSHEL program scope to facilitate after-hours intakes for City referrals. These potential investments also advance Pillar 2 by providing pathways to care for people in the City’s parks and open spaces.
39 of 50
PILLAR 4:
According to LAHSA, recent significant investments have resulted in the County’s shelter capacity increasing by 57% increase over the past three years. LAHSA’s 2020 Homeless Services System Analysis estimated a relatively small need for 307 new interim housing resources across the County, reinforcing the much greater need for more permanent housing resources to create an optimized system. The creation of new interim housing options on the Westside likely prevented a steep increase in Santa Monica’s 2022 street count, despite reduced interim housing bed capacity locally. This reinforces the importance of strengthening regional capacity to address homelessness, through the equitable distribution of resources and homeless services infrastructure throughout the County.
PILLAR 4: CURRENT ACTIVITIES
A. Project Roomkey and Homekey
At its peak, Project Roomkey provided 3,600 hotel/motel rooms to COVID-vulnerable people experiencing homelessness at 37 sites across L.A. County. Building off Project Roomkey’s efforts, the Homekey program aims to rapidly expand interim and permanent housing options through $1.4 billion in state grant funding. In March 2022, the City of Culver City announced it had been awarded $26.6 million in state funding for a Homekey grant to create 39 new rooms of interim housing and 37 residences of permanent supportive housing for people experiencing chronic homelessness. Nonprofit service provider Exodus Recovery will provide individualized supportive services to participants at both sites. The Culver City Homekey developments are expected to open by the end of 2022. To date, at least 37 developments in L.A. County have been awarded state Homekey funds, providing a rapid and significant increase to the region’s 40 of 50
interim and permanent supportive housing supply. Homekey developments on the Westside in Venice and Westchester opened in 2021. As more resources – especially affordable and permanent supportive housing – come online throughout the region, Santa Monica may begin to shoulder less of the region’s burden on addressing homelessness.
B. Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness
On July 27, 2021, the LA County Board of Supervisors passed a motion to create a Blue Ribbon Commission for Homelessness (BRCH), directed to “research and analyze various homelessness governance reports, studying models from across the nation and providing feedback to the Board regarding the most relevant and effective models, with the intention of implementing reform to help solve the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles County.” The City was invited to be interviewed by BRCH staff, as well as present to the Commission the challenges and opportunities cities see in improving the way homelessness is managed across LA County. On March 30, 2022, following months of meetings, listening sessions and interviews with hundreds of stakeholders, the BRCH released a comprehensive report of its findings. The comprehensive report outlined seven recommendations to improve the regional homeless services system with a focus on clarifying leadership roles within the system, eliminating silos and promoting collaboration between various agencies. Santa Monica was one of dozens of cities that participated in the BRCH proceedings, and the report and recommendations strive to address the shared concerns raised including greater direct access to Measure H funds for smaller cities to implement local solutions, streamlining LAHSA’s role, and ensuring smaller cities have a larger voice in policy and governance decisions. The Board of Supervisors will review the recommendations at a future Board meeting and make their own recommendations for next steps regarding which recommendations to further explore and/or implement.
C. Westside Cities Council of Governments
On April 14, 2022 the Board of the Westside Cities Council of Governments adopted a subregional homelessness strategy (Attachment L) developed by staff from the member cities (Beverly Hills, Culver City, Santa Monica and West Hollywood), LA City Council 41 of 50
Districts 5 and 11, and County Supervisorial Districts 2, 3 and 4. The strategy outlines 6 shared priorities:
Prevention
• Increase supports for renters to ensure they can stay in their homes and communities.
Behavioral Health
• Expand sub-regional capacity to address the community’s behavioral health needs through increased collaboration and partnerships with the County, local hospital systems, philanthropy, and community partners. • Build robust behavioral health alternative crisis response systems including dispatch, first responder services, and crisis-receiving facilities in the region to appropriately connect people experiencing behavioral and mental health crises to the continuum of care and treatment services instead of the criminal justice system. • Expand first responder system capacity to support alternatives to law enforcement to address low-risk behavioral health crisis incidents.
Data
• Improve data sharing across the subregion to better inform deployment of supportive services and development of housing resources.
High Road Career Pathways & Training
• Leverage workforce development opportunities to:
• Create high road career pathways for unhoused, formerly unhoused individuals, and homeless outreach service workers,
• Expand workforce and improve job quality and support homeless outreach service workers, and
• Provide uniform and consistent training for frontline city staff who regularly interface with unhoused residents.
Housing
• Remove barriers to and increase housing production through innovative development and financing strategies.
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Communications and Advocacy:
• Improve coordination and collaboration with public agencies (local, state, and federal) and local community partners to address homelessness.
• Standardize a regional communication strategy to inform the progress and updates of outreach and other efforts to prevent and address homelessness.
• Position WSCCOG to engage on behalf of member cities with county, state and federal electeds for district-specific funding and resources to improve homeless services and prevention.
Advocate for subregional support.
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D. Legislative Advocacy
As detailed in the City’s Federal and State Legislative Platforms adopted biannually by the Council (Attachment M), staff continues to advocate for legislation and resources at the state and federal level that would address and prevent homelessness by maintaining and expanding the inventory of affordable housing, protecting low-income renters from eviction, expanding the availability of treatment for mental health and substance use disorders, and providing for alternatives to incarceration.
Additionally, staff has submitted a proposal for FY2023 federal Community Project Funding to our Congressional delegation to fund the first year of operating costs for the first phase of a 24/7 Behavioral Health center whose initial focus would be on people experiencing homelessness in Santa Monica. It would serve as a safe alternative for first responders to drop off people who could benefit from behavioral health care and do not meet the level of crisis to require emergency rooms, psychiatric urgent cares, or jail.
At the state level, the Governor and legislature continue to prioritize substantial investments in addressing homelessness; however, the funding is allocated to Continuums of Care, Counties, and the largest 13 cities in the state. The City continues to advocate for direct funding to small and medium-sized cities such as Santa Monica to assist in funding local initiatives to address homelessness in our communities.
PILLAR 4: NEXT STEPS
Staff will continue to advocate for increased infrastructure and service capacity throughout the Westside and LA County to reduce the burden on local infrastructure and programs. Staff will build off the recommendations of the BRCH to amplify opportunities for advocacy, improved governance and coordination at the regional systems level, and increased roles for cities. Toward that end, staff may return seeking Council authorization if needed to apply for LA County Measure H funding for cities.
Staff will continue to participate in the evolution and implementation of the WSCCOG subregional strategy to build capacity to address homelessness on the Westside. 44 of 50
KEY INVESTMENTS FOR FY 2022-23 BUDGET CONSIDERATION
The Homelessness Leadership Pod is comprised of representatives from several departments who meet monthly to advance policy and initiatives addressing the community priority of homelessness. In preparation for the FY 2022-23 Proposed Budget, the Leadership Pod reviewed a series of potential investments (outlined in Attachment H) to advance the Four Pillars, and based on projected available funding and resource gaps, recommends Council endorsement of three key investments to be considered as part of the FY2022-23 Proposed Budget:
A. SMPD HLP Team Expansion
The SMPD HLP team is currently in service four, ten-hour days per week. A proposed expansion of the HLP Team – at an estimated additional cost of $1.8 million per year – would allow the team to expand coverage to seven days per week or augment existing efforts through alternative schedules to align with municipal code sections, such as park closure. Filling newly-established, additional HLP officer positions is expected to take at least 12 months due to the need to address current vacancies in the Police Department.
B. New Multidisciplinary Street Team
The existing City-funded C3 multidisciplinary teams provide weekday coverage to the areas of Santa Monica with the highest concentration of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness, including Downtown, the beach and adjacent parks.
Currently, areas outside of the C3 teams’ boundaries are left to be covered by the St.
Joseph Center County-funded E6 multidisciplinary teams – which are not exclusively dedicated to Santa Monica and spend approximately two half-days per week in the City.
An additional City-funded multidisciplinary street team – at an additional estimated cost of $400,000 per year – would ensure citywide weekday coverage. Timing for the deployment of a new multidisciplinary team would vary depending upon procurement processes.
C. SAMOSHEL Program Redesign for 24/7 Intakes for City Referrals As described previously in the report, local and regional homeless service systems lack options for first responders to drop-off participants to programs that can address their 45 of 50
immediate needs. Staff recommends adding staffing capacity and infrastructure changes to the existing SAMOSHEL interim housing program to accommodate 24/7 intakes for City referrals. If approved, this limited scope program redesign will provide additional options for after-hours intake and facilitate direct referrals by City entities (including SMPD) for people experiencing homelessness and non-urgent behavioral health issues. The estimated additional costs include $600,000 for ongoing operations and $200,000 in one-time capital improvements. If approved, the implementation of this limited scope redesign will inform the development of the City’s longer-term behavioral health strategy and infrastructure.
Recent Communication and Engagement Efforts
Since the “Overview of Homeless Outreach and Hygiene Services” Information Item (Attachment F) was published in January 2022, the City provided a community update on efforts to Address Homelessness through Seascape, our community newsletter. This update was mailed to 60,000 Santa Monica addresses and posted to the City’s website and social media. Key information included who is experiencing homelessness in LA County, how the City is addressing homelessness, what is Measure H, a recap of outreach services, affordable housing opportunities, and the latest results of efforts to address homelessness. Resources for Santa Monica residents and businesses providing key contacts and reasons to reach out were also included.
Additional communications and outreach efforts are planned for the spring and summer 2022 including an update to the City’s website at santamonica.gov, regular information sharing to our email and social media contacts, and a city-wide mailing. 2022-23 HOMELESSNESS WORKPLAN
Every City department plays a role in the coordinated efforts to prevent and address homelessness, as well as responding to the impacts of homelessness. To organize the City’s work, increase transparency and clearly articulate how City actions are responsive to community needs, staff is introducing a new citywide Homelessness Workplan (Attachment N) for Council consideration and feedback. The proposed Workplan would be a way to collect and measure data directly tied to the activities of 46 of 50
each department under each of the Four Pillars and would streamline communications with Council and the community. Staff proposes to keep this Workplan updated on a regular basis as a source of reliable and consistent information on what activities the City is undertaking and the data to measure impact.
Next Steps
The Discussion section of this report details a blend of new and existing programs and interventions to prevent and address homelessness, and identifies key opportunities for new investments. When resources allow, staff will return with additional investment proposals. A timeline of anticipated opportunities for Council to provide direction to staff on efforts to address homelessness include:
A. Short-Term (next 0-6 months)
• Pending Council direction, staff will return during the FY2022-23 budget process with three key budget enhancement proposals:
o Expanding the SMPD HLP Team;
o Establishing and deploying an additional multidisciplinary street team to provide coverage outside of the Downtown Santa Monica and beach areas; and
o Redesigning the SAMOSHEL program scope to facilitate after-hours intakes for City referrals.
The draft budget will be presented at the May 24, 2022 Council meeting. • Staff will return to Council this summer with a proposal to update Below Market Housing (BMH) waitlist priorities to prioritize households with Emergency Housing Vouchers (EHVs) based on Council guidance and a community input process.
• Staff will return to Council with a proposal to utilize HOME-ARP funds based on Council guidance and community input process.
B. Medium-Term (6-12 months)
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• Staff will return to Council with recommendations to award a bid and execute an agreement with the selected vendor for Behavioral Health Center Feasibility Study RFP.
• Staff may return seeking Council authorization if needed to apply for LA County Measure H funding for Cities.
C. Long-Term (12+ months)
• Staff and partner agencies will participate in the Moss Adams Homelessness Audit, and will ask Council to review and discuss findings upon its completion. • As the Behavioral Health Center Feasibility Study community engagement process progresses, staff will return to Council seeking direction on the implementation of a communitywide behavioral health strategy. • As resources allow, staff will return with additional investment proposals to implement Moss Adams Homelessness Audit recommendations. • Construction will continue or begin on several key permanent and affordable housing developments, including the Laurel at 1413 Michigan Ave and the conversion of former Parking Structure 3, adding to the City’s affordable housing supply.
Staff will also continue to monitor the impact of recently implemented projects, including the DMH Therapeutic Transport Van and the impacts of changes to parks and open spaces, through the lens of the Homelessness Workplan.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
With City Council endorsement of key investments for FY2022-23 outlined in Attachment H, staff will include funding requests with the FY2022-23 Proposed Budget being presented to Council on May 24, 2022. The annual costs of these key investments and planned expenditures would be:
1. $1,800,000 to expand the SMPD HLP Team as the Police Department is able to fill current vacancies9;
2. $400,000 to establish and deploy an additional multidisciplinary street team to provide coverage outside of the Downtown Santa Monica and beach areas; and 9 Until existing Police Department vacancies have been filled, if approved by City Council, these resources will be used to support the Pier Vending Task Force. 48 of 50
3. $600,000 for operational costs to redesign the SAMOSHEL program scope to facilitate after-hours intakes for City referrals.
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
Staff also seeks authority to approve the use of budgeted ARPA – Emergency Assistance funds to award an agreement with Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles to provide emergency eviction prevention legal services and support to Santa Monica residents who continue to be impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Agreement Request
FY 2021-22 Budget
Request Amount Department/Account # Total Contract Amount $200,000 01400003.556550 $200,000
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Prepared By: Brian Hardgrave, Administrative Analyst
Approved Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. May 8, 2017 Information Item (Web Link)
B. March 26, 2019 Staff Report (Web Link)
C. February 23, 2021 Staff Report (Web Link)
D. May 26, 2021 Staff Report (Web Link)
E. September 3, 2021 Information Item (Web Link)
F. January 6, 2022 Information Item (Web Link)
G. February 8, 2022 Staff Report (Web Link)
H. 2022 Santa Monica Homeless Count Results Map
I. Summary of Possible FY22-23 Budget Proposals
J. LAHSA 2021 HOME-ARP Funding Recommendations Memo
K. Behavioral Health Center Feasibility Study RFP (Web Link) 50 of 50
L. WSCCOG Subregional Homelessness Strategic Work Plan
M. Santa Monica Legislative Platforms (Web Link)
N. Homelessness Workplan
O. Written Comment