1 City Council Meeting: March 11, 2025 Santa Monica, California 2025 PROCLAMATION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF
SANTA MONICA DECLARING A LOCAL EMERGENCY ON HOMELESSNESS WHEREAS, Santa Monica Municipal Code Chapter 2.16 empowers the City Manager, as the Director of Emergency Services (“Director”), to request that the City Council proclaim the existence or threatened existence of a local emergency if the City Council is in session; and
WHEREAS, on February 14, 2023, the City adopted a Proclamation Declaring a Local Emergency on Homelessness due to the homelessness crisis in the region, which continues to grow, leading to deplorable living conditions and illness and deaths of unhoused and unsheltered persons in the region, which was extended to May 31, 2024; and
WHEREAS, on May 14, 2024 the City adopted a further Proclamation Declaring a Local Emergency on Homelessness (“the 2024 Proclamation”); WHEREAS, the 2024 Proclamation was utilized to advance several key initiatives related to homelessness, including but not limited to:
1. Extending the term of an existing acquisition and predevelopment loan with Community Corporation of Santa Monica (CCSM) and making a loan commitment to CCSM for the rehabilitation and development of affordable housing at 2033-2101 Virginia Avenue;
2. Making a loan commitment to CCSM for the development of affordable housing at 1342 Berkeley Street;
2 3. Approving an agreement with Exodus Recovery, Inc. as the primary service provider for the SaMo Bridge program;
4. Approving an agreement with Willscot for the lease of mobile trailers for the SaMo Bridge program;
5. Approving an agreement with Elizabeth Anderson Consulting (EAC) for grant administration services for the SaMo Bridge program;
6. Approving an agreement with Moss Adams for evaluation and audit services for the SaMo Bridge program;
7. Modifying an agreement with Main Street Computing to extend the term and to add functionality to affordable housing compliance monitoring software;
8. Executing an agreement with Carahsoft for employment verification software for tenants and applicants in Santa Monica programs that keep people stably housed;
9. Modifying a contract with Capstone Solutions for behavioral health consulting services;
10.Executing a Letter of Intent with Exodus Recovery, Inc. dedicating four beds at the Westside Mental Health Urgent Care Center (UCC) for Santa Monica use;
11.Modifying an agreement with the County of Los Angeles to extend the term and allow for continued operation of the Therapeutic Transport Team program.
3 WHEREAS, based on the 2024 Point-In-Time Homeless Count (“2024 PITC”) data , there were 75,312 people experiencing homeless in Los Angeles County; and WHEREAS, based on the 2024 PITC data for Service Planning Area 5 (SPA 5), the SPA Santa Monica is in, there were 5,383 people experiencing homelessness; and WHEREAS, based on the 2024 PITC data, there were 774 people experiencing homelessness in Santa Monica; and
WHEREAS, the Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority (Metro) conducted an End of Line Survey in January 2025, and found 39 unhoused persons were unsheltered at the Santa Monica Downtown Metro Station given Metro’s current End of Line policy, which requires deboarding of all passengers and belongings at the end of the line when trains go out of service; and
WHEREAS, according to a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services report published in October 2023, the fastest growing group in the nation’s population of people experiencing homelessness is older adults, composing nearly half of the homeless population nationwide, and a number that is expected to triple by 2030, and older adult homelessness has increased by 25% in the Los Angeles Continuum of Care between 2020 and 2024; and
WHEREAS, a California Statewide Study of People Experiencing Homelessness (CASPEH) found that high housing costs and low income left participants vulnerable to homelessness, and that the most common reason for leaving housing was economic; and WHEREAS, the Los Angeles County’s COVID-19 Eviction Moratorium that protected tenants from eviction who were under 80% of Area Median Income who were 4 unable to pay rent due to the pandemic expired March 31, 2023 and tenants had up to twelve (12) months to repay past due rent owed to avoid risk of eviction; and WHEREAS, the number of eviction lawsuits provided to the Santa Monica City Attorney’s office in 2024 increased by over 28% from the number provided in 2023, with
84.8% of 2024 eviction lawsuits based on nonpayment of rent, suggesting even more tenants at risk of eviction and homelessness than in 2023; and WHEREAS, at its March 11, 2023 workshop, the City Council reaffirmed Preventing Homelessness as a priority, adopting the following Priority Statement:
“Prevent housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless and increase the supply of affordable housing; address the behavioral health needs of vulnerable individuals; and advocate for regional capacity to address homelessness”; and WHEREAS, the ongoing crisis of homelessness continues as evidenced by the following:
1. In 2024, of the total arrests in the City, 60% were attributable to people experiencing homelessness;
2. The number of calls-for-service to the Fire Department attributed to people experiencing homelessness constituted 16% of the total call volume in 2024 and fire incidents related to people experiencing homelessness were 39% (180 out of 459 total fires);
3. In 2024, SMPD responded to 1,648 calls related to encampments, and the HLP Team handled 862 requests to address encampments through the 311 system;
4. Per SMPD, there were 22 public death cases of people experiencing homelessness in 2024;
5 5. In 2024, the Public Works Department estimates that on an average monthly basis, approximately 224 individuals experiencing homelessness were identified in the areas that are serviced by the Department; WHEREAS, the City of Culver City, County of Los Angeles, City of Los Angeles, and City of Long Beach have each declared or proclaimed a local emergency to address homelessness; and
WHEREAS, Los Angeles County is experiencing a massive workforce shortage which has led to understaffing and challenges hiring and retaining staff due to the demands of the work of addressing and preventing homelessness, leading to delays in implementing programs, such as the Therapeutic Transport Team; and WHEREAS, when combined with workforce shortages experienced throughout the County, and strict civil service rules, the City struggles to fill positions expeditiously, if at all, which hampers the City’s ability to create necessary organizational capacity to effectively implement programs and services needed to address and prevent homelessness; and
WHEREAS, the recent Palisades Fire resulted in the loss of 6,837 homes which will exacerbate the existing local housing crisis in terms of affordability and availability; and
WHEREAS, the conditions that existed at the time the 2024 Proclamation was adopted persist, and, therefore, the City Council finds it necessary to issue another Proclamation Declaring a Local Emergency on Homelessness through December 31, 2026 (“2025 Proclamation”), to expeditiously increase City services and programs to address and prevent homelessness; and
6 WHEREAS, another proclamation of local emergency on homelessness would enable the City to:
1. Receive additional county, state, and federal resources to address the homelessness crisis to further efforts such as:
a. Expanding multi-disciplinary outreach teams;
b. Providing enhanced supports for individuals that are rent burdened to prevent homelessness;
2. Prevent rental price gouging through enforcement of Penal Code 396(e) during the existence of the Proclamation;
3. Streamline and expedite City processes and approvals concerning development, deployment of resources, employment, contracting, grant approvals, receipt, budgeting, and community activities to assist in expediting services and housing for people who are at-risk of or experiencing homelessness or to address local impacts of homelessness;
4. Streamline, accelerate, and expedite processes to implement the 2021-2029 Council approved Housing Element regarding City-owned land identified for affordable housing;
5. Authorize the Director of the Community Development Department, or designee, to approve temporary uses located on City property or utilizing City funds that support people who are at-risk of or experiencing homelessness or to address local impacts of homelessness.
6. Issue requests for proposals to identify development teams with demonstrated capacity to design, finance, construct, and operate affordable housing and 7 execute agreements and ground leases with selected development teams. The selection of any development teams involving City-owned land would be subject to Council approval;
7. Leverage Housing Trust Fund resources and streamline, accelerate, and expedite the process to review and approve loan commitments for affordable housing developments that serve Santa Monicans who are homeless or at-risk of homelessness, or Santa Monica residents and workers; and
8. Allow the City Manager to take all available actions authorized under Chapter
2.16. NOW THEREFORE, IT IS HEREBY PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that a local emergency on homelessness exists in the City of Santa Monica; and IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that during the existence of this local emergency the powers, functions, and duties of the emergency organization of the City shall be those prescribed by state law, and by ordinances, proclamations, and resolutions of the City;
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that the City Manager shall be empowered to seek, receive, budget, and expend all potential funding sources that may be used to address the homelessness crisis;
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that the Proclamation will allow the City Manager to modify or waive the requirements on a case-by-case basis for process, participation, approvals, and limits set forth in the Housing Trust Fund Plan and Housing Trust Fund Guidelines as well as require additional qualifications for projects 8 such as size, target population, and location in order to achieve the production of affordable housing and permanent supportive housing;
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that a copy of this Proclamation be forwarded to the Los Angeles County Office of Emergency Management, to be forwarded to the Director of California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services, requesting that the Director find it acceptable in accordance with State law; and that the Governor issue a proclamation declaring an emergency in Los Angeles County; that the Governor waive regulations that may hinder response and recovery efforts; that recovery assistance be made available under the California Disaster Assistance Act; and that the State expedite access to State and Federal resources and any other appropriate federal disaster relief programs.
IT IS FURTHER PROCLAIMED AND ORDERED that this Proclamation of Local Emergency shall take effect immediately on May 31, 2024, upon expiration of the 2023 Proclamation, and that widespread publicity and notice shall be given of this Proclamation throughout the City; and that this Proclamation shall expire on December 31, 2026, unless repealed or extended by the City Council.
ADOPTED this ____ day of _____, 2025.
By:
__________________
Susan Cline
Acting City Manager
Approved as to form: Attest:
__________________ __________________
Douglas Sloan Nikima Newsome
City Attorney City Clerk
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