SR-301-004-02 (2)
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CI TY com1c:;: L OF TEE C1 IT OF SA!-7TA ~1or;ICA
QtJ T!1F H01ELI:S[.: I~ SAtJTn r'ONICA
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BY
ROBERT Po l'lYI:RS, CI':'Y ]I.'T'~ORlJFY
DrCFrfEER 14JP:4
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f'EP^r~
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TOT H~
CI TY COCTI L ("1' ':'HC CI TY OF sn..r'I'.~ ~~O~;I"CA
or ':"Hr Ha~ELE 5S I K" SP::Tl< tIO~~CI\
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BY
FC'Bf:!1T "'. t1)"'E!ZS, CI TY A....':'CYRl'!FY
DfCpfBER IlJR4
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III
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IV
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v
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VI
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TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page
INTRODUCTION.
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
THE HOMELESS
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4
A. Why and How M.any .. .............................4
B. PsychologIcal and PhYSIological
Consequences of Homelessness.
. . . . . . . . .8
VAGRANCY AND DISORDERLY CONDUCT..
. .15
A.
HistorIcal Overview
. .1~
B
Vagrancy "
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. 16
C.
The Demise of Vagrancy and the Rise of
Disorderly Conduct
19
D
Californ1a's Disorderly Conduct Statute.
22
THE PUBLIC INEBRIATE: THE IMPACT OF
DECRIMINALIZATION ..
. . . . . . . . . . . . . .30
A
HIstorIcal Overview
30
B
PubliC Inebrlatlon as Disorderly Conduct....
31
c.
Sundance and Beyond.
. . . . .3S
D. De Facto Decrlmlnal1zatlon and
Potentlal JudlClal Decrlmlnallzatlon
. 37
E. The Publ1C InebrIate Problem 1n
Santa Monlca
40
PROSECUTION POLICIES..........
. . . . .43
HISTORY AND DEVELOP~ENT OF MENTAL HEALTH
SERVICES IN CALIFORNIA .
. .46
A.
Common Law..........................
. .46
B. California
. . . . . . . . .47
C. The Decllne of Custodlal HospItalizatIon
for the Mentally Ill.. .................... .49
D
The Advent of CommunIty Based Mental
Health Delivery Systems........... .......... .52
i
.
E. The Lanterrnan-Petrls-Short Act................. .54
.
F. LPg Act Custody and CommItment Problems...... . .57
G. The Short-Doyle Act and Commun1ty Mental
Health Programs and FacilIt1es................. .61
H. D1stribut1on of Short-Doyle Community
Mental Health Funds 1n Santa Mon1ca............ .64
.
I. LPS Act Placement and Treatment
AlternatIves . . . . . . .
.68
VII.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS...
. . . . . . .77
APPENDICES
.
AppendIx I :
Append1x II:
.
AppendIx III:
.
Appendlx IV:
AppendIx V.
.
AppendlX VI:
Append1x VII:
.
Art1cle, Santa MonIca Even1ng
Outlook (November 22, 1984)
Bassuk, The Homelessness
Problem, SClentIfIc Amerlcan,
Vol. 251, No 1, p. 40 (July,
1984)
Map ShOWIng LocatIon of Homeless
Shelters and Domestlc V10lence
Shelters 1n Los Angeles County
[1983-84)
Declarat10ns of Homeless Persons 1n
Los Angeles County
C1ty of Santa MonIca Arrests for
Public Drunkeness, 1960-1983
Federal Bureau of InvestIgatlon,
Uniform Crime Reports
City Attorney ProsecutIon PolICies
WIth Respect to AlcoholIC Public
InebrIates, Homeless, and
Indlgents (November 26, 1984)
.
AppendIX VIII: ProsecutIon Summary (January 1,
1984 - November 15, 1984)
AppendlX IX:
.
.
1983-84 Short-Doyle Communlty
Mental Health FundIng Allocat1ons
for Coastal Mental Health Reglon
and Santa Mon1ca West Mental Health
DIstr1ct
~1
.
AppendlX X:
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Summary and Recommendations of the
Amerlcan Psychlatrlc ASSOclation on
The Homeless Mentally III (1984)
111
.
acceptance
INTRODUCTION
beIngs are hIghly socIal
We depend, far more than
to acknowledge, on the
of others and on their
.
Human
creatures.
we care
.
perceptIons of us To a large extent,
precIsely who we are IS reflected In
the attItudes and reactIons other
.
people exhIbIt toward us.
IncluSIon
In the InstItutIons and the fabrIC of
our SOcIety IS Integral to our sense
.
of
substance,
SIgnIfIcance,
well-being,
self-worth
To
be
.
Ignored, cast out, or excommunIcated
1$, In some very real waYJ to cease to
be I am not acknowledged, therefore,
I do not eXIst.
No experIence was
.
more powerful or more ImmedIately
destructive than the exclUSion and the
.
InVISIbIlIty
homelessness.
Homelessness
that
Hombs
accompany
&
Snyder,
In AmerIca:
A Forced
.
March to Nowhere 117 (1982).
It IS an uncontroverted fact that homelessness IS both a
natIonal problem and a natIonal disgrace. The ranks of the
homeless are prImarIly comprIsed of the old, SIck, unemployed,
phYSIcally dIsabled, mentally dIsabled, displaced, and
.
1
.
.
dIsenfranchised,
However,
it would be both naIve and
.
deceptIve to portray the entire homeless population as
harmless. There IS a distInct mInority sUb-group among the
"new" homeless inhabItIng the streets who are young)
able-bodIed, and Jobless Observers note that these
indIviduals prey on the older, defenseless homeless populatIon
and frequently engage In antISOCIal and crImInal behaVIor. It
IS towards thIS crImInal element among the homeless that law
enforcement resources and energy should be focused. Recent
arrests In PalIsades Park of IndIViduals claiming to be
tranSIenLS on felony narcotIcs charges reflects a POlICY
deSIgned to deter crImInal conduct rather than punish status
alone (See AppendIX I,)
An analYSIS of avaIlable statIstical data strongly
supports the conclUSion that the problem of the homeless]
publIC InebrIate] and IndIgent In Santa Monica IS not of
recent orIgIn nor attrIbutable to any change In munICIpal law
enforcement or prosecutorlal POlICY.
Currently, Los Angeles County has the largest populatlon
of homeless people 1n the UnIted States Santa Monlca due to
Its locatIon, clImate, accessIblllty, beaches and numerous
publiC parks] has contInually attracted a slgnlflcant number
of homeless IndIVIduals The SItuatIon In Santa Monlca IS
.
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.
exacerbated by the
shelter facIlltles
County's fallure
and the lack of
to provlde adequate
communIty mental health
.
faCllltles responslve to the needs of the mentally dIsordered
homeless.
2
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In additIon to public and socIal POllCY conslderatlons,
the problem of homelessness In America IS Imbued WIth strong
moral and ethlcal consIderatIons. WhIle great in number, the
homeless are polItIcally powerless They lack both flna~clal
resources and meaningful access to governmental agencIes whIch
are essentlal to redress abuse and neglect. Moreover,
homeless persons are denIed access to the vote In almost all
areas wf the UnIted States SInce they generally lack a maIlIng
address or other proof of reSIdence to qualIfy them to
regIster to vote
LOIterers, wanderers, the homeless, lndlgents and pUblIC
InebrIates have a long and paInful hIstory of engendering
hostIlIty wherever they may be. However, court deCISIons have
properly set clear restralnts upon courts, law enforcement
agenCIes and communltles as to how they may respond to those
who are perceIved as soclal and economlc undeSIrables.
The tIme IS long past when an IndiVIdual may be
SUbJected to arrest and IncarceratIon for a status or
condition rather than for engagIng In crImInal acts or
conduct The law Will not sanctIon munICipalItIes whIch
attempt to banIsh the poor from their environs. They cannot
InItIate "clean up the City" campaIgns In whIch undeslrables
are rounded up and herded to Jail. Only the commISSion of
speCific crimInal acts WIll JustIfy arrest and Incarceration
of any Citizen whether poor or rich. PublIC outrage and
hysteria should never be a substitute for the rule of law
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3
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11. ~HE HOM~LESS
A Why and How Many
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It IS more than dIsquIetIng to walk the streets of Santa
MonIca, and other cItIes across the country, and see the large
and ever-IncreasIng populatIon of homeless/destitute people.
.
What are the socIal forces behind the appearance of so many
people op the street? How does one reconcIle thIS large and
hlghly vlsIble populatIon WIth assurances from our natlonal
.
leaders that we have entered lnto an era of unprecedented
prosperIty?
[H]omelessness appears to be a
.
SOClo-eco~omlC condltlon whlch may be
less the manIfestatIon of lndlvldual
shortcomIngs of homeless lndlvlduals,
.
and more the result of a troubled
economy
WhICh
IS characterIzed by
structural
unemployment,
deIndus-
.
trlallzatlon,
and
the
lack
of
low-lncome housing.~/
.
.
.
l/ Ropers & RObertson, The Inner-City Homeless of 'Los
Angeles. An EmpIrIcal Assessment 33 (1984).
4
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Recent studIes on the causes of homelessness in AmerIca
IndIcate there are presently more AmerIcans who are homeless
.
than at any time since the Great Depression.~/ The authors
cIte large scale governmental reductIons in benefIt programs
IncludIng the SocIal SecurIty DIsabIlIty Insurance Program]
.
and the change In natIonal policy for dealing wIth the
mentally Ill, as prImary factors
in exacerbating the problem
of homelessness.
.
A shortage of low InCome or affordable housIng IS
another sIgnIflcant cause of homelessness.
The largest source
of housIng for IndIvIduals on subsIstence level fIxed Incomes
.
IS SIngle room occupancy hotels and apartments.
HOUSIng of
thIS type] whIle never abundant,
IS rapIdly beIng elImInated
In numerous CItIes ~/ There IS a dIrect correlatIon between
.
the dImInIshIng avaIlabIlIty of low-cost hOUSIng far SIngle
poor people and homelessness
The declIne In the number of
low-cost SIngle-roam-occupancy hotels and roomIng houses 1n
.
urban areas 1n ~he last decade IS cons1dered by experts to be
a
factor
contrIbutIng
to
homelessness
among
SIngle
.
.
~/ UnIted States Department of HOUSIng and Urban
Development. A Report to the Secretary on th~ Hom~less and
Emergency Shelters, Washington, D.C., OffIce of POlICY
Development and Research (1984); Bassuk, The Homelessne~s
Problew, SCIentIfIc AmerIcan, Vol. 251, No.1, p. 40 (July
1984) contaIned In AppendIX II; Robertson, Ropers & Boyer,
~m~rgency Shelter For The Homeles~ In Los Angeles County,
U C L A School of PublIC Health) BaSIC Shelter Research
ProJect (1984).
.
~I InstItute for SOCIal Welfare Research, PrIvate
LInes/PublIC Places: Homeless Adults on the Streets of New
York CIty 31-32 (1981).
5
.
.
indivIduals.~/
RetIrees receIvIng monthly socIal security
retirement benefIts} and the phys1cally and mentally disabled,
.
fInd it dIffIcult to locate and remaIn in housing wIthin theIr
available means.
The fact that indIviduals have income does
not assure them shelter
There are no indicators WhiCh
.
demonstrate that the var10US social forces respons1ble for
homelessness WIll change 1n the near future.
Los Angeles County has the largest homeless populatIon
.
1n the Un1ted States
A Departmer.t of HousIng and Urban
Development Report est1mates the number of homeless 1n Los
Angeles to be between 31,300 and 33,800.~1 In add1tIon to Its
.
present SIze, the homeless populatIon In Los Angeles County IS
lncreas1ng rap1dly ~/
In 1983, the homeless populatIon of
Santa Monlca was estImated at between 750 - 1}OOO.2/
.
As of November 8, 1984, the County Department of Publlc
Soc1al Serv1ces had contracts wlth only three hotels or motels
located on the Wests Ide to provlde emergency shelter
These
.
hotels and motels have agreed to accept County Issued vouchers
.
~/ Unlted States Department of HousIng and Urban
Development. Pollcy and Research On The Homeless,
Wash1ngton, DC, OfflC~ of POllCY Development and Research
(1984)
.
2/ Un1ted States Department of Houslng and Urban
Development. A Report to the Secretary on the Homeless and
Emergency Shelters, Washlngton, D C J Offlce of POlICY
Development and Research (1984)
~I Robertson, Ropers & Boyer} Emergency Shelter For The
Homeless 1n L~s Angeles County, U C L.A. School of Publ1C
Health, BaSlC Shelter Research ProJect 6 (1984).
.
2/ Westsld@ Shelter Coalitlon, Homele~s on the Westsl~e:
A Posltlon Paper (1983)
6
.
.
as immedIate payment for provIdIng shelter to the homeless.
However,
there IS an average of only one or two vacanCIes
.
avaIlable on a dally basIs in each of these establishments.
Thus, on a dally basIs, the County has a total of SIX rooms or
beds located on the Wests Ide prOVIdIng emergency shelter for
.
the homeless.
Once the avaIlable rooms on the WestsIde are
fIlledJ the homeless are generally referred to contract hotels
In the central CIty area of Los Angeles
Many of these are
.
located In or around the SkId Row areas.
Bus tokens are
prOVIded for transportatlon.~/
As of the SprIng of 1984,
there were only forty-eIght
.
shelters
In Los Angeles County whIch prOVIded beds for
overnIght accomodatIon
WhIle 2J417 people can be housed In
t~ese shelters1 there are only 1906 beds.
(See AppendIx III
.
for Map shOWIng locatIons of shelters In Los Angeles County)
However 1
259 of the 1906 total avaIlable beds are located In
domestIc vIolence shelters.~/ There are only four shelters on
.
the WestSIde (InCludIng one domestIc vlolence shelter) WIth a
total of 270 avaIlable beds for homeless people each night.
Given the low number of available shelters and beds {33,800
.
homeless persons v.
only 1906 beds)1 homeless persons are
forced to seek shelter in "vehlcles (abandoned or theIr own)J
.
~/ Telephone conversatIon WIth Mrs. Carraway of County
Department of Soclal ServlcesJ D.P.S S. OffIce, 10961 West
PICO Boulevard, November 8, 1984.
.
~/ Robertson, Ropers & Bayer, Emergency Shelter For The
Homeless In Los Angeles Cqunty, BaS1C Shelter Research
proJecL1 U C.L.~. School of PublIC Health (1984).
7
.
.
.
brIdges and freeway overpasses,
park benches, all nIght mOVle
trashblnsJ and cardboard boxes....!Q/
To further exacerbate the sItuatIon, 27 shelters wIth
1337 beds refuse access to homeless IndIvIduals who are
parkIng structures, alleys,
theatres, dumpsters and
.
mentally Ill, phYSIcally handIcapped Or users of alcohol or
drugs.~/ ThIS leaves only 569 beds In the entlre county for
a segment of the homeless populatIon who are least able to
surVIve on the streets On any gIven night, only 8.8\ of the
homeless In Los Angeles County are prOVIded WIth temporary
shelter 11/
.
.
B.
and PhYSIOlogIC91 Consequences of
.
PsychologIcal
Homelessness
Who are the homeless? What effect does homelessness
have on an IndIVIdual from both a psychologIcal and
.
phYSIologIcal standpoInt?
AppendIX IV contaIns
narratIves
excerpted
from
.
declaratIons of hornless men and women WhICh were exhIbIts In
the cases of Ross v Board of SupervIsors of the County of Los
AngelesJ No C 501603 (super.ct.Cal., flIed July 10) 1984) i
EIsenheIm v Board of SupervIsors of the County of , Los
Angeles, No C 479453 (Super Ct.Cal., flIed Dec. 20, 1983).
.
10/ 10 at 7 .
1.1./ rd. at 39.
.
il/ Id at 61
8
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Jon
declared:
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.
KotelesJ
one
of these homeless indivIduals,
Approximately fIve weeks ago I
arrIved In Los Angeles from Reno,
Nevada. I decIded to leave Reno after
lookIng for work there unsuccessfully
for at least a month. Employment IS
seasonal there'
It's near ImpOSSIble
to fInd work
In the winter months
Once the snow comes down over Donner
Pass the tourIst buses stop arrIvIng
from Sacramento and the caSInos and
restaurants cut back to three or four
day work weeks.
I am thIrty-four years old.
I
was an Infantryman In the VIetnam War
and served In South V1etnam 1n 1968
1 volunteered for that serVIce
and durIng my duty earned a VIetnam
SerVIce Medal WIth two Bronze SerVIce
Stars, an Armed Forces ExpedItIonary
Medal, and a Sharpshooter Badge WIth
AutomatIC RIfle Bar. I have papers
WIth me today to prove thIS and serve
as I.D
I had no place to go. I walked
the streets for two days and two
9
.
nIghts trYIng to thInk what I should
do .
.
On December 131 1983, I came for
the fIrst tIme to the Department of
SocIal ServIces.
I'm trYIng to fInd a place to
stay untIl I can fInd work and help
.
.
myself. I've been workIng and paYIng
taxes for eIghteen years and now I
need a llttle help
After wa1tlng almost three and a
half hours they called my name and I
.
got
1n to talk to a SCreener
Today
.
IS Tuesday and she told me It would be
at least FrIday before I could get a
hOUSIng voucher
I don't know where I'm gOIng to
stay at nIght untIl then The
screener asked me where I lIve and I
had nothlng to say.
Chances are that I'll end up
sleepIng on the beach for the next
three nIghts It IS cold and wet out
there. I have no blankets and nowhere
else I can thInk that's any better.
AppendIX IV contaIns other representatIve examples of
the experIences of homeless lnd1vlduals in Los Angeles County
.
.
.
.
10
.
These narratives are signifIcant because In sImple and dIrect
language the homeless themselves explaIn why and how they
.
became homeless and the effect it has had on them.
Their
self-portrayals operate to shatter entrenched conventional
stereotypes
regardIng the background of IndIvIduals who
.
comprIse the homeless populatIon
As two recognized experts
on the homeless questIon observed:
SeeIng and understanding ~whyU
.
people are homeless explaIns a great
deal
about
"who"
IS
homeless.
Personalized Into names and faces,
.
ravaged by tIme,
anxIety,
and the
elements,
old
Images
lose their
credIbIlIty.
We can then begIn to
.
glImpse IdentitIes and orIgIns
We
qUIckly learn that, In realIty, It IS
th old,
the Sick,
the mentally Ill,
.
the
unemployed,
the dIsabled,
the
displaced, and the disenfranchIsed who
populate our CitIes' streets ld/
.
Homeless IndIVIduals who frequently sleep outSIde where
they are exposed to the elements) suffer a high degree of
phySical
Illness and, In some Instances, death.
HypothermIa
.
is the medical term fer reduced core-body temperature.
More
cases of hypothermia are reported at Los Angeles County-U S C.
.
~/ Hombs & Snyder, tiomelessness In AmerIca:
March to Nowhere 4 (1982).
A Forced
11
.
.
MedIcal Center In Los Angeles County than at Bellevue HospItal
In New York City.
Both hospitals serve a sImIlar populatIon.
.
Of the 100-125 cases of hypothermIa seen in County-U.5 C.
MedIcal Center,
80 to 90 percent are from the ranks of the
homeless.
Exposure to temperatures of even 50 degrees
.
Fareohelt, partIcularly for the elderly Or 10 combinatIon WIth
exposure to dampness, can result In hypothermIa ~/
[H)omeless
patIents suffer from a
.
varIety
of medIcal condItIons and
dIseases
In a hIgher InCIdence than
paLlents
In a normal populatIon who
.
have shelter.
In partIcular, homeless
patIents
suffer
hypothermIa
from
aCCIdental
exposure,
have medIcal
.
consequences WhICh range from severe
braIn
damage)
renal
faIlure,
pneumonIa,
cardIac
arrest
and
.
ultImately death.
The fact IS that
hypothermIa severely affects all of
the organ systems WhICh can lead to
.
condItIons
caUSIng
death.
(DeclaratIon of Gary Rapaport,
SpeCIalIst In Emergency MedICIne,
.
CalIfornIa
HospItal,
Los Angeles,
.
~/ DeclaratIon of WIllIam Clem, M D., authorIty on
hypothermIa 1n Los Angeles, exh1blt In tls~nheIm v. Board of
SuperVIsors of the County of Los Anqele~l No. C 479453
(Sup~r.Ct.Cal., flIed December 20, 1983).
12
.
ExhIbIt
In
~oss
V.
Board
of
SuperVIsors
of the Countv of Los
.
Angeles} No, C 501603 (5uper.Ct.Cal.~
flIed July 10, 1984.
Other common phYSIological consequences of homelessness
.
are respIratory dIsorders, dependent edema, status ulcers, and
trauma sustaIned from assaults and robberies.
Even when
homeless IndIvIduals fInd temporary shelter
111 mISSIons,
.
condltlons are such that many sleep uprIght on benches and
chaIrs
As a result) these IndIviduals become susceptible to
celluiltlS and lymphangltls,
two severe tissue Infections,
.
WhICh
can
eventually
result
1n gangrene and pOSSible
amputatIon 1~/
The
psychologIcal
and
emotIonal
reperCUSSIons of
.
hamelessness are as severe and debilItating as some of the
phYSIologIcal consequences
KeVIn Flynn,
Ph D , a clInIcal
psychologIst who worked 1n the Los Angeles Sk1d Row area for
.
several years, and former DIrector of the Los Angeles Skld Row
ProJect of the Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health,
observed'
.
[I)ndIVlduals wlthout shelter}
particularly
durIng
the
cold
season,
suffer
from hlgh
.
levels
of
anxiety,
depreSSion,
.
~/ DeclaratIon of Rosemary Occhlogrosso, R N., Nurse
Pract1tloner} Exhlb1t 1n Ross v. Board .of Superv1sors of the
County of Los Angel~s, No C 501603 (Super.Ct Cal., flIed
July 10, 1984).
13
.
.
wIthdrawal, tearfulness, hopelessness,
dIsorIentatIon,
reduced
levels of
.
cognitIve functIonIng, hyperalertness,
sleep
dIsturbance,
exhaustIon and
psychophysIologIcal dIsorders.
.
In general the lack of proper,
reasonably safe shelter contrIbutes to
the psychologIcal deterIoratIon of
. relatIvely normal IndIvlduals and
exacerbates the mental dIsorders In
those IndIvIduals wIth a hIstory of
. psychiatrIc dIsturbance ExhIbIt 10,
Ross v
Board of SuperVIsors of the
County of Los Angeles,
No. C 501603
.
(Super.Ct.Cal
flIed July 10, 1984).
A sIgnIfIcant percentage of homeless people have an
astoundIngly hIgh "InCIdence of dIagnosable mental Illness:
.
psychoses, chronIC alcoholIsm and character dIsorders "1.&/
.
.
e
li/ Bassuk, The HomelessnessProblem, SCIentIfIC
AmerIcan, Vol 251, No 1, p. 40 (July 1984).
14
.
.
III. VAGRANCY AND DISORDERLY CONDUCT
.
EssentIally
the notion persists
that an IndIvIdual living In a land in
WhICh the protection of cIvil rights
.
IS a primary obJective of government
may still be punIshed as a criminal by
vIrtue of personal condition,
or of
.
belongIng to a partIcular class.~1
A
HIstorIcal OvervIew.
.
A meaningful
and comprehensive understandIng of the
pervasive
and
seemIngly
timeless problem of vagrancy,
homelessnessJ
and publIC InebrIatIon IS impossIble without an
.
historIcal perspectIve.
There are three primary reasons for understanding the
historical baSIS establIshIng and embelllshlng crImes of
.
status Dr personal conditIon
FIrst, history helps to define
the context and scope of the crlmes belng consldered
Second,
the courts
Btend to rely on past practIce to Justify giving
.
unique treatment to the constitutional and procedural problems
WhICh arIse out of these crimes. nil/
ThIrd, history IS
crItIcal
to arriVing at the underlying legislative purpose
.
~/ Sherry, Vagrants, Rogues, and Vagabonds - Qld
Concepts In Need of Revls10nJ 48 Cal L Rev 557~ 5S8
(1960)
.
~/ Lacey, Vagrancy and Other Crlmes of Personal
9ondJtlon, 66 Harv. L. Rev 1203, 1204 (1933).
1S
.
related to these statutory crimes, wIthout wh1ch evaluatIon of
these statutes and their uses would be diffIcult.
In addItIon,
hlstorlcal perspective is essential to
plerce the wldespread ignorance and false assumptIons whlch
members of the general publlC hold and voclferously artIculate
.
as to the eXlstence, purpose and enforcement of ~laws~ to
control soclal and economIC undeslrables
.
B. Vagrancy
Modern day statutes related to vagrancy and dlsorderly
concuct find thelr orlglns
ln England as early as the
.
Fourteenth Century.
"DespIte the drastIC change 1n soclal and
economlC condItIons that has Intervened,
there 1S strIkIng
SlmllarIty between the POllCY obJectIves of modern vagrancy
.
law admlnlstratlon and of the pre-ElIzabethan ParlIaments "19/
The
Statutes
of Laborers 1n 1349-51 embodied an
antI-mIgratory POlICY engendered by the end of feudalIsm and
.
the maSSlve depopulatlon result1ng frow the Black Death,~/
It became unlawful to refuse an offer of work and to flee from
one county to another to avoId work offers
Persons were
.
prohIbIted from glvlng alms to able-bod1ed beggars who refused
to work 11./
In 1414,
a statute was enacted WhICh gave
.
~/ Foote, Vagrancy-Type Law a~d Its AdmlnIstratIon)
1 0 4 U, PaL. Re v, 6 0 3, 6 1 5 (1 9 5 6 ) ,
ZQ/ 25 Edw. 3, c 7 (1350-51). For a summary of these
statutes, see 3 Stephen, HIstory of the CrlmInal Law of
England 203) 206 (1883)
.
~1/ 23 Edw 3, C. 7 (13 49) .
16
.
.
.. ) u s tIC e S
vagrants.
of
the
peace
the summary power to punIsh
. ".i~/
.
The orIgInal statutes proved unworkable SInce declinIng
economIC condItIons contlnued to force sIngle men as well as
famIlIes to contlnually roam the roads of England seekIng
employment. In the SIxteenth Century durIng the reIgn of
ElIzabeth I, the orIgInal vagrancy laws were used as a
crImInal supplement to the ElIzabethan poor laws
These condItIons changed the
emphaSIS of the antI-mIgratory polley
from requIred work at a fIxed abode to
protectIon of the countrysIde agaInst
the fInanclal burden, nUlsance, and
potentIal crlmInalIty of the vagrant
.
.
.
.
class.
The ban upon mIgratIon became
.
a preventatIve to help a parIsh, WhICh
had the responSIbIlIty of provIdIng
relIef for local needy reSIdents, from
beIng burdened WIth the annoyance and
economIC llabIllty of fqre~gn paupers
and Idlers. Foote, Vagrancy-Type Law
and Its AdmInIstratIon, 104 U Pa L.
Rev. 603, 615 (1956)(emphasIs added),
It was the ElIzabethan vagrancy laws, both In SpIrIt and
language, WhICh were brought to the UnIted States durIng
e
.
colonIal
tImes
"Paupers ,. and "vagabonds" were excepted from
.
~/ 2 Hen. 5, c. 4 (1414).
17
.
.
the prlvlleges and immunities clause of the Artlcles of
Confederatlon and from Its guarantee of
"free Ingress and
.
egress to and from any other state."~/ Elizabethan concepts
of social control, manifested in Increaslngly severe vagrancy
laws,
served as the baSIS for almost every vagrancy statute
.
enacted 1n the Unlted States.
The orlglnal vagrancy law enacted 1n Callfornla 1n 185~
was a dIrect descendant of
the ElIzabethan models adopted 1n
.
the
orIgInal
colonlal states ~/
Callfornla's orlglnal
vagrancy statute, WIth very mInor amendments, remaIned the law
1n thIS state for one hundred fIve
(105) years until 1t was
.
repealed
1n 1960 and replaced WIth the modern Penal Code
prOV1S1ons dea11ng w1th dIsorderly conduct.
~eople v. Weg~r,
251 Cal. App. 2d 584, 59 Cal Rptr.
661 (1967).
.
The orlg1nal vagrancy statutes operatIve 1n Callforn1a
and almost every other state rested upon one rlgld fundamental
concept.
They were deSIgned and enforced so as to crlmlnallze
.
and pun1sh status alone, 1.e., klnds of persons such as the
poor) homeless}
unemployed, public lnebrlates} and other
hlghly vlsIble elements of Soclety whose llfestyle was deemed
.
InapproprIate by the general publIC, pollce, and the courts.
23/ Foote, VagraQcy-Ty?e Law and Its AdmInIstrat1on,
104 U Pa. L Rev. 603, 616 (1956).
.
.
~/ The prototype for the 1872 verSIon rCal Stat. 1855,
ch. 175, p. 217, as amended by Cal. Stat. 1863, ch. 525, P
770) contaIned an exceptIon for Indlans but limited It to
"DIgger Ind1ans." It also conta1ned a provislon, Wisely
dropped In 1872, that persons "commonly known as 'Greasers' or
the Issue of SpanIsh and Ind1an blood who are vagrants and who
go armed may be punIshed."
18
.
.
For over a century, the crime of vagrancy was permItted
to eXIst wIthout the Indlspensable elements of a crIme. Act
.
plus
1ntent were not required to impose crImInal sanctIons.
Ironically~ England, the "mother" of vagrancy law, amended Its
Vagrancy Act In 1824 so as to place "almost exclusive emphasIs
.
on conduct and dId not purport to attach crmlnallty to status
alone "12/
The
long
term VItalIty of anachronlstlc vagrancy
.
statutes wIth respect to theIr abIlIty to wIthstand both legal
challenge and wldespread crltIclsm by respected commentators
speaks loudly as to theIr effIcacy as an lnstrument of socIal
.
control
The fact that these statutes were aberratIons w1thIn
the sp~clflC framework of crImInal law and general prlncIples
of constItutional
law did noth1ng to deter thelr wldespread
.
pcpulanty
WIth the general publIC and law enforcement
agencIes
as
an effectlve deVIce to control unpopular,
SUSpICIOUS, and unacceptable segments of our soc1ety.
.
C. The Demlse of Vagrancy and the Rlse of ,DIsorderly
Conduct
.
DurIng
the DepressIon,
twenty-seven states enacted
statutes deslgned to hInder or bar the entry of destItute
mIgratory people Into theIr respectlve JurlsdIct10ns ~/ In
.
~/ Sherry, Vagrants, Rogues, and Vagabonds - Old
Concepts In Need of Revlslon, 48 Cal L. Rev. 557, 564
(1960)
.
1&/
104 U
Foote, Vagrancy-Type Law and Its Adm1n1stratIon,
P a. L. Re v 6 0 3, 6 1 6 (1 9 5 6 )
19
.
.
.
Edwards v. CalIfornIa, 314 V.S 160 (1941), these ~natlonal"
vagrancy laws were declared unconstItutIonal by the Unlted
States Supreme Court as an infringement on the r1ght to
travel "Whatever may have been the notlon then prevaIlIng,
we do not thlnk that it wIll now be serIously contended that
because a person 1S wIthout employment and wIthout funds he
constItutes a 'moral pest1lence' Poverty and immoralIty are
not synonymous "I~ at 163, n. 5,
NotWIthstandIng thIS deCIsion, another thIrty-one (31)
years would pass before the Hlgh Court would ellmlnate
municlpal vagrancy laws which penallzed status rather than
conduct.
The CIty of Jacksonv1lle FlorIda's vagrancy ordInance
was cut from the same cloth as the classIc ElIzabethan
vagrancy statutes. CrImInal penaltIes were Imposed upon a
range of persons 1ncludlng rogues and vagabonds, dIssolute
persons who go about begglng, habItual loafers, and persons
able to work but habItually Ilvlng off their wives and mInor
chlldren. The Un1ted States Supreme Court held the ordlnance
unconstitutIonal as beIng VOld for vagueness because It "falls
to glve a person of ordInary lntelligence faIr notIce that hls
contemplated conduct IS forb1dden by the statute and
because It encourages arbItrary and erratIC arrests and
conVIctIons," Papachrlstou v C1ty of yaCkSOnvllle, 405 U S.
156, 161 (1972) In a unanlmous decIslon, the Court noted
that the net of the vagrancy statutes fell upon "poor people,
nonconform1sts, d1ssenters} Idlers (who) may be reqUIred to
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
20
.
comport themselves accordIng to
appropriate by the Jacksonville polIce
at 170.
the lIfestyle deemed
and the courts." I~
In practIcal terms the Court
vagrancy laws as a devlce utIlized
forthrlghtly condemned
almost exclusIvely for
-
arbItrary and dIscriminatory law enforcement.
It furnlshes a convenIent tool
for
"harsh
and
dIscrlmInatory
.
enforcement
by
local prosecutlng
partIcular groups
merIt theIr
offlClals1
deemed
agaInst
to
.
dIspleasure
It results
1n a
.
regIme in wh1ch the poor and the
unpopular are permItted to stand on a
publIC SIdewalk only at the whIm of
any polIce offIcer" ld at 170
The Court's oplnlon stressed that vagrancy laws were
lnlmIcal to the rule of law.
.
Vagrancy
laws
of
the
JacksonVIlle
type
teach that the
.
scales
of
JustIce are so tIpped
.
even-handed adminIstratIon of the law
lS not posslble The rule of law,
evenly appl1ed to mInorItIes as well
as majorItIes, to the poor as well as
the rIch IS the great mucIlage that
holds SOCIety together. Id. at 171
.
21
.
.
.
For those JurlsdlctIons WhlCh had contlnued to hold fast
to "status" type vagrancy statutes, the rapac~rIstou decIsIon
mandated a change to statutes which defIned crImInalIty In
terms of acts or conduct
.
D. Callfornl~'s DIsorderly Conduct Statute.
Twelve years before the Un1ted States Supreme Court
deCIded Papachrlstou, the CalIfornIa Supreme Court In a
unanImoUS deClsIon declared unconstItutIonal a sectIon of
Callfornla's vagrancy statute, which categorIzed a common
drunk as a vagrant, on the grounds that It was vague,
.
.
uncertaIn,
and Incapable of unIform enforcement
In re
Newbern,
53 Cal.
2d 786,
350 P.2d 116, 3 Cal. Rptr 364
.
(1960}
The Newbern decIsIon was obvlously read In the state
LegIslature WhICh repealed the 106 year old vagrancy statute
and replaced It wltn a dIsorderly conduct statute 1961 Cal.
Stats ch. 560. As rewritten, Penal Code SectIon 647, "whIle
reta1nlng much of the substance of the old, eIther supplIes or
further modlf1es the speclfIc conduct elements of the
offenses, so that all lndlvIdual mIsdemeanors are now defIned
.
.
In terms of acts Instead of status."
22 Cal Jur 2d Sectlon
.
3057 (1975).
Penal Code SectIon 647 now provIdes:
.
22
.
.
.
t 617. [DI8onIerIy COIMbIrt
Every penon wbo commItS any << the follow1q acts II puJty ~
cbsorderly conduct, a nusdemeanor
(a) 'Who IOOOtJ Ulyone to enp.ge in or wbo enpaes in lewd or
dl~lute conduct m UlY pubhe pIKe or ID any pa.ce opal to the
pubbc or expo&ed to pubhc VIeW
(b) Who sobctts or wbo COPIes 111 aDY Kt of proabtubOa As used 111
tbu subdlvwOll, upro&btutJOn" meludes aDY lewd Kt betweea pcnoaa
for m~ or atbeT' COI".~bOD
(e) Who !'X~ts other penons 111 any pubbc pJ.oe or m UlY plac:e
open to the pubbc fer the purpose of begging or IOOOtmg alnu.
(d) Who lotters m or about any tot.Iet open to the pubbe for the
purpose of engag:m.g m or sohctmg any lewd or IascIYlOUS or any
unJa",fu) act
(e) Who 10lten or wanden upon the streets or from place Ie plAce
wuhout apparent reason or busmess and who refuses to Identify
himself and to account for hIs presence wben requested by any ~.....
officer so to do. If tbe surroundma CU'CUlDStances are such as to
mdl~te to . reasonable person that the pubhc safety demands such
ldenuJicauOD
(I) \\'bo 15 found m any pubbe place under the mftuence of mtoXlc:at-
IDS IJquor, any drug. toluene, any substance defined as a potSOD ID
Schedule 0 of Section 4160 of the Busmess and ProfesslOfls Code, or
any combmanon of any mtoXlcatmg hquor. drug. toluene, or any s\U:b
poISOn, m such I condlnon that be 15 unable to exercLSe care for Ius
own safety or the safety of otheR, or by reason of Ius being under the
m1l.uence of mtoXlC&un. hquor. any drug. toluene. any substance
defined as I polSOn m Schedule 0 of SectIon 4160 of the Bu.smess and
Profe5S1ODS Code, or any combmatIon of any mtoXlcatmg hquo:.
drug. toluene. or any such poISOft. mterferes With or obs~ts or
preventi the rrcc use of any street, SIdewalk., or other pubhc way
(11) \\'heo a prnoD h>> Y'IO!~I~ IUbcbVJaK1l1 (f) r:L l1w secDoIJ, . ~
ofticer. If he 15 reasonably .tHe to do 10. sha1.I place the penon. or
c:aUK bun to be placed. to CIVIl protectI~ custody Such penon IhaJI
be taken to . facilit) , dcsapated pu.mw1t to Sect10n 5170 of the
Welfare and WtltU1lons Code. for the 72.bo'tJ' treatmCDt and evalua-
tlon of mebnates A ~~~ ofticer may place a penon to ClW
protective CU5lody WIth that bod and degree of force whlcb ",ouId be
In.fuI were be drectmg an arrest for I ausdemeamor WIthout I
warranl No person who has been rl~~ III aru protectIve custOd}
IhalI thereafter be subject to an)' cnmma.J ii,U:io:CUtl~'Il or JUvaulc
court prt:"C~mg bas.ed on the facts glY1J1g me to s:ocb placement
Tlus lubdlYlSlOIl Ulall Dot apply to the foUowmg penons
(1) An) penon wbo 15 under the utftuence of an)' drug, or under the
combined m!uence of mtoXlcatlng hquor and any dnIg
(2) An) penon who . ~,." officer has probable C&UK to bebeve has
commmed U1) felon). or who has c:ommlned an)' 1D15demeanor 10
addtuon to subdlvwon (f) of t.hJ.s aectIon
(3) Any penon who a peace officer m load ranb bcheves will attempt
esc:ape or will be W1rCa5On&bl)' '!Idli.:;ult for med1ca1 personnel to
control
(&) Who loiters, prowls. or wanders upon the pnvate property of
anotber, to the DlghttllDe. Without VJSIble or lawful bnc.1ftlSS With the
MWner or oecupant thereof
(h) Who, wluIe lottenng, prowhng. or wandermg upon the pnvate
property of another, 10 the mghtume. peeks 10 the door or wmdow of
an) lnilahned bUIldmg or Itructun located thereon, WIthout vwble or
lawful busmess With the owner or occupant thereof
(I) Who lodges 10 aD) bw)d1ne. 1b'uCture, wblc1c., or p1.~. whether
pubhc or pnvate, WIthout the pa'1D1JItOII oJ the owner or penon
entitled to the possesawn or to CODtroI thereof ...
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
23
.
.
Notw1thstanding
from status to
the LegIslature's laudable
acts as the determlnatlve
attempt to
factor 1n
move
.
def1n1ng cr1mlnallty, key provIsIons of the dIsorderly conduct
statute have not fared well In the courts.
.
1, Subdivlslon (a)) "Sollc1tlng or Engaglng In
Lewd or DIssolute Conduct 1n a Publ1C Place."
In 1979, the CalIfornIa Supreme Court recognlzed that
Penal Code Sectlon 647(a) was a "llneal descendant of the
archalc vagrancy statutes which were deSIgnedly drafted to
grant polIce and pros~cutors a vague and standardless
dlscretlon." Pryor v. Mun1clpal Court for Los Angeles county,
25 Cal 3d 23B, 24B, 599 P 2d 636, 158 Cal. Rptr. 330, 335
(1979).
.
.
.
Without
preCIse
def1nlt1on
the terms
"lewd"
and
"dlssolute"
measure
crlmInal1ty
by
communlty or even
1ndIVIdual notlons of what IS distasteful behavIor.
In order
.
to avoId declar1ng thls subd1vls1on unconstltutlonally vague,
the Callfornla Supreme Court severely llmlted the scope of
prohIbited behavlor withln the purvlew of the subdivis1on.
[W]e construe that sectlon to prohlb1t
only the SollcItat1on or commlSSlon of
conduct In a publIC place or one open
to the pub11c or exposed to publlC
vlew, WhICh Involves the touchlng of
the gen1tals, buttocks, or female
breast, for purposes of sexual
.
.
.
24
.
arousal, gratlficat1on, annoyance or
offense, by a person who knows or
should know of the presence of persons
who may be offended by the conduct.
Id. at 244, 599 P.2d at 249, 158 Cal.
Rptr at 332 (emphas1s added).
.
2 SubdIvIsIon lc), "BeqqIng or SollcltIng Alms."
There appears to be a prevalent mIsconceptlon as to what
conduct lS proh1bIted by Penal Code SectIon 647(c). ThIS
SectIo~ makes It a ffi1sdemeanor for one "[w]ho accosts other
persons in any publlC place or 1n any place cpen to the publIC
for the purpose of begg1ng or solICItIng alms M There IS a
WIde range of noncrIffi1nal conduct WhICh IS permIssible by an
IndlvIdual seekIng aSSIstance.
It has never been a crIminal offense 1n thIS state even
under the repealed vagrancy statute to seek ass1stance when
one 15 In genuine need uThe statute makes 1t an offense for
.
.
.
a healthy beggar to SOllC1t alms as a bUS1ness.
For one to
.
ask aSSIstance on one occasion does not make him a vagrant.h
p'eople v Denby, 108 Cal. 54, 40 P 1051 (1895),
Penal Code SectIon 647(c) lS not v10lated by a person
merely receivIng donations. One "who merely SIts or stands by
the waysldeM 1S not naccostlng" WIthIn the meanlng of thiS
Sec~lon Ulmer v MuniCIpal Court for the Oakland-P1edmont
.
.
JUdlCl~l Dlstr1ct,
445,448 (1976).
55 Cal App 3d 263] 267, 127 Cal. Rptr
25
.
.
.
It 1$ the current POl1CY of the Santa Monlca CIty
Attorney's OffIce to only prosecute IndlvIduals who request
ass1stance and who also use assaultIve or threatening conduct.
It IS difficult to
assistance
by
a
dlstlngulsh a request
homeless person which
from other SItuatIons
for flnancial
is made In a
where money is
On a seasonal
.
nonthreatenIng manner
requested by 1ndlvlduals or organlzat1ons
.
baSIS, representat1ves of the Salvation Army sOllClt or beg
for alms Passengers at airports are frequently approached by
members of sects and religious groups for finanC1al
aSSIstance Pol1t1cal contr1butlons are sollclted from the
publlc In a varIety of sltuatlons.
.
3
SUpdlV1Slon
(d} I
"Lo1ter1nq About A Publ1c
.
TOllet."
.
Conduct punIshable under thiS subdIVISIon is not mere
lOlterlng It must be lOitering for a lewd and laSCIVIOUS
purpos~ However, In order to meet constItutIonal standards,
the same standards applIed by Pryor under subd1vIslon 647(al
for "lewd or dIssolute" must also be appl1ed to "lewd or
.
laSCIVIOLlS "
People v. S.P p" 115 Cal,
App. 3d Supp.
12,
170 Cal Rptr. 478 (1980)
.
4. SubdIVISIon (e)) "Lolterlng and Wander1ng With
Ee f iJ S a 1 to Ide n t 1 f Y On e S elf . "
ay VIrtue of both state and federal court deCIsions thIS
subdiVISion has essentIally been negated In lts entIrety.
.
26
.
.
"[L]olterIng and wanderIng upon the streets or from place to
place w1thout apparent reason or busIness" wlthout addltlonal
.
conduct has never been punishable
subdivISIon People v. Weger, 251 Cal
Rpt r. 661 J 667 (1967).
The reqUIrement that lOlterers
as a crIme under th1s
App 2d 584, 59 Cal
.
themselves
In
CIrcumstances whlch
and wanderers Identify
would IndIcate to a
.
reasonable person that the publIC safety demands such
IdentIfIcat10n was declared unconstItutIonal by the Unlted
States Supreme Court.
911 (1983)
Kolender v Lawson,
75 L, Ed. 2d 903,
.
5.
SubdIVISIons
f f )
and
( f f )
"PublIC
InebrIatIon"
.
These sectIons are dlscussed In Part IV infra
6.
SubdlVlSIons
(g)
and
( h) r
"N I gh t-t lIT1e
.
ProwllngJ PeepIng"
These two subd1V1Slons
punish spec1f1c nIghttIme
actlvIty on prIvate property
There have been no slgnlf1cant
.
IlffiItatIons
lmposed by the courts WIth regard to the conduct
proscrIbed by these subdiVISions
.
.
27
.
7. SubdIvIsIon (1), "Lodglnq."
As well documented studIes IndIcate, there are only
suffIC1ent emergency overnIght shelters in Los Angeles County
to house 10\ of the est1mated 33,000 homeless lndIvIduals
currently In the County.ZL/ VIewed from another perspectIve,
on any gIven nIght 90% of the homeless IndIvIduals In Los
Angeles County are wIthout shelter
TheIr only optIon IS to
choose shelter whIch will provlde a measure of safety from
physIcal attack as well as protectIon from the elements.
Such
shelter
takes the forms of vehicles, doorways, freeway
overpasses,
parks, public beaches,
and a var1ety of other
.
locatIons necessary for survIval
In a recent Los Angeles County MunIc1pal Court case, the
court,
after reVIewIng the statIstIcal data on the large
.
number of homeless lndivlduals In Los Angeles County and lack
of emergency shelters, recognIzed "necessIty" as a defense to
an alleged v1olatlon of a Los Angeles County ordInance
.
prohlbltlng sleeplng In vehIcles parked on publIC streets
People V BenJaml~, No 276842
(Hun! Ct. Cal , deCIded June
8, 19841.
.
The defense of necessity eXlsts as a part of Callfornla
CrImInal
law.
1 WItKIn, Cal CrImes (1963) Defences, SectIon
248, People v. Lovercamp, 43 Cal. App. 3d 823, 118 Cal Rptr.
.
110
(1974).
A central element of the defense Involves the
cholce of alternatives whereby a crimInal defendant acts to
.
ZZ/ Robertson, Ropers & Boyer, Emergency Spel~er For The
Homeless In Los Anqeles County, BaSlC Shelter Research
ProJect, U C L.A School of Public Health (1984).
28
.
.
.
avoId a greater harm by engagIng In an act proscrIbed by law.
The classIc example IS the theft of food to avo1d starvation
so long as no other alternatIves were open to the defendant.
GIven the statIstIcal dIsparIty between the number of
homeless compared WIth avaIlable shelter faCIlItIes, It is the
opInIon of the Santa Monica CIty Attorney's OffIce that
necess1ty will generally be recognIzed as a defense to a
sIgnIfIcant number of alleged VIolatIons of thIS subdIvls10n
For the same reason, necessIty IS also a strong defense to
alleged vIolat1ons of SectIon 4202a of the Santa MonIca
Mun1clpal Code Wh1Ch prohIbIts sleepIng In parks. SleepIng 1n
a put,llC park IS the only VIable option for shelter for a
slgnlflcant number of homeless IndIVIduals.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
29
.
IV
THE
PUBLIC
INEBRIATE:
THE
I MP,ACT
OF
DECRIMINALIZATION.
A. Hlstorlcal Overvlew.
At common law there was no recognlzed criminal offense
for be1ng a common drunk or publ1C
1nebr1ate.
England by
statute
In 1879 made belng a "habItual drunkard" a crime.
(HabItual Drunkards Act of 1879, 42 & 43 Vlet., c. 19, Sectlon
3 1
In CalIfornia Slnce 1872, a common drunkard was deemed
to be a vagrant and therefore a cr1mlnal.~/ Along w1th other
.
subdIVISions of the vagrancy statute, the common drunkard
prOVISIon was repealed by the LegIslature In 1960.
However,
Just prIor to the LegIslature's actlon, the Cal1forn1a Supreme
.
Court declared the common drunkard prov1slon unconstltutlonal
as beIng vOld for vagueness.
In re NewberD, 53 Cal. 2d 786,
796,350 P 2d 116,123,3 Cal Rptr. 364, 371 (1960)
.
PrIor to the repeal of the Penal Code vagrancy statute
1n 1960,
1t 15 noteworthy that prosecutlon for
"common
drunyard" was under Penal Code Sectlon 647, subdlvls10n 11,
.
while prosecut1on for
"intoxlcatlon in publlc" was under a
varIety of local ordInances
.
.
28/ "Every common drunkard 1S a vagrant and is
punIshable by a flne not exceeding f1ve hundred dollars ($500)
or by ImprIsonment 1n the county )a1l not exceed1ng SIX months
or both such fine and impr1sonment ~ Cal. Penal Code Sec.
647(11) {West 1872) (repealed 1960).
30
.
.
.
B. PublIC Inebr1atlon as Disorderly Conduc~.
The publIC vagrancy statute repealed by the Legislature
In 1960 was replaced by current Penal Cede Section 647 By
enacting Penal Code Sectlon 647(f) 1n 1960, the state
manifested a clear Intent to preempt the fIeld. Thus, local
munICipalItIes have been prohibIted from prosecuting publiC
InebrIates under local ordinances tor beIng IntOXIcated In
publiC as they had been able to do under the repealed vagrancy
statute. ?-ee people v. Lopez, 59 Cal.2d 653, 381 P.2d 637, 30
Cal. Rptr. 813 (1960)
ReplacIng the vague hcommon drunkard" standard were
mult1ple elements under SectIon 647(fl whIch had to be
.
.
.
satIsf1ed before an IntOXIcated indIVidual
could be said to
have
commItted the crIme of dIsorderly conduct.
These
.
elemenLs are: (1) under the Influence; (2) In a publiC
place; and (3) either in such a condltlon that he is unable
to exerCIse care for h1S safety or the safety of others or by
reason of hIS beIng under the Influence lnterferes wlth or
obstructs or prevents the free use of a publ1C street,
sldewalk or other publlc way.
In 1971, the Legislature added SectIon 647(ff) gIVIng
pollce offIcers the optIon of plaCIng persons who had violated
SectIon 647(f) In C1VIl protectIve custody and dIverting them
to lIcensed detOXification faCIlIties for treatment and
evaluation for 72 hours.
Before Sectlon 647(ff) was adopted by the LegIslature,
It underwent two sIgolf1cant amendments.
.
.
.
.
31
.
.
.
As first Introduced, it would
have mandated removal of the public
inebriate from the penal system and
requlred countIes to establlsh
detoxlflcatlon faCIlItIes to WhICh the
Inebriates would have been dIverted.
After strong OpposItIon from the
Callfornla Peace Officers ASSOc1ation,
as ~ell as the Dlstrlct Attorneys' and
County Counsels' ASSocIatIons, the
bIll was amended to leave the crImlnal
.
.
. procedure Intact. Even 1 f the
InebrIates had commIted no other
crIme, nor posed any danger to the
. safety of medIcal personnel, the bIll
stIll would have requ1red InebrIates
.
to be taken
detOXIflcatIon
In Its fInal
lmmedlately to CIV1l
faCllltles. The bIll
form had the strong
flavor
of
compromIse.
.
slnce
there
was no
Also,
mandate nor
.
appropr1at1on to countles to establIsh
detOXlflcatIon facllltles, the law
could seemIngly be exercIsed largely
at the dIscretIon of the police and
count1es.
Stevens, DecrImInalIzation
.
and Beyond,
PublIC Inehrlty In Los
32
.
.
A~g~les County, 3 WhIttler L. Rev. 55,
69 {1981}.
Thus, by 1973, law enforcement had three optIons In
dealing w1th the publlc 1nebrlate. FIrstl the inebrIate could
be arrested, booked, and JaIled under Penal Code SectIon
647(f) Second, If the qualIfIcat10ns set forth In Penal Code
Section 647(ff) were met, the InebrIate could be taken Into
CIV1l Frotectlve custody and transported to a licensed
detoxIflcatlon faCIlIty. Reallstlcally, thIS has never been a
V1able optIon due to either the noneXIstence of lIcensed
detOXIfIcatIon centers In many areas, or where they do eXIst,
room 1S seldom ava1lable Third, pursuant to Penal Code
SectIon 849fb){Z}, the Inebr1ate could be taken to )al1 and
released (kIcked-out) when sober. See People v. Longwlll, 14
Cal 3d 943, 947-948, 123 Cal Rptc, 297, 299-300 (1975);
Moss, TakIng the PUblIC InebrIate Out of Callf9cnla's CrlmlnaA
J~stIceSystemJ 7 U C Dav1s L. Rev. 539 (1974).
By 1974, the magnItude of the pUblIC 1nebrlate problem
had reached such proportIons that the Callforn1a Senate Select
Commlttee on Law RelatIng to AlcoholIC Beverages lssued a four
volume F1nal Report follOWIng publlc hearIngs held 1n 1973
California Senate Select Comm on Laws RelatIng to AlcoholiC
Beverages, FInal Report 43 (1974)
Among Its recommendations and fIndIngs, the CommIttee
concluded'
.
.
.
.
.
.
TestImony by
enforcement offlclals
various law
lndlcates that
33
.
.
.
as much as 40 percent of the time of
local law enforcement officers IS
spent in arresting, processIng, and
prosecutIng common drunks.
There IS no eVIdence to Ind1cate
that th1S practIce serves any useful
publ1C purpose.
The CommIttee recommends that
the crlme of common drunkeness be
.
.
elIminated from the statutes.
There
.
are ample prOVIsIons In the law for
handling people under the Influence of
alcohol
If they commIt another crIme.
.
I Q... a t 1 7
The CommIttee proposed that leg1slat1on be Introduced
ImpOSIng eXC1se taxes on alcohol1C beverages These taxes
would be dlstrlbutea to cltles and countIes for the exclUSlve
purpose of establishing and operat1ng local alcoholIC
treatment centers In thIS way, no burden would be placed on
local taxpayers.
In 1975, Senate BIll 204 was lntroduced Into the
LegIslature WhICh embodled the CommIttee's alcohol eXCIse tax
proposal almost In Its entIrety. At the same tIme Senate BIll
329 was Introduced to repeal the publIC Inebrlate statutes, to
reqUire each county to prOVIde CIVIl detoxlflcat1on
faCllltles) and to approprIate $20,050,000 for tra1ning
personnel and fundIng faCIlIties. Stevens, Decrlm~nallzatlon
.
.
.
.
34
.
.
and Beyond: Public Ipebrl~y In Los Anceles CountYI 3 WhIttIer
L. Rev. 55, 72 (1981).
Even though these bIlls were opposed by the alcoholIC
beverage Industry, they passed both houses of the LegIslature.
However, Governor Jerry Brown vetoed both bills, and the
LegIslature was unable to overrIde the veto. Subsequent
legIslatIve efforts In 1976 and 1980 to decrImlnallze publlC
InebrIatIon and fund local and reglonal alcohollc treatment
.
.
faCIlItIes faIled.
Cal 5 B. 1382, 1975-1976 Reg SessJ Cal
5 B 1745, 1979-1980 Reg Sess.
.
C Sundance_and Beyond
Glven the faIlure of the Leglslature to resolve the
publIC InebrIate proble~ by proposed decrlmlnallzat10n and
funding of local treat~ept centers by alcohol excise taxes,
the contlnued task of dealIng WIth the publ1C 1nebrIate
problem remaIned wlth law enforcement agenCIes and the courts
The criminal JustIce system contInued to be used In a
.
.
sporadIC,
arbItrary, and Irrational manner to deal WIth the
.
PUblIC aspects of problem drInkIng.
NotWIthstandIng knowledge on the part of the medIcal
professlon) the courts} and the LegIslature "that Indlgent,
chroniC alcohollcs are slck, and Slnce the eX1st1ng
faCllltles for the1r care are lnadequate, and SInce they are
d1rty and 'unsanItary' (publ1C 1nebrlates offend the publIC'S
aesthetlc sensIbllltles), SOCiety WIll contInue to place them
In ]a1l, where they WIll be removed from publlC vIew"
.
.
35
.
.
.
Stevens, DecrIminalIzatIon and Beyond: Public Inebr1ty In LQs
Angeles County, 3 WhittIer L. Rev. 55, 79 (1981). This has,
and continues to be, the standard practIce and POlICY utllIzed
by the maJority of law enforcement agenCIes throughout
CalIfornia
In 1975, Robert Sundance, a mIddle-aged, homeless,
lodIgent, chronic alcohollC wIth a long arrest record for
public drunkeness, along wlth four other Similarly sltuated
alcoholICS, and a taxpayer, flIed a lawsuit In Los Angeles
SuperIor Court, Sundance v. Municipal Court, No. CA 000257.
The case Involved a wholesale constitutional attack on the
entire crlmlnal ]Ust1ce system as It related to arrest,
prosecutlon and IncarceratIon of public InebrIates under Penal
CODe SectIons 647(f) and (ff)
The trIal court granted the followlng relIef In the
.
.
.
.
case.
.
[I]ndlvldual medlcal screenlng of each
arrestee, mOfiltorlng In holdlng tanks
by a medIcally traIned person of those
unconSCIOUS or In w1thdrawal,
nutritIonal requlrements for
arrestees, rest faCllltles for each
arrestee, llmltlng the time arrestees
can be conflned In certain tanks and
lImitIng the number of arrestees who
.
.
ca~
be
confIned
In those tanks,
.
furnlshlng
blood alcohol tests to
36
.
arrestees who request them,
lImItations on the use of B-wagons for
transportat1on of arrestees, mInImum
requIrements
arrestees
for
confInement
In
holdIng
tanks
of
of
arraIgnment
the tIme
preserved
courts, requ1rlng that at
of arrest eVIdence be
and
w1tnesses
noted,
.
requIrlng that Indlvldual waIvers be
taken upon a plea of gU1lty, requIrIng
that notIce of probable cause
detent10n hearIngs be communicated to
each person beIng arraIgned, requIrIng
that the elements of the offense be
communIcated to each person beIng
arra1gned and requIr1ng that trials
for those who plead not gUIlty be set
wIthln fIve court days of arraIgnment.
Sundanc~ v. Munl~lpal Court, Ct. App.
SlIP OpInion at 11-12 (1983)
Sundance IS presently on appeal to the Callfornla
Supreme COLlrt.
.
.
.
D.
De Facto Decrlmlnallzatlon and Potentlal JudICIal
pecr1ffilnallzatIon
.
Many law enforcement agencIes have
futlllty of dealIng WIth publIC 1nebrlates
recognIzed the
In the crlmlnal
37
.
.
Justlce system.
In 1978,
the Commander of the L.A.P D
Central PolIce DIstrIct stated.
.
The days of crim1nal sanctIons
agaInst publIC drunkeness are limited.
This wIll eIther be done legIslatIvely
.
or by expansIon of court codes.
Po.
polIce agency must antICIpate thIS
trend and traIn Its offIcers In the
.
proper use of other usually lncluded
offenses
A workIng knowledge of
other statutes w1ll aSSIst offIcers
.
In dealIng WIth persons who even now
Wlll not be accepted by detoxlf1catIon
faCllltles.1...2/
.
In 1977,
the Los Angeles Pollce Department adop~ed
SpecIal Order 23 InstItutIng a w1despread applIcatIon of the
release procedures set forth In Penal Code SectIon 849(b)(2)
.
"Until adequate faClllt1es are available, thls Department WIll
necessarlly contInue to arrest and book publlC InebrIates but
WIll not seek prosecutIon,
absent eXIgent C1rcumstances."
.
SpecIal Order 23, Los Angeles Pollee Departm@nt, Issued July
8, 1977
The operatlve effect of SpecIal Order 23 was to decrease
.
arrests by the Los Angeles PolIce Department for publlC
lnebrlatlon/dlsorderly conduct dramatIcally.
Arrests went
.
12/ Stevens, DecrImInallzatlon and Beyond: PublIC
Inebrlty In Los Angeles County, 3 WhIttler L. Rev 55,
117-118 (1981).
38
.
.
.
down more than 60\ and prosecutions were down 92\, The
following table illustrates the reduct10n 1n arrests for Penal
Code SectIon 647(f) arrests 1n several Los Angeles PolIce
Department DIvIsIons, from 1975-1979.
.
D1VlS20n \ +/- (1975-1979)
Central -43.8
Rampart -63 7
Hollenbeck -49 5
Hollywood -63 5
Van Nuys -14 7
Northeast -31.2
.
.
.
(Table by P Parsons, OffIce of Alcohol Abuse and AlcoholIsm
(~ug 1980) (prepaced from LAPD StatistIcal Digest)
The soc1al and economlC Impact of decreaslng arrests of
public lnebrlates wIthout the alternative of prOVIdIng
treat~ent faC1llt1es lS shocklng for both the publIC and the
InebrIate. "AccordIng to one source, fIre department rescue
.
ambulance responses
In the skld row area have Increased 26%
.
SInce the Sundance deCIS10n SpeCIfIc response categorIes
worth notIng are the followlng: assault and flghtlng
Increased 50%1 apparent lntoxlcatlon Increased 22\; lnJury
Increased 31%" (F. Hunter, A Strategy in HumanIstIc Urban
Conservatlon VI, 1-2 (1979)(unpubllshed manUScc1pt) on file at
Office on Alcohol Abuse and Alcohollsm.)
.
.
39
.
.
E. The Public Inebrla~e prgblem 1n Santa Monlca.
The
CIty
of
Santa Monlca has conslstently been
.
claSSlfled as a publ1c InebrIate problem area.
In 1978, Santa
Monlca ranked fourth In a table of jurIsdIctIons reportlng the
number of Penal Code SectIon 647(f) drunk In publ1C arrests.~/
.
PUBLIC INEBRIETY TROUBLE SPOTS
TOP 15 HOT SPOTS
PolIce Jur~sdlctlon
Penal Code
SectIon 647{f}
Arrests-1978
% +/- From
75-78 Data
.
Cen::ral fLAPD)
17,687
-38
.
Long Beach
7,165
+45
MacArthur Park (Rampart LAPD)
3,911
-18
Santa Monlca
2~019
+35
Hollenbec~ {LAPDj
1 ,750
-26
.
Pasadena
1,564
+108
Hollywood (LAPL)
1,552
-40
El Monte
1,446
+80
.
Inglewood
1,420
+40
Van Nuys (LAFD)
1,040
-8
East L A {LASO Unlnc
IJ037
-17
.
Northeast (LAFD)
972
-9
Glendale
909
+27
Redondo Beach
853
+180
.
.
dQ/ (PubllC Inebr1ty 1n Los Angeles County, A Report to
the Board of Supervlsors (Sept. 1980)j PrelImInary 1980-81 Los
Angeles County Alcohol Plan (1980); clted In Stevens,
DecrImInalIzatIon and Beyond: Publlc Inebrlty In Los Angeles
Co u n t y, 3 Wh 1 t t 1 e r L. Rev 55, 98 (1981).)
40
.
South Gate
773
+22
There are other crlt1cal IndIcators which reflect the
severIty of pUblIc inebrIty problems throughout the County of
Los Angeles
It is a problem whIch contrary to popular belief
1 s not J and cannot be, conf 1 ned to "Slu d Row "ll/
.
County Health Alcohol-
ServIces \ 647(f) Related
Reglon::: Arrests Deaths '\ Poverty \, Popula
Central 56.1 2S.3 35.9 16 9
Coastal 19.0 29.1 20.7 29.4
San Fernando &
Antelope Valleys 8.5 16.0 14 0 21 7
San GabrIel 8.3 15.7 15.6 21.8
Southeast 8.0 13.8 13.7 10 2
99 9 99 9 99.9 99 9
.
An analysIs of Santa Monica PolIce Department Annual
Repor~s from 1960 through 1983 Indlcates that arrests of
.
publiC Inebriates decllned dramatIcally 1n the ten (10) year
perlod between 1960 and 1970
{See Appendix V.) Since 1979,
however) there has been a steady increase In the number of
.
arrests for publIC drunkeness under Penal Code SectIon 647ff).
Arrests In 1983 represented a 46 5% increase over the number
of arrests in 1979
From 1979-1983, Sectlon 647(f) arrests
.
Increased on the avecage of 10~ per year
.
~/ Stevens, Decrl~lnallzat1on and Beyond' Public
Inebrlty In Los Angeles County, 3 Whlttler L. Rev. 55, 100
(1981)
41
.
.
Total
6_47(f) Arrests
1979 1882
1980 1999
1981 2239
1982 2473
198.3 2758
\ +/- From
PrevIous Year
+6.2\
+12\
+10.4\
.
+11. 5\
Based on Federal Bureau of InvestIgatIon Un1form Crlme
.
Reports) Santa Monlca's arrest rate foe publlC drunkeness In
1982 was over four
(4) tImes the average arrest rate for
cltles wlth slm11ar populatlons.
[See AppendIX VI, Table 3 )
.
.
.
.
.
.
42
.
.
.
V. PROSECUTION POLICIES.
The Crlmlnal DIVISlon of the CIty Attorney's offIce
plays an essentIal role In respondIng to the CIty'S local
crIme problem. Pollcles have been 1mplemented to ensure the
vIgorous prosecution of serIOUS criminal offenses and the
reductlon of plea bargaInIng once a dec1slon to prosecute has
been made At the same tIme, the CIty Attorney has attempted
to re~ove fro~ the crImInal JustIce system matters that are
more approprIately dealt wlth elsewhere
In June of 1981, the Santa MonIca Clty Attorney's offIce
Inltlated a prosecutIon POlICY sImIlar to Spec1al Order 23
utIllzed by the Los Angeles PolIce Department. Pursuant to
thIS POllCY, publIC InebrIates remain SUbJect to arrest, but
are released after soberIng up as prOVIded In Penal Code
SectIon 849(b)(2). However, prosecution WIll not be InitIated
unless the arrest report IndIcates speclflC Cflmlnal actlvlty
In adoltlon to publIC InebrIatIon ThlS POlICY was
Implemented because no law enforcement purpose was served by
commenCIng crlffilnal prosecutIons. CIty and county resources
were beIng expended solely to obtaIn a conVIctIon WIth a
sentence of credIt for tIme served.
The POlICY adopted by the CIty Attorney's offIce related
only to prosecutIons and not arrests "ThiS prosecut1on
POllCY does not necessitate any change In the PolIce
Department's arrest pollCles concernIng publIC InebrIates."
Inter-Department Memorandum, ProsecutIon POlICY Concern1nq
PubliC Inebrlates: June 29, 1981.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
43
.
Additionally,
In conJunction wIth the Santa MonIca
Pollce Department, the CIty Attorney's offIce developed a
public inebriate "short form" arrest report whlch replaced the
time consumIng narratIve report format previously utIlIzed by
the Pollce Department.
ThIS change sIgnIflcantly expedIted
publIC InebrIate arrest and bookIng procedures
The publIC Inebriate prosecutIon POlICY adopted by the
Santa MonIca Clty Attorney's offIce In 1981 has had no
.
slgnIflcaIlt
Impact an the number of arrests made for PUblIC
InebrIation.
Arrests have actually Increased since 1981.
.
Total
Drunk Arrests
.
1977 2086
1978 2101
1979 1989
1980 2115
1981 2487
1982 2818
1983 3032
.
.
1984 (Jan 1 -
Sept 30)
2002
On November 26,
1984, the Santa MonIca CIty ~ttorney
Issued a memorandum clarifYIng prosecutIon polIcies with
.
respect to alcoholIC publIC Inebrlates, the homeless, and
lndlgents
These polICIes were adopted In the context of
specIfIC
conslderatlons reflectIng the magnitude of the
.
homelessness prOblem In Santa MonIca balanced WIth a need to
protect the publIC from actual antl-sOClal conduct rather than
44
.
prosecutIon based on an individual's status.
VII )
(See Appendix
The CIty Attorney's prosecutIon polICIes have not
curtaIled the Police Department 1n making arrests In
addltIon to publIc inebrIate arrests, the PolIce Department In
1984 has made 236 arrests for varIOUS offenses such as
pannandllng1 trespaSSIng and drlnklng In publlC.
2,217 CItatIons have been Issued for these
In addItIon,
and slmIlar
VIolations.
(As a general rule, VIolations InvolvIng drInkIng
.
In pUblIC, sleeplng on the beach, urInatIng and defecatlng In
PUOllC, result In CItatIons (Q-cltatlonSJ Issued In lIeu of
arr~st. These CItatIons are not entered 10tO a computer
system and were hand counted for the year 1984. Most of the
CItatIons are for drInking In publIC.)
A table summarIZing prosecutIons for mIscellaneous
crImes generally attrlbuted to homeless IndIVIduals 1S set
forth 1n AppendIX VIII. (The totals do not reflect
Q-cltatlons, for WhlCh records are not retaIned.)
.
.
.
.
.
45
.
.
VI. HISTORY AND DEVELOPMENT.OF MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES
IN CALIFORNIA.
.
.
When we approach the vagrant in
the splrlt of char1ty, we are merely
advertls1ng ourselves in order to
seduce hIm Into our Ideology, when we
approach hlm Jurldlcally we are trYlng
to )ustlfy ourselves by means of h1S
annlhllat10n He shows us our
.
weakness,
and he shows us the utter
.
equ1vocatIon
cannot In
of our moral1ty We
good fa1th say that he 1S
.
because he IS wlcked; because we know
only too well the ethIcal poverty of
our own more successful practlce Our
safest bet IS to call hIm mad
PhIlIP
.
O'Connor,
BrItaIn
In the Sl~tl~S:
Vagrancy, 1963,
.
A.
Common Law
.
In many respects, the hIstory and development of mental
health serVIces eIther parallels or IS an outgrowth of CIVIl
commltment polICIes, practIces and procedures.
At common law the VIolently Insane could be detaIned by
anyone Deutsch, The Mentally III In A~er!ca 419 (2d ed.
1949). The sovereIgn's polIce power could be lnvoked to
.
46
.
prevent destructIve acts. RestraInt and subsequent commltment
(or worseJ were totally dependent on violent conduct. Allan &
Parrls, CivIl Commltment of the Mentally Ill, 14 U.C.L.A. L,
Rev 622, 626-27 (1967). "In colonial AmerIca this frequently
amounted to detention for publIc executIon, Both in England
and Amerlca, the mentally III who escaped thIS fate were cast
Into what could only euphemIstIcally be called 'hOspItals on
Deutsch, The Mentally III in AmerIca 420 (2d ed. 19491, CIted
In Allan & Parr1s, ~lVIl Commitment of the Mentally Ill, 14
U C L A
L Rev 822, 824
(1967).
Comrnltrnent to a hOspItal,
however, was generally fer an IndetermIoate perlod.
.
B Californla
Early development of CiVIl commltment laws in CalIfornIa
paralleled those adopted In other jurIsdictions In 1897 the
state Legislature adopted a comprehensive InsanIty law
deSIgned to completely reVIse the eXIstlng laws on the SUbJect
of Insanlty In re La~p~~t, 134 Cal 626~ 66 P. 851 (1901)
The act was copIed from a New York comprehenslve lnsanlty law
enacted In 1896. However, the Callfornia Legislature
neglected to Include procedural safeguards WhlCh were an
Integral part of the New York statute Due to the fallure to
give notlce to the indlvidual beIng comm1tted prlor to selzure
and dellvery to a mental hospItal, the Callfornla Supreme
Court in Lambert declared the entlre law unconstitutional
.
.
.
.
The
CalIfornIa
Involuntary
Legislature
commitment
laws
enacted by the
subsequent
to
Lambert rectlfled the
47
.
.
pre-commitment notlce defIcIency and provIded for Involuntary
commItment
of mentally III
Ind1Vlduals who were eIther
.
presently dangerous or lIkely to become dangerous.
Between 1901
and 1967 when the Lanterman-PetrIs-Short
Act was enacted, a person InvoluntarIly commItted was deprIved
.
of numerous personal and CIVIl rights.
In additIon to los1ng
the rIght to decllne medIcal or psychIatrIc treatment, the
IndIVidual was sUbJect to the followIng:
( 1 )
auto~atlc
.
revocatIon of profeSSIonal
licenses for over twenty (20)
profeSSIons
includIng law, medICIne, accountIng, psychology,
and nurSIng,
l 2 )
dlscretlonary reVocatlon of a drIver's
.
lIcense by the Department of Motor VehlClesj
( 3 )
loss of
abIlIty to buy or sell property where a title search was
reqUIred;
( 4 )
autowatlc
loss of publIC offIce
If the
.
Incumbent was InvoluntarIly commltted.d1/
In 1947 another SIgnIfIcant development occurred WIth
respect to "who" could be InvoluntarIly commItted to a mental
.
hospItal
In Callfornla.
PrIor to 1947 only a mentally III
IndIVIdual who was elther presently dangerous or likely to
become dangerous could be
Involuntarlly commItted.
However,
.
In 1947 the Leglslature saw fIt to expand the commItment
crlterlon from "dangerousness" to self or others to encompass
IndIVIduals who "are of such mental condItIon that they are In
.
need of superVIsIon,
treatment,
care or restralnt.~ Cal.
.
~/ Burke, The Need For Reform 1n The Callfornla ClVIl
Commltment Procedure, 19 Stan. L. Rev. 992 (1967).
48
,
.
.
Welf, & Inst. Code SectIon S5S0(a)(West's 1947), repealed by
1968 Cal Stats., c. 798, Section 7, operative July 1, 1969.
The addItIon of thIS "need of treatment" standard was
vague and was premIsed not on the state's polIce power concept
to commIt lnvoluntarlly to protect the publIC from VIolent and
destructIve acts, but rather was an InvocatIon of the anCIent
paren~ ~atrIae concept to protect and aSSIst IndlvIduals in
carIng for theroselves. "Commitment for dangerousness to
ot~ers serves the pollce power; commItment for dangerousness
to self reveals the government as guardIan to those members of
the comrrunlty unable to care for thelr Interests" Note,
CIVIl CommItment of the Mentally Ill: TheorIes and Procedures.
79 Harvard L Rev 1288, 1293 (1966) See Matter of Oakes, 8
Law Rep 122, 125 (Mass. 1845)
.
.
.
.
.
C The DeclIne of CustodIal HOspItalIzatIon for the
Mentally Ill.
It was not untIl the early 1960s that WIdespread
attentIon was focused on the economIC and human waste
assocIated WIth the operatIon of the state mental hospltal
system In CalIforn1B In 1966, the state mental hospItals had
twenty-flve thousand patIents. Eighty-four percent {84%) of
these patIents had been involuntarIly commltted. Burke, The
Need for Refor~ ID the Callfornla CIVIl Commitment Procedure,
.
.
19 Stan L. Rev
992 (1967)
.
Studles demonstrated that for many years state mental
hOspItals were belng utll1zed as "warehousesU or udumplng
49
.
.
.
groundsN for the unwanted and socIally undeSIrable rather than
for isolating and treating mentally dIsordered persons.
A large number of aged persons With no symptoms other
than senIlIty were InvoluntarIly commltted to state mental
hospItals. In 1965, 20\ of all Involuntary commltments
Involved persons over sIxty-five (65) years of age. "A 1965
estImate stated thaL about 4~500 aged patIents were Improperly
placed In Callfornla State HOspltals Of thIS number, 80\
dIed wlthln a year." CalIfornIa Assembly Interim CommIttee on
Ways and Means, Flnal Report on Health Care ServIces for the
Aged lAprll 1965); Callfornla Assembly InterIm CommIttee on
Ways and Means, ~ Summary Report on Heal~h ~are Servlces for
the Aged 17 {19641.
Custody rather than treatment became the functIon and
purpose of state mental hospltals.
.
.
.
.
(T]he
communIty's assumptlon
the state hOspltal IS a
dump for Its problem
For years the communIty
us people wlth lIttle Of no
[ 1 S ]
that
.
proper
people
has
sent
.
mental
Illness,
but w1th lImIted
.
abIlIty to compete 10 the world We
gIve these people no treatment - Just
three squares, a plot 10 the dormItory
and a chance to perform desultory
labors euphemIstIcally referred to as
nindustrlal therapy" . So mental
.
50
.
hospItals are being told to functlon
.
as (a) boardIng nurserles
unreconstructlble Peter Pansj
for
(b)
front porches for old people; and ( c )
pInk and blue ribboned paneled
. Instltutlons for naughty folk.
(Quote, Dr. WIllIam Sheeley, former
state mental hOspltal superIntendant;
. Burke, The Need for Reform In the
.
CalIfornIa CIV1l Commltment Procedure,
19 5 tan. L Re v 1 002 (1967)
The SItuatIon In CalIfornIa's mental hospItals had
reached a critical state by 1965. ReSident patIent populatIon
was more than 1,000 beyond capaCIty 1965 State of CalIfornIa
5tatl~tlcal Abstract 146 (1966). Hospitals were understaffed;
morale was low More Importantly, costs were hIgh EmpIrIcal
studIes and data, both state and natlonWldel concluded that
state mental hOspitals were ill-eqUIpped to perform theIr
therapeutIc function and that hOspitalIzatIon was not
essentlal In many cases for purposes of effectIve treatment.
CalIfornia MedIcal ASsOcIat1on, Observations and Comments
Based On A Su(vey of Callfornla State Mental FaCIlltles,
(1965)
.
.
.
.
.
51
.
D. The Advent of Community >>ased Mental Health Deliverv
Systems.
In 1963, the Kennedy Administration adopted a national
mental health program which called for the mentally ill to be
treated in the1r own communItIes. The POllCY underlYlng thlS
InauguratIon of a federal program favorlng communIty mental
health centers was premIsed prlmarily upon effIcacy of
treatmeDt goals rather than budgetary consIderatIons related
.
to cost reductIon
Efforts were made to "focus community
.
resources and provIde better communIty facJlitles for all
aspects of mental health care" so that "the center would make
possIble a better understandIng of [the patlent'sJ needs, a
more cordIal atmosphere for hIS recovery, and a contInuum of
treatme~t" ~essage From the Pr~sldent of the UnIted States
Belatlve to Mental Illne~s and Mental Retarda~io~, H.R. Doc.
No. 58, 88th Congo 1 150 Sess. 3 (1963).
The Community Mental Health Centers Act of 1963 (42
U.S.C. Sectlons 2681-96 (1964)) authorIzed SIgnIficant aid to
states In 1965-1967 for constructIon and stafflng of communIty
mental health centers CalIfornIa communItIes for the most
part faIled to utIlize avaIlable federal funds to establIsh
commuDlty treatment programs. It 15 generally conceded that
federal CIrcumventIon of state polItIcal power structures led
to subsequent state dIsavowal of the new programs. Brown,
publIC POlICY ~pd the ~lghts of Mental Patlents, 6 MDLR 55, 56
(1982}
.
.
.
.
.
52
.
In 1957, SIX years before the advent of the federal
Community Mental He41th Centers Act, the Callfornia
LegIslature enacted the Short-Doyle Act ~hlCh was deSIgned to
provlde an Incentive to communItIes to establish local mental
health treatment facllltles. Cal, Welf & Inst. Code SectIon
9000-58,
repealed
by 1967 eal. Stats.
Cal. Welf. & lnst
c. 1667, Section 41
Code Section 5600 et
(now contaIned In
.
seq ).
ThlS early attempt to stimulate communIty mental health
centers produced very few viable operatIve local programs,
Counties were reluctant to meet the twenty-fIve percent
matchl~g fund reqUIrement, partIcularly SInce they saw the
eXIstIng commitment laws as effectIve for banIshIng
undesIrables from the local scene to state hospltals. Those
Short-Doyle faCIlitIes WhICh were establIshed were utIlIzed by
many countIes as a mechanIsm to faCIlItate placement in state
hospItals. Burke, The,Need For Reform in The Ca11forn~a CIV1~
Com~ltment Procedure, 19 Stan L Rev. 992, 1003-04 (1967).
In the late 1960s, long standIng dissatlsfactlon W1th
eXistIng commitment procedures and state hospltal condItIons
preCIpitated a maSSIve overhaul of the state's mental health
system
.
.
.
On January 1, 1967, Ronald Reagan became Governor of the
State of Callfornla. On March 14, 1967, hlS AdmlnIstratIon
announced s1gnIfIcant reductlons 1n state hOspItal personnel
and budget allocatlons. It was clear that Governor Reagan
Intended to dlsmantle the state hosp1tal system and place
.
53
.
.
lncreaslng
reI lance
on
a
system of prIvately operated
Los Angeles TImes, March 15,
Los Angeles TImes, March 16,
.
communIty based
1967, Sectlon
faCllltles.
1
a t I, co l. 6 j
.
1967, Sectlon I, at I, col. I.
The result of the Reagan AdmInIstratIon's budget cuts
was to drastIcally reduce the census at VIrtually all state
hospItals The drastIc reductlon In state hospltal In-patlent
levels has been termed "the transfer of care "
Brown, The
.
Transfer of Care U.S. Mental Health POlICY Slnc~ World War
ll, 9 InternatIonal Journal of Health SerVlces 645, 667
(1979) The effect of thIS POlICY was "to delnstltutIonallze
state hospItal patIents Into the communIty by plaCIng them In
unsatlsfactory nurSIng and boardlng homes, largely paid for by
federal Medlcald and SSI funds, where thelr plIght WIll no
longer be a problem for state government. ThlS undermlnes a
unIform POlICY and IS hIghly questIonable In terms of humane
care." 1.9- at 56 ThIS was the SItuatIon 1n 1967 when the
Leglslature enacted the Lanterman-PetrIs-Short Act
.
.
.
E. The Lanterman-Petrls-Short Act
.
In 1967,
the CalIfornIa
Legislature replaced eXlsting
a comprehensIve leglslatlve
Lanterman-PetrIs-Short Act
CIVll
scheme
commItment procedures WIth
denomlnated as the
.
(hereInafter
"LPS," Cal. Welf & lnst
Code SectIon 5000 et
seg ,
Stats.
1967,
C 1667, p.
4074, SectIon 36, operatlve
.
July 1, 1969) There was a
and operatIve effect of LPg
two year delay between enactment
ThIS reflects the magnItude of
54
.
change in eXlstlng law engendered by the LPS and was necessary
1n order for private and publIC sector adJustments to ensure
that the law would become a workable realIty.
The essential provlslons of the LPS Act provIded for:
[AJ new statutory scheme
repealing the indeterminate
commltment,
remov1ng
the
legal
disabIlitIes prevIously Imposed upon
persons adjudIcated to be mentally
tll, and enactIng an ~xtenslve scheme
for
com~u0Ity-based
serVIces,
.
emphasIzlng voluntary
provIdIng for perIods
observatIon and crISIS
treatment and
of Involuntary
treatment for
.
persons who are unable to care for
themselves or whose condition makes
them a danger to themselves or others
rhorn v SuperIor Court, 1 Cal. 3d
666, 668, 464 P,2d 56, 58, 83
Cal Rptr 600) 601 (19701 (emphaSIS
added}
The extenslve scheme of communIty based serVIces
requlred organlzatlon and flnanclng. To accomplIsh thiS
significant modlflcatlons were made to the eXlstlng
.
.
.
Short-Doyle Act. The
concurrently WIth the
second Short-Doyle Act was enacted
LPS Act. (Cal. Welf. & lost Code
.
Sectlons 5600-5800 (West's 1984).)
It was deslgned:
55
.
IT)o organIze and flnance communlty
mental
health
services
for
the
mentally disordered 1n every county
through locally administered and
locally controlled community mental
health programs. It 1S furthermore
Intended to better utIlIze eXIstIng
resources at both the state and local
-
-
levels
In
order
to lmprove the
effectlveness
of
necessary mental
health
serVIces;
to
Integrate
.
state-operated and communIty mental
health programs Into a unIfIed mental
health system)
to ensure that all
.
mental
health
profeSSlons
be
approprlately represented and utlllzed
In such mental health programs; to
.
provIde a means for partlclpatlon by
local governments 1n the determInatlon
of the need for and the allocatlon of
.
mental health resources; to establlsh
a unIform ratIO of local and state
government
respoos1bllIty
for
.
financing mental health serV1ces; and
to prevIde a means of allccatlng state
mental
health
funds accordIng to
.
56
.
.
communIty needs.
(eal. Wel!. & lnst.
.
Code Section 5600 (West's 1984).)
The leglslatlve Intent of both LPS and Short-Doyle Acts
was to completely change Callfornla's mental health system.
Under both acts, many former questIonable practIces related to
CIV1I commltments have been ellmlnated and communIty
faCIlItIes establIshed. However, there are still sIgnIfIcant
gue5tlons and problems wlth respect to standards under WhICh
an IndIVIdual IS subject to Involuntary custody and evaluatIon
under the LPg Act as well as uncertalnty regardlng the nature,
number, and functIon of communIty care faCIlltles establIshed
under the second and recently amended thIrd Short-Doyle Act
.
.
.
.
F LPS Act Custody and ComMltrnent Problems.
WhIle there are several ways for a mentally dIsordered
person to become subJect to the custody/evaluation/commItment
prOVisIons of the LPS Act, there are only two procedures WhICh
are germane to the scope of thlS report.
The lnltlal confinement and evaluation of a mentally
dlsordered person 15 generally accompllshed pursuant to the
provIslons of Welfare & InstItutlons Code SectIon 5150.
PolIce offIcers, staff members of an evaluatIon facility, and
other deSIgnated profeSSionals may upon probable cause take
lnto custody or authorize the takIng Into custody an
IndIvldual who as a result of a mental dIsorder IS "a danger
.
.
.
.
to others,
dIsabled,"
or
to
hImself or herself,
or [IS]
gravely
(West's
( Cal.
Welf.
& Inst. Code Section 5150,
57
.
1984).) Such an lndlvidual is sUbJect to lnvoluntary
seventy-two (72) hour custody, treatment and evaluation
Slmllar provlslons are applIcable to Indlvlduals who are
gravely dIsabled or dangerous due to 1nebrIation. (Cal. Welf.
& Inst. Code Sectlon 5170,)
FollowIng the Initial 72 hour detentIon, an indiv1dual
can be "certIfIed"
for fourteen
( 14)
addItIonal days of
treatmert If:
.
(1) The staff f1nds that the
person 1S dangerous to hlmself or to
others, or 1$ gravely dlsabled
(2J The person has been adVIsed
of but has not accepted voluntary
treatment.
.
can
(3) The faCIlIty can provId~
treatment.
tCal Welf. & lnst Code Section
5250 (West's 1984).)
BarrIng exerCIse of h~b~a~ ~9rpvs reVIew, an IndIVIdual
be held for seventeen (17) days WIthout JudICial reV1eW
addltlonal confInement and treatment beyond the seventeen
day perIod 1S IndIcated, ]UdlClal reVIew 1S generally
.
.
If
(17)
requlred.
SpeclflC cornffiltment procedures, conservatorshlps,
.
and on-golng judlclal reVIew are dependent on whether the
mentally dIsordered person IS claSSIfIed as either dangerous
to others or gravely dlsabled. (See Cal. Welf. << Iost. Code
Sectlons 5260-68, 5352 (West's 1984).)
.
58
.
.
.
Questions and problems related to the LPg Act commltment
procedures center around the meaning of terms such as:
"dangerous to others," "gravely disabled," and "dangerous to
self" These statutory standards are clearly subjective and
Invite, permlt, and encourage arbitrary and d1scrlmlnatory
enforcement of the law. Burford, The "Cuckoo'~ Nest"
Reassessed: Involuntary Commltment In Callfornl8 After Suzuk)
v. Yuen and Doe v. Galllnot, 22 Santa Clara L. Rev. 807
(1982).
A
.
.
LPS Act
study of custody and
lndlcated that
commltment procedures under the
the Act frequently penalized
.
indlVlduals who demonstrated ldlosyncratlc behavlor.
The author found that
nonstatutory VIolatIons of folkways
(wearing blzarre dress, belng
tranSlent, having a dirty home, etc.)
were common crlterla for the lnltial
commItment under a grave dIsability
.
.
standard.
Furthermore, these patterns
.
of behavlor were those most frequently
used as eVIdence of faIlure to prOVide
food, clothIng, or shelter at
subsequent ~abeas corpus hearings
Id at 824, CItIng Warren, I~yoluntary
Commltment for Mental D~sorder: The
.
Appllcatlon
of
Callfornla's
.
59
.
.
.
Lanterman-Petrls-Short Act, 11 Law &
Soc'y Rev. 629, 634 (Sept. 1977).
However, both state and federal courts have upheld the
LPS Act's "gravely disabled" commitment standard against
challenges that 1t 1S unconstItutIonally vague and due process
challenges to the lnltlal lnvoluntary commItment scheme, Doe
v. Galllnot, 486 F. Supp. 983 (C.D. Cal 1979), aff'd 657 F.2d
1017 (9th elr 1981); Thorn v .~uperlor Co~rt, 1 Cal, 3d, 464
P 2d 56, 62 Cal. Rptr. 600 (1970); County of San D1eqo v
SuperIor Court, 1 Cal.3d 677, 464 P.2d 63, 83 Cal. Rptr. 607
t19701
.
.
.
The UnIted States Court of Appeal for the Nlnth CIrCUIt
1n Doe dId hold, however, that SInce there was a hlgh degree
of sUbJectIvIty Involved In Interpretlng the grave dIsablllty
standard, a mandatory probable cause hearlng was requIred for
the gravely dlsabled prlor to the fourteen (14) day extenslon
certIficatIon
.
.
.
The dllemma facIng law enforcement and mental health
professIonals 1$ what act10n to take to protect or aSslst
Indlvlduals who may not warrant Involuntary commItment, but
whose psychologIcal condItIon requlres some sort of
Interventlon SInce they are also unable to lIve outslde of an
InstItutlonal settIng In enactIng the LPS Act, the
LegIslature speclflcally Intended ''It)o protect mentally
dIsordered persons and developmentally dlsabled persons from
crlmlnal acts" (Welf. & lost. Code SectIon 5001(gl.)
Mentally dlsordered persons who wander streets and parks
.
.
60
.
.
.
wlthout medlcatlon, supervised treatment plans, and shelter
are constantly exposed to abuse 1n the form of beatIngs,
robberYl and general threats of IntlmIdatlon and phys1cal
harm It lS 1n thls sltuatlon that the need for viable
communIty mental health centers and community care facIlIt1es
for local crisis InterventIon and placement, short of
commltment, IS essentIal.
.
.
The Short-Doyle Act and Communlty Mental Health
Programs and FaCIlItIes.
The Short-Doyle Act IS specifically desIgned to fund an
extenSIve scheme of communlty based mental health programs and
faCIlItIes. real. Welt. & lnst. Code SectIon 5600 et seq )
In 1984, the Act was extensIvely amended by the Callfornla
G
.
.
LegIslature (1984 Cal. Stats , c. 1327.
Pursuant to the Act1 the Board of SuperVIsors of each
countYl or Boards of SuperVIsors of countIes actIng JOlntlYJ
are reqUIred to submlt an annual county mental health plan to
.
the state Dlrector of Mental Health.
(Cal. Welf. & lnst.
.
Code SectIon 5650) In developlng a mental health plan, each
county shall conslder all of the followlng speclfled prIorIty
populatIons:
(a) ChronIcally mentally 111.
(b) Mentally dIsturbed chIldren and adolescents.
.
( c )
(d)
Mentally III elderly
Mentally III JaIl Inmates and mentally III wards of
JuvenIle detentIon faCIlItIes.
.
61
.
.
.
(e) Underserved populatIons.
(Cal. Welf. & lnst Code SectIon 5651.1.)
The Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health as
establIshed by the County Board of SupervIsors is responsIble
for the admInlstratlon of the Short-Doyle Program for mental
health. ThIS Department operates both countYWIde and regIonal
mental health programs
Los Angeles County lS organIzed Into five health serVIce
regIons theoretIcally deslgned to admlnIster a more
decentralIzed delIvery of serVlces: Central, Coastal, San
Fernando/Antelope Valley, San Gabrlel Valley, and Southeast
A SIgnIfIcant number of health serVIce regIonal boundarIes
correspond wlth the boundarIes of county supervisorial
dIstrIcts
Each health serVIce regIon IS also subdIVIded Into fIve
mental health regIons Some mental health reglons are In turn
subdIVIded Into mental health distrIcts Each regIon IS
headed by a Deputy DIrector.
The Reglonal Mental Health DlstrIct boundarIes are
deSIgned for program plannIng purposes only; persons are not
lImIted to receIvlng care wlthln the health reglons or
dIstrIcts of theIr res1dence Serv1ces are prOVIded In three
baSIC ways: (1) through county operated facllItles, (2)
through contracts WIth prIvate prOVIders, and (3) by referral
of patIents to state hospItals, prIvate hOspItals, State
Offlce of Mental Health SOCIal Services, and State Department
of Soc1al SerVlces Ideally, patIents are to receIve
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
62
.
.
treatment wlth1n theIr own regIon, and,
It IS hoped, withIn
.
their Mental Health DIstrIct.
RegIonal Deputy DIrectors for Mental Health are
responsible for the plannIng of mental health serVIces within
theIr respectlve regIons. Communlty partlcIpatlon In the
plannIng process IS facilitated by varIOUS reglonal and
dlstrlct lIaIson commIttees. SerVlce provlders are generally
represented by the Interagency Coordlnatlng CommIttee The
County Department of Mental Health Central offIce has the
responslblllty for the flnal plannIng and fundIng allocatIon
determlnatIons for the mental health reglons.
In determInIng the allocatIon of Short-Doyle commun1ty
mental health funds, the County Central Offlce and reglonal
planners are generally gUIded by the CalIfornIa Model serVIce
target groups, Index of RelatIve Need, and statutory mandated
programs and target groups.
However, past practIce has shown that obJectIve
crlterlon IS not the sole determlnant of Short-Doyle fundIng
allocatlons. In 1977, a State Department of Health Report
IndIcated there was a hIstory of politIcal Interventlon In the
communIty mental health plannlng and allocatIon process to a
degree that legltlmate communIty needs were frequently
Ignored, (State Department of Health Report (July 26, 1977)j
copy avallable In the Santa Monica City Attorney's Offlce. J
Each year a portlon of Short-Doyle communlty mental health
funds are dIstrlbuted based upon the relatlve politlcal
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
63
.
Influence of service provIders and serVIce populations rather
than accordlng to an obJectlve lndex of need.
H DIstrIbutlon of Short-Doyle CommunIty Mental Healt~
Funds 1n Santa Monica
The City of Santa Monica is located 1n the Coastal
Mental Health RegIon.
The Coastal RegIon IS further dIVIded
Into four distrIcts
Santa MonIca 1S In the Santa MonIca West
Mental Health DIstrict.
Coastal RegIon Short-Doyle funds for
1983-84 totaled
S13)54S,899
Of this total,
the Santa MODIca West Mental
.
.
Health DIstrIct was allocated $3,812,698, WhiCh constItutes
30\ of the total funas allocated to dlstr1ct programs and 28\
of the total funds allocated to the region. Appendlx IX
contaIns a detaIled table of regIonal and district Short-Doyle
allocatIons
No Coastal RegIonal or Santa Monlca West Mental Health
DIstrIct Short-Doyle funds have been allocated or targeted for
homeles~ mentally dIsordered lndIvIduals. The Callfornla
Model for CalifornIa CommunIty Mental Health Programs, WhICh
IS utIllzed 1n conjunctlon with the Index of relatlve need to
determIne Short-Doyle program fundIng prlorltles, does not
contalD a speclfIc program category for the homeless mentally
dlsordered.
The CalIfornia LegIslature, in amendlng the Short-Doyle
Act, faIled to Include programs and funds for the homeless
mentally dIsordered It also elImInated entIrely prevIous
.
.
.
.
64
.
state funding incentives for the establishment of lnnovatlve,
communlty based outpatIent treatment serVIces, which were
partIcularly suited for adaptatIon to the specifIc needs of
the mentally disordered homeless populatlon
(Cal. Welf.
&
lost.
Code SectIon 5705.5, amended by 1984 Cal. Stats., c.
1327.
In fiscal year 1984-85, the state budget reflected the
largest fundIng Increase for local mental health programs in
California's hIstory
The State Department of Mental Health's
budget was $702.5 mIllion, an 11\ increase over the prevlous
f1scal year.
The portIon of the budget desIgnated for
.
community mental health programs was Increased by 15\ or
$47,000,000 for a total of $364,000,000 1d/ Notwlthstandlng
the Increase In state fundIng for communlty mental health
.
programs,
federal
funds prevIously allocated directly to
communIty mental health centers are now Indirectly allocated
In the form of block grants to countIes through the state
.
These Iodlrect state block grant funds are slgnIflcantly lower
than dlrect federal
funds
As a result, several communIty
mental health centers In Los Angeles County have reduced
.
services
Under elther fundlng scheme, homeless mentally
disordered
IndIVIduals have been VIrtually Ignored WIth
respect to development of programs designed to meet thelr
.
baSIC need for shelter and treatment
.
~/ OffIce of the Governor, Press Release (September 25,
1984)
65
.
WhIle the POlICY of deinstitutIonallzatlon has
necessarIly engendered the need for commun1ty health programs
and facllItIes1 actual 1mplementat1on of the Short-Doyle Act
has clearly failed to resolve the placement problem related to
Indlv1duals dIscharged from state mental hOsp1tals but who are
unable to care for themselves wIthout some level of aId or
supervIs10n There 15 a grow1ng consensus that the POlICY of
aelnstltutlonallzatlon has been condemned as lrresponslbly
Implemented
.
[T)he next era of reform WIll need to
acknowledge that responSIDle communIty
care must lnclude baslc llfe supports
(such as housIng, Income and food),
mental health treatment (lncludlog,
but not llmlted to, outreach, crisls
.
InterventIon,
medlcatIon,
and
.
supportIve therapy, and some degree of
protectlon, supervisloo, and
advocacy). Levlne, Homelessness: Its
Impllcatlons for Mental Health POIICY
and Practice, PsychosocIal
Rehabllltatlon Journal, Vol. VIII, No.
1, p. 12 (July, 1984).
Shelter and follow up treatment IS especIally dIffIcult
Sloce the nature of these IndIVIduals' partlcular mental
lllnesses frequently manIfests Itself In a chronIC denIal of
theIr true mental and physical deterloratlon. There is also a
.
.
.
66
.
fear that contact with publiC agencies may lead to either
incarceratIon
or
further
involuntary
commitment.
The
functional characteristics of the chronically mentally III
which frequently lead to their 1nabllity to secure or reta1n a
residence are
[Dllfflculty with the tasks of daily
llving,
recurrent problems in meeting
baSIC survival needs,
InabilIty to
seek help from human service works,
and the tendency toward eplsodes of
"actlng
out"
behaVIor
that may
-
-
interfere
wi th
the well-belng of
themselves and/or others
Anyone of
these
characteristics
makes
It
.
diffIcult for a chronically mentally
III person to gain access to housIng
and/or
employment;
frequently,
the
.
chronically mentally ill have more
than one of these functional problems.
1..sL at 8-9
.
These indiViduals comprise a slgnlflcant percentage of the
homeless
Bassuk,
The Homelessness Problem, SClentlflc
American, Vol.
2.51, No.1, p.
40 (July 1984). The American
.
PsychlatrJC Assoclatlon has recently Issued a comprehensIve
report on the pllght of the homeless mentally III WhlCh
analyses
its causes and makes speCIfic recommendations for
.
resolVIng thlS socletal tragedy.
(See Appendlx X.)
67
.
I. ~PS Act Placement and,Tr~atment AlternatIves.
In
California
during fiscal year 1982-83,
11,275
patIents were discharged from six state hospitals for the
mentally dlsabled
1983 CalIfornia StatIstIcal Abstract 77.
Durlng
1981-82,
13,815
patIents
were
discharged.
ApproxImately 65-70% of these dIscharged patlents were from
the Los Angeles County serVlce area.
Thus, Los Angeles County
has a crItical problem WIth respect to provIdlng adequate
numbers of mental health professionals as well as placement
and treatment programs which Will ensure an orderly translt10n
from Instltutlon to communlty supportlve care.
.
There appear to be two prImary factors WhICh lead to
homelessness on the part of discharged mental patlents.
FIrst,
there
1S an acknowledged lack of communIty care
.
faelIltles avaIlable for placement 1n the County.
T~e second and more fundamental problem contrIbuting to
homelessness among many discharged mental pat1ents IS that
.
they refuse to comply with prescrIbed treatment programs and
placement
In eXIstIng communlty care faCllltles.
"A study of
500 a~rested persons In need of psychIatrIC care found that
.
all had hOspltallzatlon records, but 94 percent were not
Involved in any outpatIent program "].!/
There IS a definIte
need for some form of mandatory out-patIent programs and
.
placements for both mentally dlsordered Indlvlduals dlscharged
.
1.!/ WhItmer t trq\TI .HospItals to Jalls~ _The Fate ,of
CallfornIa's Delnstltutlonallzed Mentally Ill, American
Journal of OrthopsychIatry, Vol. 50, No.3, P 738 (Dee
1980} .
68
.
from state mental hospitals as well as a treatment option
under the LPS CIVIl commltment procedures for indIvlduals
whose condItIon does not warrant InstitutIonalIzation.
WhIle numerous discharged patients are not committable under
the LPS Act, the nature of theIr mental illness renders them
unable to care for themselves or lIve indepedently outside an
InstltutIon WIthout some level of aId or supervIsion
The LPS
Act fails to dIrectly address thIS problem.
For that segment
.
of the homeless who are mentally dIsabled, therapeutlc and
survIval Imperatives are IntImately linked.
(T]here lS always an InteractIon
.
between clInlcal and SOCIal problems,
It IS rarely pOSSIble to separate the
two
10
any
way
that would be
.
convenIent
for the development of
Independent
medIcal
and
SOCIal
servlces.~/
.
Artlflclally separatIng treatment from survival needs
reflects a POlICY of dealing WIth the mentally dlsordered
ho~eless on a baSIS of neglectful expedIency.
.
[l]t IS dlfflcult to dellver mental
health serVIces to a homeless mentally
111 1ndlvldual who 1S dest1tute and
.
physlcally 111
~ part of any mental
health treatment program to a homeless
.
12/ Wlng & Olsen, Communlty Care for the Mentally
DIsabled, Oxford Unlverslty Press, p 172 (1979)
69
.
mentally ill person must include an
attempt
to
help
stabIlize
the
immedlate physical enVlronment of the
lndlvidual Provldlng shelter, foodJ
phYSIcal health care and protection
from violence became a signIflcant
mental
health
treatment
process.
Farr) The Los Angel~s Skf9 Row Mental
..
~
ti~~lth ProJect) Los Angeles County
Dept of Mental Health 14 (1983).
A grOWIng number of courts and leglslatures have
.
attempted to deal WIth the chronically mentally III who cannot
be committed as mentally dlsordered) but who are too SIck to
be placed on the streets.
.
The New Jersey Supreme Court
ln the case of In re
Commltmenc of S.L}
94 N.J.
128,
462 A 2d 1252 (1983)}
conSIdered the lssue of the legal status of patIents In state
.
mental hospltals who had been dlscharged Slnce they were no
longer dangerous to self, to others or to property
However,
these patlents were unable to surVlve Independently outslde
.
the InstItutIon WIthout some care and supervlslon.
The court created a hybrld status of "dIscharged pendlng
placementU
fDPP) whereby when a commItment reVlew hearIng 1S
.
held) the court~
shall
make
a further
lnqulry to
determlne whether the IndIvldual is
.
capable of leaving the Instltutlon.
70
.
If the court determines that the
IndIVIdual
IS not able to surVIve In
the communIty Independently or with
the help of famIly or frIends, the
court shall direct that the indlvidual
remaIn
In
the
institution,
but
ImmedIately
schedule
a
placement
reVIew hearIng to occur within 60
days
(In re Commitment of 5 L. J et
.
.~.l., 94 N.J. 128,462 A.2d 1252,1258
(1983)
If no appropriate placement IS found WIthIn 60 days,
placement reVIew hearlngs would be held every SlX months The
commitment/placement court also has the option of exerCIsIng
.
contInuing JurIsdIction concernIng the care,
superVISion,
.
placement or commltment of the IndlVldual.
In CalIfornIa, the only comprehenSIve treatment and
placement prOVISIon under the LPS Act deals WIth mentally
dIsordered IndIVIduals who have actually carrled aut, or
.
threatened,
(Welf &
serIOUS and substantlal phYSIcal harm to another.
Inst. Code SectIon 5300 For persons committed
pursuant
to
SectIon 5300,
there are
prescribed placement,
(Welt & lnst. Code
treatment,
and supervlslon reqUIrements.
.
Sectlon 5305.) However, these provlslons prOVIde no rellef to
the ma]Orlty of dIscharged mentally dIsordered patlents who
are not commlttable, but who cannot effectIvely safeguard
theIr own phySical and economic Interests.
.
71
.
.
The rationale for the New Jersey Supreme Court's
decIsion rested on what It considered to be the respons1bl11ty
of the state under the parens patriae authorIty.
Although the state does not have
the authorIty to continue the legal
commItment of the appellants, It IS
not requlred to cast them adrlft Into
the communIty when the IndIvlduals are
Incapable of survIval on thelr own
In a proper exerCISe of Its par~n~
patrlae authorIty, It may therefore of
necessIty contInue the confInement of
such persons on a provISIonal or
condItIonal basIs to protect theIr
essentIal well-beIng) pendIng efforts
to foster the placement of these
.
IndiVIduals
In
proper
supportIve
.
settings outSIde the lnstltutlon. In
.
re 9om~~tment of S L.) 94 N J
462 A.2d 1252, 1258 (1983)
The Arlzona LegIslature has taken an InnovatIve approach
In attemptIng to solve the dIlemma of confInement versus
128,
.
leavlng
wlthout
a mentally dlsabled person on the streets to wander
a home or treatment alternatlve. SectIon 36-540 of
.
the ArIzona Mental Health Services Act permits mentally ill
patients to be ordered lnto mandatory outpatIent programs as
an alternative to Instltutionallzatlon or no treatment at all.
72
.
FollowIng a hearIng an IndlVldual can be ordered into an
outpatIent program for periods up to one (1) year. FaIlure to
comply wIth mandatory outpatlent treatment may result in the
person beIng commItted to an InstitutIon. In additIon to
Arlzona,
a number of other states have implemented mandatory
.
outpatlent treatment programs.
There IS a move toward statutory
provIsIon for compulsory outpatIent
treatment; about 20 states now permIt
a court to order outpatIent treatment
In place of hOspItalIzatIon for
patients In the CIVIl commItment
process OutpatIent commltment has
been successful In the DIstrIct of
ColumbIa, and reports are avaIlable on
Its use In North Carolina. But In
general It IS an untapped potentIal
for dealIng wlth the chronIcally
mentally 111 who are reluctant to seek
treatment AmerIcan Psychlatrlc
ASsoclatlon, The Homeless Mentally Il~
267 (1984).
Of unquestIonable importance In these legIslatIve
schemes IS that mandatory outpatlent programs are unworkable
unless faCllltles and vlable treatment programs exist. The
approach utIlIzed by mental health profeSSIonals, the
legIslature, and courts should reflect a willlngness to
.
.
.
.
.
.
73
.
.
utilize nontradltlonal treatment approaches in deallng with
the homeless mentally III
Our work has shown that
tradItIonal mental health treatment
approaches usually are not affectlve
(SlC) In reaching out to or treatlng
the homeless chronIcally mentally 111.
Our 1nItial thrust In the Los Angeles
SkId Row Mental Health ProJect was
based on tradItIonal mental health
treatment approaches and dId not prove
effectIve. As the tradltional
approaches were abandoned and new and
unIque methods of outreach and
asslstance were developed, the program
.
.
.
became lncreasIngly successful.
Farrt
.
The Los angeles S~ld Row Mental Health
Program, Los Angeles County Dept. of
Mental Health 15 (1983),
Unless and untIl the Callforola legislature beglns to
examIne alternatlves to the present state mental hospItal
.
commItment/dIscharge
scheme under the LPS Actt mentally
.
dIsabled Indlvlduals WIll contlnue to swell the ranks of the
homeless. "AnalysIs of the problem of homelessness (of the
mentally dIsordered) shows the inadequacies of a conventlonal
'servlce' approach and suggests that 'therapeutlc' and
everyday 'survlval' needs must be ccnsl.dered simultaneously. "
.
74
.
InstItute for SocIal Welfare Research, prIvate Llves/PubllC
Places: Homeless Adults on the Streets of New York CIty 5
(1981). What 1S needed 1S continued protectIve
institutlonalizatlon pendIng beneflclal community placement
coupled w1th some form of mandatory Qutpatlent
placement/treatment scheme such as the one belng utll1zed In
ArIzona.
.
However, before any legIslation IS drafted Whlch 1S
modeled after the New Jersey cont1nued protect1ve
InstltutIonallzatlon plan or the ArIzona mandatory outpatIent
t~eatment program] careful reVIew and conslderatlon should be
gIven to potentlal Infrlngement of patIents' CIVll rlghts. It
appears that contlnued protective Institutlonallzatlon pendlng
benefIcIal communIty placement 15 vIable only where there are
adequate numbers of communlty placement faCIlitIes and when
placement reVIew hearIngs are scheduled at more frequent
.
.
Intervals than every 60 days as
Jersey plan. WIthout these
mentally dIsordered patIents
eXlsts under the present New
protectIons many dlschargable
mlght otherwise langUIsh for
.
months In state mental hOspItals.
The Arizona mandatory outpatIent program permIts
Involuntary commItment WIthout prior ]udiclal reView of a
pat1ent who IS determIned to be In non-complIance WIth the
terms of a mandatory outpatIent order. It would appear that
before a patIent's status can be changed from outpatlent to
Involuntary comm1tment to a psychlatrlc faClllty, some form of
.
.
75
.
]ud,eial or adm,n,strat,ve he.r,ng be held prior to, or w,th,n
a short perIod of tlme subsequent to, commltment.
.
.
.
.
.
.
76
.
VII.
CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
There may be a message In the 34
year-old Chlcago man who was kllled
recently when the out-of-order trash
compacter
1n
whlch
he had been
sleepIng for weeks was mended wlthout
hIS knowIng It and the man, havIng
conceIved of hlmself as an ally of
refuse
anD
havIng
been for all
practlcal
purposes refuse,
flnally
became refuse and was compacted But
....
If there
1S a message,
I'm not sure
that I want to know what It IS.
.
Ebenezer Hob
" Con f e s S 1 0 n s .'
WashingtonIan Magazine,
July 1978
The ultImate fate of refusE' IS to be dIscarded
Placed
In garbage cans, dumpsters, and dump trucks.
Flnally to be
.
bulldozed over and burled in the wasteland of InanImate
obJects,
the dump
Trash,
refuse, waste, and garbage, a
preCIse and pure leXIcon of uselessness.
.
Homeless
IndIViduals across the country are belng
increaSIngly
subjected
to
a
pervaSive
Involuntary
metamorphoSIS
Labeled and characterIzed not In human animate
.
termsJ
the homeless have been transformed tnto human refuse
As WIth Inanlmate waste, the next stage once a dehumanIZIng
characterlzatlon
1S
affIxed,
IS
to
discard.
ThIS
.
ever-grownlng tendency to dlscard and Ignore the homeless
77
.
reflects a fundamental disregard for the value and dtgnity of
individual human beings
The cItizens of Santa MonIca must recognize that the
homeless, whether In PalIsades Park,
along the beach, or
foragIng
in the trash bins behInd grocery stores,
are
symptomatic of a natIonal crlSlS not attrlbutable to the
POLICY of any present or past CIty admInIstratIon
PublIC
outcries "to rId our streets of vagrants, publIC InebrIates,
panhandlers,
and
tranSIents" generate fear rather than
understandIng and are generally unresponslve to the problem
confrontlng Our communlty
.
State,
County and muniCIpal governments are at a
crossroad'
[E]lther they recognlze the urgency
.
and
magnItude
of
contemporary
homelessness
and
take
ImmedIate
remedIal
and preventIve action, or,
.
lIke
the
CircumlocutIon
OffIce
memorlallzed by Charles DIckens In
L 1 t t1 e Do r r 1 t (1 8 5 7 ) J de v 0 t e " h a 1 f a
.
score of boards, half a bushel of
mlnutes,
several sacks of offICial
memoranda,
and a family-vault full of
.
ungrammatIcal
correspondence"
to
further study of the problem.~/
.
~/ Community SerVIce Society of New York, One Y~ar
~ater' The Homeless Poor In New York CIty, 1982) 5S (1982)
78
.
.
Homelessness is a natIonal disgrace. It wIll continue
to be a harsh remlnder to all AmerIcans that the underside of
apparent economic prosperlty is manifested in suffering and
degradatlon for a slgnlflcant and growIng number of our
clt1zens,
As thIS report IndIcates, the homeless problem can only
be successfully addressed outsIde the crlmlnal JustIce system.
In orde[ to address the Clty's homeless problem, the CIty
Attorney recommends actIon 10 the fOllowIng areas.
1 ConsIder the establIshment of a one year law
enforcement/servIce pIlot program whIch would authorIze the
creatIon of two (2) addItIonal posltlons 1n the PolIce
Department conslsting of two (2) pollce offIcers and two (2)
CIty cIVlllan posItlons In a department such as the Communlty
and Nelghborhood SerVlces Dlvlslon deSIgnated as communIty
CflS1S Intervent10n offlcers speclally tralned and experIenced
with the homeless and publlc lnebrlates. These posltIons
would be used to form two (21 crlS1S InterventIon teams
comprIsed of one (1) pollce offlcer and one (1) communlty
crlS1S Ioterveotlon offlcer These teams would have primary
responslbllty for the follOWIng:
(a) Make approprlate referrals and transport lf
necessary homeless mentally dlsordered persons, and publlC
Inebrlates, to prlvate or publlC sector shelters,
detoxlflcatlon centers or other deSIgnated faCIlItles.
lb) When necessary, take lndlvlduals lnto custody
for comm1ttment under the LPS Act Sectlon 5150
.
.
.
.
79
.
(e) Develop a workIng knowledge and relatlonshlp
of, and with} indivIduals and groups who comprise the
homeless, publlC InebrIates, and mentally d1sordered street
populatIon In the CIty of Santa MonIca.
Cd) CommunIcate and cooperate with
community
for the
.
organlzatlons wIth establIshed serVlce programs
homeless, mentally dIsordered, and publIc InebrIates.
(e) SubmIt perIodIC statIstIcal reports to the
Santa MonIca Clty CouncIl
2. ConSIder the City establIshIng a drop-In center for
.
the homeless
3 Seek state legIslatIon In the follOWIng areas:
a LegIslatIon SImIlar to on sectIons of the
ArIzona Mental Health Act reqUIrIng mandatory outpatIent
treatment and placement of mentally dIsordered Indlvlduals who
are not commIttable under the LPS Act but who are unable to
lIve independently without some level of ald or supervis10n
b Leg1slatIon reqUirIng a mandator,y
determInatlon to be made prlor to dIscharge of a mentally
olsordered person from a state hOspItal as to whether the
InoIvIdual is able to surVIve In the communlty Independently;
otherWIse the person shall be placed In an approprIate
outpatJent faClllty.
c In draftIng any leglslatlon related to
mandatory outpatIent treatment or pre-dIscharge placement
determInat1ons1 careful conSIderatIon should be gIven to the
.
.
.
.
.
80
.
.
nature and frequency of judicIal reVlew In order to avoId
potentlal due process vIolations.
d. The LegIslature approprlate sufficient state
funds for establIshment of shelters and communlty care
faellltles for mandatory placement of mentally dlsordered
homeless Indlviduals and establIshment of the mandatory
pre-dIscharge communlty placement deterffilnatlon program.
4. The CIty Manager should consider deslgnating a staff
member to serve as a l1alson responsIble for actIvely
Interact1ng 1n the Los County Department of Mental Health's
Coastal regIonal and dlstrlct mental health annual plannIng
process. ThIS would, at a m1nImum, ensure that the speclflc
mental health needs of the Clty of Santa MonIca are
systematlcally formulated (publIC hearIngs held by the
Councll) and presented In wrItten form to approprlate County
offICIals to be conSIdered for lnclusIon In the annual Los
Angeles County Mental Health Plan
5. ConSIderatIon should be gIven to brlnglng Iltlgatlon
agaInst the the County of Los Angeles to comply wlth SectIon
17000 of the Welfare and Institutions Code by provldlng
IndIgent homeless resIdents necessary emergency shelter on the
Westslde
At the present tlme the County contracts wlth three (3)
motel/hotels on the WestsIde to prOVIde emergency shelter.
There are generally only SIX (6) avallable vacancies on any
given nIght In these faCIlItIes. Once these establishments
are full, homeless people are gIven the optIon of alternatIve
.
.
.
.
.
81
.
shelter
(If ava1lable) at hotels in and around the Skid Row
sectlon of downtown Los Angeles.
As a general rule, a slgnlflcant number of homeless
people prefer sleepIng outside 1n Santa MonIca rather than
travelIng a great dIstance to a skId row hotel where they fear
for thelr physical safety. ThlS 15 especIally true in the
cases of homeless women and fam1l1es.
Because of the faIlure of the County to prov1de
weanlngful shelter in the WestsIde area, the CIty of Santa
MonIca has been forced to expend sIgn1flcant publIC resources
In dealIng With the homeless.
.
6
Seek
state
leglslatlon to
drop-in centers,
the current and
provlde funds for
and mental health
future needs of the
emergency
faCIlItIes
shelters,
to meet
.
homeless populatIon of CalIfornIa.
7 Conslder commencIng lItIgatIon agaInst the County
WIth respect to Its fallure to prOVIde treatment to gravely
dIsabled Indlvlduals 1n the communlty.
8 CIty staff should conSIder prepare a report on the
feaSlbl11ty of establlShJng a Clty sponsored day labor program
for homeless IndIVIduals. The support of the bUSIness
communIty should also be explored WIth respect to prOVIdIng
job opportunItIes for the employable segment of the homeless
populatlon.
9. CIty staff should conSIder workIng WIth communlty
groups or agenCIes to expand the shelter avallable to homele~5
persons
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10. City staff should consider preparIng a report for
the CIty CounCIl wIthIn 90 days of the date of thIS report as
tc the feaSlblllty of establlshlng a CIty sponsored (by the
CIty
or
In
conjunctlon
WIth
other
cItIes),
JOInt
CIty/communIty agency sponsored, or communlty agency sponsored
comprehensIve day treatment mental health center.
Such a
center would serve as a model communIty alternatIve for
mentally dIsordered homeless persons
Addltlonally, 10 the
event mandatory outpatIent treatment legIslatIon IS enacted,
centers of thiS type could serve as one form of supervIsed
treatment center.
11 CIty Staff should consIder optIons related to
eIther extendIng the hours eXIstIng publIC restroom faCIlItIes
are openJ
or expand1ng these or alternatIve faCIlItIes In
.
order to reduce cases of public defecation and urlnatlon
.
PREPARED BY: Robert M Myers, CIty Attorney
Raymond F Correia, Deputy CIty Attorney
DeSIgnate
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Santa Monica Evening Outlook
November 22, 1984
Polic.e sweep park,
arrest 10 for drugs
.
Culmmatmg a recent m~estlga"
lion mto drug RJhng In Santa
Monica's oceanfront Pahsades Park.
pollee have conducted I 1hree-boQr
raid of the park, arrestmg 10 people
on felony narcohcs charges
FIve of the suspects, who ranged
In age from 14 to 34, dmmed fA) be
transIents, Santa Momca Police Sgt
Walter Hard sald Wednesday The
suspects were booked 011 charles of
Rlhng manJWUla and/or cocame
Tbe pollee investlgatJon, -dabbed
the 'PalISades Park OperatlOO," In-
volved more thaIl 15 offlcers from
the police department's Special En-
forcement Dlvis101l, Cnrne Impact
Team and footbeat patrol
The art"ellts wene ~ betweell S
P rn and 6 P m Wednesday after-
IIOOn Ul a one-bIock secbOCl of (be
park An undJscJ08ed amomlt oJ C>>-
aine and marijuana was COD-
bleated as eVldence:
In recent rnotI.t.bs, PaJJsades Park
bad started to become . well-tnown
'POt to ~ll .. buy drugs, Jlolu~
.....d "It wu beconunc II place to 10
And that's why we declded to take
steps to prevent It rrom becornm&
such A place," said Hard. who was
the SUpervlSlDl otfleer of the opera-
bon
"Tbe PalISades Park area bas
been a controversial area In regards
to pollce enforcement I really thank
we've tak.en a major step m regards
.. keepmg the park . ,ood place for
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dtJ.Zens to VlSlt,'J Jtani tdded
Police Rid the ~ were
Gerald H James, It, transumL
Cla)'ton WillIams. ... transient,
MItchell Harris, 24. tranaent, Hec-
tor Luna, M, tranlient, Daniel
DeUm. 27. of Hollywood, MIchael
Load, 21, of Los Anceles, Micbael
MeIghan, 26, of Arleta. Charles
Miles, %4, orSanta Monica and SheIla
Wolfe, 11, transient
'Ibe tenth SUJpect WIS a female] 4-
year-old Sallta Monica reSident
whose name was witbbeld because of
her age The teen-acer reportedly
lias . record of pnwtltutiaD. police
Slid
"BasIcally, .n of tbe8e people
we.re mdependent d.roC dealers that
were jut plain infesting tbe park
Tbe}' were constAntly there and were
rudy to deal their irup to whom-
ever walked up and WIIlted some,"
Hard AId
Several of the suspects were book-
<<I 011 other outRandmg cUrges.
such as attempted burtJ,ary, police
aa.ad The cases WIll be subnutted to
the CouDty Dmnct AUomey early
next week
Most of Ute ICtiYity tool: place
dunn, tile day-tlJ1ae taeurs, be uld
All bad allegedly IOld druas to UDdeT-
cover pobce olficen operatmg m the
park
Not m recent Juston' has lbere
e\'er been such a large drug bust at
the park. be IWd
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S(:I E'TI FI C
l\1 ERI C~~ ~ Jut) 1984
I ,r.....hhc d I!(~ ~
Volume 2S]
Number ]
The Homelessness Problem
Alany of (he homeless people wandering the streets of Amencan
cines and cron ding /nto emergency shelters are-mentally III
The-) IeqUJre adequate housJng and appropriate psychiatnc care
-
~1 '-t" -\~e- ~a~, ....e.e homdes~
,,< ... '''~e' thG.~ al ar\ H1'1e
,'~_e the Gre,,! De.reSSI01"
ESll~a e' 0' tl-;t' ,';:C Of ....t '.ag'an' par
u]a"o~ ".,.... ,,:::1- The 'alia"":.,," Coa
htlor '", t-~ H0.,.e'es~ put~ :~e fig:.Jre
ii' : . 'T i ",:'0- ,0' 1'/" an In~rease Of
~I'" "'" (' ,- the pre~edl'1g \ear The
Federa' Dc ;-,,-'''''~'' or H{'LiSl'1!; and
Lrt-d" Dc t:(I::'~er' Hl D' eslima'e~
thill on". ~~,. 'pli' 10 ~:-u (l1)ll are hOrr'e
less '1a'<"~ Ice \l, hatr',er the number
IS e'e'.(lre a;'::e, 11 's !;:rO\Llrg
Pd" ... ...i,_1 .r. lr;e ra~l fi..e \ea"', gC"\
er';-c": ef" ,,', ".,d r"j',ale g'OUt~ In
;: "Ie' <\'oo.;-.:! 'h. .OLin'r\ ha\ e respond
ed h Ote-..q: emergerc~ shellers 10
If'> to "neE' 1....:::: llT"ned;alf needs of the
home'e~~ Bed~ Jr. Ihe~e shellers till as
1.001" as lhe\ be:ome a'allable and SI]lI
or.I'. d fra~110:- 0' those In need are pro-
\ Id~c foe Some 0; the res' sed. tern
po'a", refuge e!se"'~ere for eumpJ:
If hos,.tah bu: moS" probabl) fend
fo' :....e...se'.e~ or l~e stree:s huddlmg
If doo."'a\s O. 0' e" sub"'a\ \entlla
uo~, ged'b V. ~E'"Ilhe .... eathe' 1 urns cold
some die
....tl"i'gf';. Lr. 'e '" 'oek ell\ 18 publ1c
s.helre'~ hC'..~c SOT"\E of t~e thousands of
men 4n.: '" (l",cr '" ~O roam Ihe stree's
during the jd' 11'"1 0' Ihe~e shelters did
nOl UlSl ....do.e I 91l.(1 Pn\ ale grours
In 'e... ... ori. hil\e aho slepped up thelI
efforts In 19!1: 10 chl.lrches offered a
Iota' of 11 'l, beds 10 homeless people b,
!.he end of 19h3 t~: churches and 1.\0 n
ilgogues ....ere p"o,]dmg a lotal of 650
b(:!s In nO shellers In Boston 1"'0 large
!.h~llet~ re~enth doubled melT capaCll,
....e..n:heless on a sno....} nlihl I1l Jan-
u&:\ Bo~ton 5 IUlesl shelter the Pane
S:ree! Inn reported a record number of
lan', the; 50 beds 'i.>ere filled, as al.
"il\~ ilnd ~6- people cro...ded onlo the
Inr \ "'oue cemenl Boors
by Ellen L Bassuk
v'oo are these people~ Lnforlunateh
there are no reliable natlonoil da:a on the
homeles~ e\ en thoug~ the\ ha\ e al.... a, s
beer numerous lP "\merlcan cllles An
eedotal e\ .dence suggests thi.' In the
decades before 1970 most of the home-
less... ere unattached middle-aged alco-
hok men-Ihe denizens of S~ld Ro....
Sm~e about 19:0 lhe population ap'
pean 10 ha\e been gelllng progreSSl\e
h }- ounger Moreo...er the sparse liter,
ature on the subjeCl and m} Ol,l.n e~pt'-
nence as a pS\oChli.lTIst "'orAlng "'Ith
homeless people m Boston leads me to
behCH a more Important change has
taken place an mcreaslng number-]
would sa} a large maJont}~r the
homeless suffer from menIal Jllnes5
rangmg from schizophrenia to severe
prrsonall1} disorders
A' a time v.hen the actcpted solulIon
Il. 10 the homelessness problem IS to
establish more shelters, thiS findIng has
dill urbmg I111pbcatlons Shelters are In-
valuable the} save lives The trouble IS
that man} shelters do httle more and
the mental!} III need more than JUSI a
meal and prolectlon from the elements
Those ...hose disorders arc treatable or
al least manageable requU'e appropn-
ale pSj'chlalrlc care, v.hlch ftle) do not
8el at shelters The chronlcall, disabled
people \I;ho '\Ir'111 never be able to care
for themselves deserve better than to
spend their lives bellIng on the streets
and sleepmg on arm) cots an armnasl'
urns Shelters have been saddled With
the unposslble task of rcplaelnS nol
onl, the almshouses of the pasl bUI
also the IUle state mental mstltuUoru
Al thIS task. the} must U\evltabl, fall,
and thus .\Jnencan society hu fa1led In
Its moral rnpoJUlbtluy to care for III
weakest members
The stalement thaI a majont)' of the
'0
homeless arc mentall} III does not Jr.
Itself expl.1.1n wh, theH number IS gro....
mg or ",h) a parlleular mdl'Jdual )oms
therr ran~s Wllhout reliable data II 15
dlfficull 10 ans'\lrer the firSI question bUI
se"cral faclors ma) h.....e conlTlbuted 10
the recent s.....elhng of the homeless pop-
ulation The most obVIOUS one I~ the re-
1
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<50
80MELE.S6 PEOI'LI: sI., ill .. _., ill
N_ l'n 017 "". ._be rlI ~.e1_
r
-.0' In
,0'"
I Jom~
a II H
n but
led w
, pop
hr It'
1
cession Unemployment reached a pn,"
of W 7 perccnl III Novcmbc:r. 1982. ,u
hllhcsl le,,'cl Smce me 19)O'i Some of
those who lost thCll" JOb~ and lDl;omes
uadoubledJ} ]OSI lhelJ' homu as 'Io'ell
TM eBecu of unemplo)'menl are III
knslmd b) another problem the dearth
of lov. -':OSI housing According to an
analysIs of the Federal Government's
Annual Housing Surv!:) b) the Lo\\, In-
come HouslI\.lnJormallon ServICe. the
number of renter households With In-
comc~ beloY> S3,OOO per year dropped
b) .boUI 46 percenl from 5 8 to 2 i
mIllion brtVreen 1970 and 1980, at the
s.am~ lime h"...ever the number ofren!
.r unJl~ .\a,l..t>k to the~e hou~ehoid,
81 '<.' ~rcenl 01 thelI In.ome fell b~ "0
perct'l' from an eSlIrnaled 5 llO aooul
I: mIl!lo'" (e).cJud'ng d\l.e1imgs for
...hlcn no ca~h ren1 Y>a~ paldl A~ the
"housing gar "'ldened the medlar> ren!
paId b) households m the lo\\,c;: In-
come bracLe1 rose from S "!: a month
1n 1970 10 ll"9 a month In 1980
That worJ..s out to 72 ~rcenl of an an
nual income of ~},OOO and lea"e~ S ~ I
a monlh to cmer all other household
needs A (amd~ devoting suc-h a large
IractlOT' of 1l~ in;;ome to tent IS in a prf
caTlou~ poSH/on It ma) e&nl~ tit d'5-
lodged t>} a drop m ItS income or b, a
furthcr use In m u.~nr.c~ t..:nemplo\
menl and the lack of ]0\1--.:051 houung
eeems nor unreasonable 10 mfe" tha:
Ihe Iou of dlsablllly beneflt~ redu:ed
IOme people to nol being able 10 pa) for
Iht 11 housmg
help to account (or the lft~asU1g nurn
ber of home1eu. families (ti opposed to
indiVIduals), whIch once were Tate
Recent cuti In lovernment benefil
,.ymenu ma) also have thrown some
people onto the Jtreeu, althouJh the eVl- Far mort IInponanl ho""tver, m J1~
cknce u werentllI One of lhe Federal ampact on the homeless populallon
Government'. most controversial mus- has been the long-term changt In the
ures m thl$ area has been Its elorl to Datlool1 poh!;). for dtalm& "'lth thr
reform the SocIal SeCUTlt) DISllbdu} In- IMntaU) ill A hult mort than ~O ~ tan .....
IUf&nCf proaram, WhIch In 1983 pro. aiD sUCe and count) mCnIal mstllU1\ons
yuied monthl> beneflu 10 a total of 3 8 _,an re.1~asUlg largt numben of pa
million dlS&bled worlen and theU' de. henls, man) of whom suffercd from
pendenls To recelVC payments a worl.. Kvere sllne~sts The . deInSlllut!or,all
er must be ph)'$lt.all)i or mentall) una- Ullon" movement follo'ol,ed the ....Ide
ble TO perform &11) land of "lJ.lbuanllal _-sprud mtrodw:IIOTl /1l the )950 ~ or r,\
lam!ul wor..... tor whIch he IS Quail choaCtlH drug~. "'hlCh seemed 10 offt;
fied rtsardleu of whether $uch wor. 15 the posslblhl, or rehabllllalln~ PS\ChOl
1"'aIJable where he IIvts FolloY> mg a re It peoplc wlthm a comm U1)]' \ sttllng
porI bj the General Accounung Office under bellef 11\ In!; ,ondJ(lOn~ and \Lllh
thaI ar. man; IS 20 percent of the benefi- peater respect for thelT t1\ 11 T1ghl~ It
CJiTlesmlght bt U'lthSlble under the la.... was also though' the' COmMUTlIl. men
the Reagan Adma.lstTut!on launched a tal health' Ipproach ....ould bt" cheaper
"cnd.down on U'I~hglblht)" U\ March, than operallngq.rge ~lale hosfltah The
1981 &rwetn 150,000 and 200.000 movement ....as launched In 19t.'1. ",hen
people 1051 theU' benefi~ before em Ad ConJfess passed- a Jay, promlsmg Feder
muustratlon halted Its revlt'" Df the ~ fundmg for the: constTu~tton of com.
beneflClaT) roUs Ul ApTI] , 1984. amid mUtIJl) menIal heallh cenlt'T.>
chargcs thaI trul~ dIsabled people, Ul- [)emstltuuonahU[IO'1 .... as a well in-
cluding some who ...cre too roenlaIl) tenhontd and perhar~ e.en enhthtened
dISabled '0 respond to !ermmahon no- reform, but Jt has no. pTocetded accord-
tlces, had been Slnd..en trom the rolls mg to the ongmal plan The firsl step has
Agam. I lacL of daul maLtS It unpoSSI- been accomplished the paucnt popula-
ble to dra.. dtfmue conduslons. but It lion at stale and count} menIal hosplJals
~:.:
.. PrO" o"er tIl~ past ft.. )ran lo~en.~'" """'tt pM,.
lUau rapoadlld II) pro..~ t"qfar)" DI'Ileft. ~ "t 1M
... ret..r ~) .... .n I.... .aIt vi dtllof A.ttl... oI'~ all pu.
dUa1nc l:M'r ... 0_ .. .. .tlt dlt .... of _., vi die tlolntla..
41
-=---
IS nov. less lhan one fourth of ItS 1955
pea\.. le\e! of ~59,OOO B} and Jar,e
ho....e\er the \anous le\els of &o\ern
men! ha\e nOI tal.en the second step
Ih, ~ ha., e not pro\ Ided enough places,
sue" as half\l,H houses or group homes
for dIscharged pallenl!. to go Other fac
ton contributing 10 the problems of the
S}Slem mclude lhe faCI lhat leVreT than
half of the communll} mental heallh
crnters ~eded to cover the entire t'S
population have been bUilt moreover,
e.1lI51lng cenlers often do not coord mate
theIr act 1'. lUes with those of the lnSlltu
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19-C' 1ge:
$3 0)-:)(- S4 9~;
TS~O ,ga,:
55 000--$5 99;;
1lPO 198:
S€ :x:Y.:-se 99~
5'5:-S'''5
_~ss --.:..... $:: ~.J:
"..~~~:--~ ~ES~ ..-:..... s-~
$~5-S.2:
$'25-S'5:
.
SHORl ",G[ or -\ffORD-\BLE HOl SI'G ror rrnlrr hOlbrhokh "ITb loy, Incomes InTrll.
~ln!'ll In Ih, I ~-O. and probab" eontl'lbuu... 10 tbt Iro",ng bomrl~nfto!o problem Colored
bl,.., md..II. lb. Dumb.r of trnlrt bo~rhold> III a par1lt'ular meom. "'111' 11'1I~ ban md.ca.r
tbr numbrr or r.DUI UDII> 1'lIllllblr In a trnl ranlr rquallo 30 prrcrnl or tin Ineomr ...o,r
.tc. II rf'oult of Infla',on lb. total numbrt or trnlrr ho~.bold, ...tb locom~ brio" S',OOO rrll
holt, I) mlll.on 10 aboul 92 mltlloo brl" .rn 1970 and 1980 but lb. numbrr or UIIIl> 1'111-
ablf a. rrnt> brio" 5 J -~ ClDcludlng utdlllf'" dropprd mllcb more.. rrom 179 million to 6 4 mll-
hon \hn, hou,rbold, III 10".lneom. croups tbal fler IIIn a<<oMtablr botrSlnlllP I11l15t iprnd
mo.. Ihan )() ptrcrnl or tbt.. Incomr on rrllt. Tlus IlIur.tntlon Ind lb. onr on thr oppCKllr
pae. a.. ba.t"(! On hllmal.." pro' Klt'd b, tb. 10" Incomr HO~lnllorormltH)I' S.r'ler ..bleb
anat'lre! data rrom tb. ern'll> and rroln tbt frdrl'1l1 Go.rmmrnf, Annual HO_llIC Suru~
.
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192:
193C
,94<:
195C
1960
'970
DEI'STlTt TIO' -,UZA no' of tbr mrnW" III illler tllr lilt 1'50', W r"ueft dlr i...
plIl<.n' popllla..on I' statr and (OUIlt> m.ow h",p,ta'" "fC"I~' ahrtllltl'r ,olCl...e. .114
hralm.n. program' bl" nol bMn pro. Klrd III mln' communlha. ".D~ formrr ,.brn~ u
...H.. >omt 'ouocrr d~fUrbrd pf"Oph ..bo .rrr IIr.tt llOip.taJultd, ~a' 110" M 11011\.1-.
. 4~
lions thai ate dlschargmg their patients
The madequac\ or the care a\aJ:a~le
to demSlllutlonallzed pallent~ IS slIgge~l
ed b} the large Increases since Ihr caTh
1%0 s an the rate of admiSSion!. 10 s'a'~
menial hospItals and b} the fa.t thdl a
Browlng maJOTlI) of admllled p311en!\
ha...e been hospitalized ~fore The drop
an the resIdent populallon of the IflstllL'
lions IS accounled lor b) shorIer a\l~r
age stays Youn,cr II] people 'l.ho mlgh:
ha\ e been JnsUJutlonahzed 15 \eaTS
ago nov. recel\'c only brief and episodIC
care One major reason IS thaI the COurls
hhe deCided only those among th~
mentalh il] v.ho are dangerous 10 them
sehes or.1O olhers ma\ be COrT'J'T"'1<.:I
In\OIUnlard} In the at>sen~e oi <t!Te'~"
tl\'es 10 the InSlltulJon!. respe.l for lhe
Cl\11 T1ght~ of the disturbed somet-m[' I
conflJ':ls 'I. Itl- the go,; of r'" J:'~ f ~
them v..lh humane trealmer" a..,j <I"
'<1m ChTonJealh dlS'UTOrC pef';,h <I-r
~r 1 OLl m[o Ihe comm~"l1'. o(\e- 10
err;rli lrlt'S In smgle TOO~'C>.':u,..:;"'.-
hotels and Sl.ld Rov. rocn-.I"\: no. se,
\!, ItM the grov.mg una.. alla!-I;';~' 0: e\"~,
the~e housmg Optlons man\ of (h~ peo
pIe end up or Ihe stree:s
1V8C
Thu!. 11 should no' roe surpTl5l"g '(' 'l"!-j
Iha, a slgmficant fTa.;:lIon oi she: te-
reSidents are mental]; III In f..~, a ell"!,
cal stud~ I deSIgned an.:! ImrleMe'11e:!
lasl }ear found at a shelte- Ir B0,IO.,
a 9li per.enl inCidence of dlagno5at-.le
menIal Illness ps:-choses chTOT'" al
coholJsm and character dlsoTders Tht
sheller selecled for the slud\ II.hl.:h ..0:1;
under the dJreCllon of "h~on LWT;1!' of
the \Ias!.a.:husem o\s~oelallor- fO' \1:;.,
tal Health and Paul 'fcGeTlgif of the
Cnlled Communlt\ Planning Corpora
lion '" as conSidered demograrh,; <!.'"
representall't of Boston-area ~helters
The demographiC data afe therrse[-.e~
tnlereStlng Men outnumbered ,",omen
~j fou' to One ahhough the n urr.l'>eT
of \l,omen al BoslOn shelters seens to
be mcreasmg The medlar' age v...' lJ
and apparenlh de;rl'aslng Onf third
of the guests v. ere e IIheT recent an:.. al>
or onl) occaSIOnal users of Ihe sheller
\l..hereas the other tv.o-thlrds had be~n
5ta\Jng In sheJlen for more thdn sn
months Some 10 percen' had bee~ OT'
Ihe Slreers and In shellen (or ..,ore Indn
IV. 0 j eaT!.
Mj .:olJeagues (elghl p5\dllarr'S[S
pSHhologl!.IS and !.ocla! v.ori-en' aTld I
Inler\ le....ed '78luesIS al Ihe she lie" (l\ er
the COUlSe of five nights We dlai;.,o~~d
~o percent as suffering fron- some forIT:
of ps)choSIS . aeneTlc Ierm for ma
lor mentallllnuses ",hose \ICIlms haOle
dlfficull} dl$l1ngulshlng euerna' rea!-
I) from thell' o',l,n thoughu and fee!
Inis The ps}choses mclude some md~
IC and depreSSI\e statt!. and some O'
,anlc bral1l i)-ndromes bur most 0' 11'1,
psychOllcS al the sheller 10' ere seM 1(1
phrenic Often SIlDJe.' [0 delu!.lom a-;
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Ir,,(,,"d .td"f,J Th. 198(1 fillltC'" mlllraH lhal th. hou.thoIO' ",Ih
~"htr .nrDnU Itntnll\ tptl'ld a tll\.Utr frarhon 01 'I 011 hou.mll-
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~ _: r--, C ..,.: (' ~ H e ~..,. he r l
r. "d f.. 'TC'- SFl'l\~ .... h0 spe<i~
i- ...... ,...... C'..J~ '.-. ~;-- ,de-.....
1~ ~'0' 0;"" jl- \ea' 0': sl-)e'lr'
... j'" ie"'''' ~1Ti. ....~ ~L.. n\" it"~' trd~~-
iit ....:::.a;""'1t r''''. :h0\1.. hl \ko" fi.
'" .: I" a-.I LE..~J; .('!je~~ H, v.d'
....,,~l'dilze: ~-'e~ j.... d ~'a~( ln~'.'~I.J~l{l~
. h("( he "'<l' f er al"t~r'\ .T1(,'l. mea
.<111('- t'J ,,'-'cr ...., ~av- r.,,- he "d'
""\orf'\ Ln,; ~r .rl,..c11"f1.EP1' For c \l.....il.;, d.fle"
hI' C'~::r.d-~l h,' "i('llhe" ~.lTed fco' hll""
c,er'-'..," hC'l,le' cr she NC..... I('IC'
jcprt~~~:: rC' "'~: f.JC Fngh'cne: ..Td
l('~ ~C'-; ;,e:: Ie' ;;<ift [or hITl"~:" he
n('\ V.olr,jc-' 1h. stretl~ b'o dol' mu'
le"I~'~ on.C'l-:c"ent", an~ re~pond'n~ IC"
\(lO.C' h" dIN:C hedr, ...: nl~h: ht' goo
1C''' ~he"c' \l.here Ihe Sla" are 100 r-uS\
kC:l1"i; ,,~: .Iolhm~ peorit 1(' de\OI"
IheTl"sc',C' I(' md '.,dua' proble"Tl~
\i"r, of Ihe pcork \/of mler'lc""ed-
v.t' e~:'ma\e~ :.,. per.en:-v.cre chronl;;
I
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1,,11\ III Famlh a": jT;cn::' I;'C'" C">'
hdu~ted or 101." II-)c a....'.". IC n..;- {', C'
burdened sO~la: '" ort..e" "-'d' h it'~' re
spon~l\e the homele~' Ihcr,,",o m..,
Ix' unv.ll1ln~ ('IT una"le IC" ;;C'~~,'~;Cd'C
thclr need" and to m,,~t ~,~c C'; If)" 'liP
po", a..,,;]i:I~J( ~o..," -J rc';;Cf (\' the
shelte1 resldcn" \l.C In'C" 1< '" [.: ~dij
the\ hac n(' fa!""".. re]d'lC'n,"-:" "nj
_, pereen' Sol': thc' hdJ ...e fTle'1d'
e,er, v.llhm the sh(llCT "orrrr.,'rI"\
Those >Ahu had been hO>f,;,,;ized t-do"c
for pS\Chlatrl:: rea~om IdbN.' (In[ thlrC
of the gro' ir' rerC"lec r c- It'~' ~('I. :"
eonld;;l more lhdr 1;[" per.cr.' or Ihc'T'
hold neIther fnend' nN (,,-' .......0".
'"'0 pereen; of all th( g\Jc~t~ ~"id tnt\ h,,;::
no reldtlonsI-)1, "" Ill" 01"'\ one C'" v. 1l~
ar'. "oCla~ tnS111UtlOn dlthc'l"gr. on; t'
percent >Aor~ed Slead,l\ onl :: pcr
cen: reccl\ed an\ ftndn.I'" d~'l;,I..f'\.C
There IS usulllh no sm~i, ~I"",'l rc.,
"on [or an mdl' lOUd: ~ N.O'TIlr~ hom.:-
le~~ nther hC'mdn~ne~' :' O:IC r ; '"Il r,
flill stair:1' a l:fclon~ ~er>;;' or ~r"'"' dr,:
mls~fd oppOTlUrllHe, th.. :: ul..'.'" ',('-
of it arad ual dlstnt"Fl me ,,' irorT' ,\1:-
porl1'e relatlo,.,~t-I\r' dnJ In'];' L]lI('n, \
final u.ample lllustT"t~' lhl p011" , ,J~
..ear-old mdn v.hol"" I ~h,,:' C..11 j{,r,r>"
M has \J',ed or thr StTCC" it'!':' ,n ~".
"hchcrSc of Bostor, for [,,<,r \Cd" T....
\OUfl@esl of fouT "lklJr,~' W d I{'... L"
mlddlc.c1d55 famtl\ Johnn, ~i'L--; ...,.,....,'
of hi' adole5;;t'-,1 \ can 'n "r Ir': 'I J ;{'~
for the menta-II', Ttldrdt.C H.. r\......-
bers v.ashl'''\l' dlshn gco'-; 1{, .'6",
and loo~m~ fo,..."r>! to lh\. ,'5," ('1 I-
mOlher and oldcr SIStC' \\ he;- ht 1 L,rr.-
16 he mo"cd bac~ home and 5rcn' 1~'-,
>Aatchmg lele'>lSIOn anC pu"c'ro T ,....
il'.('~'C',' 0--;. ~'\C~"o;~ mdr, hold
il t': C', lh SlT(CI' 01 BC'~IC'" for ;[;
\Cd'. <iT'~ ;1).' m,,-\ homeles~ akohco'lC-
h,,:: toeef In ..r;; ou1 or hO~['~ldh dew'"
Lr.:a"lC'''' .:erle"~ 31",d ,\a-P-IC"U'i.. treaT-'n'''''
P"O~'G"T'" h the Fi:~' \Car hE Mil.: mddc
~"c" ~~', .:c a';cr"'if" 61": ht h".::
rc.c-'" t>ecn uealee [N p...tlm('-,"'\
luN:r;; :.lie"" l...b(\u' ~( perCef'\l of the
51u:: Ere"J, repo"(t': se'10:':~ ph SIC'"
PTOtJ( 'T\> tn.;:Jdl"l~ hear dlseolsC dn:
Cdr~C' 11"I addlllor, to thel- p,\~hojot
I'::~' d;fF;~u:tJe5 1 Fmall\ at>C'Lll: I per
ecr-' ~i,ffce:: (TOrT' pt"son,,"~\ d,~('I';;!C"'
thol' mdde II hdTC for Ihem 10 forf'" dno
rnal'1''''- Te;a';o!"ShlP or w hoi.: 01 lOt-
ChrconlC menlall11nes~ c\ cr. ",her lll~
~r" eTc eno.,gh tC' In-.pan ItK a~I'I"
to runctlOr In ~OClel\ doc> no' t>\ Jtse~.
cause homeles~nes~ an\ mo~e thar, un
e",,\C'\ men1 doe~ For the g'ell' m..
IO~11'. of shelter Euest, lad of a homc
l~ s\mrtomd'l. of IOIa1 dl~.onl"e~\lOr,
frO'T ~uf,,0rli.e pec;-le and I"IS\lIUllN"
Con1drr [or a momen1 v.ha: ...oule
hdrrer I[ a CTlSI~ >A ere to Sln..e \ our
Ide-If \OU ",ere tC" lose \OUr Jor sa\
or ;;onua:t <I Scel'lou~ Illnes~ \1os' 11..(
l\ ~ou are iUrrOUfldt'd h fam,l\ and
fTlend~ r\ C('l ",or~ers ant! e\cn b\ pro
fes~lona' care1..~ers at \ aTlOU~ soe la'
al!en..e~ v. ho~e helr \ou could call on (('
pre" en' 01 do'" n>A ard ~l1de 'Oll art: In
s\lfed hOll' In the literal scnse of ha, In~
co- erdge agdlns' nnanClallos, oInd m the
flt'urall,e sen~t' of ha,lnS a Tellable sur
port nel.... (>rk
To lal~ v. Ith homeless people IS 10 be
s\ruc" t-\ ho'" alone moS1 o[ them are
The Isolation IS mosl se\ Cfe [O~ the men
. :
.
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larden Ten years tater hu older suter
dlcd suddcn!) and Johnn) had a Uner
\Oous breaL.do-.n' He becamc lernfied
of dYing he cTled constanll) and his
though's became confused Because he
",as unable to care for hunself. he was
m~oluntilnl) commltled 10 a Slate hos-
Plldl, where he remained for the nUl
rlJhI yurs He became \lcn allached
to a social ",or"er ,,'hom he y.. t....lCe a
wed. for therap)
AJlhoulh the hospital had become
Johnn)'s home hc \lo as discharged at
thc hClghl of demslllUllonaJlutlon mto
a smg'c room OCCUranC\ hO[el HIS fa
Ihc' had dlc;:! hl~ mOlher "'a~ In a nur~-
ang home .nd ne'lhcr hiS remalI'l:lg SIS
leT nor hiS brolht" could afford 10 sup
par' !- ." V. ilh'r ~,\ 1"'1on(h~ hc hdd lost
con'..[ \l.ll~ the hosrll"" Johnnj ....as
for.c: our of the hNt': ....hrn It ....a~
comcncd mlO .:ondomlOlum~ unable
10 1 -: " 'O('lf"" he ~oL.ld afford he
r04m,':: the ~tree's fo- se\ eral months
un;,' d- elde.l, ....OJT,a:- dnd her daugh
leT IOO~ t m 10:0 lhelr roommg house
\\ h.:r- Ihl d,:IUgh'e' died unnpeaedl ~
of d stroh Johnf'\ becaJTIc dep'essed
r" r ;1-;' 1'1, o:hc" re:.ldent~ .....ere tr}
In!; 1(\ h,,-1'J1 hITT and gre.... Increaslngl \
b<I"gL-c-.' H's landl"d} e.laed hlm
"1''lC,,' -c~our.;:es or supports and .....11t:
<I'" In,:rlcr'l ps,;:hosls he ended up
h('lfT'('n' RC<'!;'led to ~Ireelllff;: he no.....
~pcr.;;' I"S dd\' .... alkm!; endlessl} for
allng In dumpsters Occaslonall~ he col
lects bollles. sells hiS blood for trans
fUSion or taL.es paT! m medICal elpCTI'
mcnts to maL.e pocLet mone,. Itchmg
from hee, wearmg tatlered clothes and
suffermg (rom cellullus of one teg he
feels lud.~ thaI he can depend on an
evenl1l& meal at the sheller and Ihal on
mosl nights he has access to a bed
Shelters help to l.eep Johnn~ M and
hiS companions In misfortune all\e
ThaI IS a shellcr's funcllon to pro. Ide
food clolhmg and a bed AI a t~pll;a]
sheller guesls Ime up outSide unlll the
doors bpen In Ihe earh evenmg '\ secu
T1t\ guard ched,s each persor. (or alee.
ho] drugs and "'eapom l"oit'''' guest~ a-e
also cheded for bee At some shellers
\iOlunleers cook hot meals 011 others dm
ner conslSls of sou~ sand....,ches and
coffee Some guesls spend the e.enmg
soc lahzmg and pla~ mg cards but most
are 100 .....ear} or too detache;:! and go
dlrecll~ to sleep The dormllon IS 1\p'
Icall} a barren auditorIUm-size room
""lth ro"'s of cots or bed~ and one or I... 0
cTlbs Sometimes groups of 51), or more
bed~ are separated b\ partItions Shelter
guests usual!, ha\e fev. opportunJlles 10
",ash dUTlng the da\ and so 011 nigh! the
balhrooms at the sheller cire generall \
overcrov.ded B} 10 U(I p", the lights
are lurned out and the ne:-.I mornmg
the guesls are all.aL.enec! carl) gl\fn
coffee and a doughnul and sent oul. e,en
If [he lemperalure IS belov. zcro
The atmosphere m a shelter IS some
limes ..olallle and oecaslonalh \ lolenl
fiahlserup[ thaI ha\e 10 be brolen up l--)
the staff or the police On Ihe other hdn j
the anonymlt) and IM'ISlblhl \ fO$lered
b}- shellers IS comfortang 10 man\ of the
luests who spend their da}~ as hlglJ]\
\iISlbl~ SOCial Dutcasls Sheller pro. Jden
lr) 10 treal their gucsts with drgnll\ and
respect aslang no quesllons and alldch
ang no strangs 10 the heIr the \ offer
Do IhC\ offer enough ~ In m \ \Ie...
thn do 'hot Shelten .... ould toe the a-
propTl21e solu:lon If Ihe homele~~ \l-e:L.
simp!, the \ IClln'S of u"l~mplC'\ men I ,I'
of disasters ~uch as flood, or tlre~ '\]
thougr these factor~ undoubted!> ;:(\I'
Itlbule to the problem the 0 er'ldl~;
facl aboul the home]es> IS thai m')~t ,,'~
mentall~ disabled and ISOldld fr"IT 1"<
supporl thai mlgh[ help 10 retnlcg."l<
them Inlo sOClel\ \toTe6\~r mdn\ dr.
chror'Ic.aIJ) pcrma'1enlh II] dnj ....
ne\er be able to lI\e lJ'dependen:h
Although \ arlOUS mno\ all' e moj
program~ f)"lsl ancludl'1g onc sr0-
sored b} SI ,"'meenl s HOSpll"~ IT' '\., "
York Cll~ shetlen as a rule offer on
mlnlmal medli:aJ ps)cho]ogJ_dl ar~
SOCial SeT\ICeS The\ are gencrall\ IIn
derstaffed and ha\e re.... personnel ~P{'
clficalh tramed to care for the se, er<.'
I) dIsabled Because the~ are open onh
JOK'" M. (a ~.udoa,..1 _. ... .. ~ Ihft. ..... ....
\'1."" ii, III. amOl' H.. Hn ,_ m _I -aki.. to eMd ... a
...._ ...... (I"" a" ~.C for fiAaC1' to star! at ~. ....n.' on
EMler s...." (",IIIJ. Trat" r. .. 1Uti~ for ~I ...wl, ,...
44
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at nl,l1l tM) cannOI offer the c:onllnu
an, ~urror: and 5upcn I$lon that mil",
c:hroO]~lIlh all people need People
...ho~ condlllon miaI'll Improve ...uk
properl) lupen ued tr~almenl (for u
ample the J 8 YCilr-old II udenl I men
uoned abo"el do nol leI II at &he Ihel
ters And II hardJ} needs sa)'lnl that
shelTers are nol a humane solullon 10 the
yroblem of pro' IdlllB a place to live for
IliCse Vo'ho suffer from permanent men
tI~ dlsablhlln
The preCIse eUent 10 ",hlch menIal
d!nes.ses are pre\ alent amofll; the home-
leI; remdl"~ " ma'ie' of corlro<e's\
R.~en' ,!I'-I:,,: S;U':I~\ al shdlet~ In 1(1'
....ngde\ ~f'" ... or~ and Phlladelphld
~Upr(l'i IT'\ con1enllO'1 lha' a mal(lTI1\
of :h, hO'Tf:lS\ sure' f'olT pS,~h;d'rl'
dlsorde-~ bu; other eS'I...,ates ha'oc put
Ih, m:.::!,n:( of men'd' Illnes; amorf
she lie' pOri.ild110n< as 10"- as ~n pe'cen'
A;' IreSf slOJdlC, lnclu':ln~ ou' C''''f'
ha,e beer !argel' des:np:I",e and h",e
been pL:l~ueC to'. melh(\d(1lo~l::a' p'or.
It:r-l~ DIj1eren.e~ In re~l.ih can be a'
LTIt-uted 10 th~ dlffc<ollheo'e:I::,,1 b~",
e~ 0' tt-e < a'lO," IT'\ fS~l~a'(lTS 10 the
u~t C" dl1'f~ren~ "la'1d,,'dlz.d :.cale~ a;
lhe baSI' fo' p<' chlatTl:: e\aluallon an':
mos' (If al' t(llhe dltt.::iJh of oblaml"f
a re"'e~ef't,,t'\e sa'11p'{ of a eon"td~:I.
5hlf:l'1f t'Or..d<itlor Ir a:ldlllon there IS
no rea,,(\~ 10 e>. pc::' the characterls11::'
of thc hC'meks' porulauor t(I be cor
".nl throuahoutlM countr) ....hen men
LlI health pohcle~ and eCODom" condi-
tIOns \'aq rfllOnall)
Thc public debatc on homdeuncss
would undoubtcdl) be enhlhlened
b) more Tlaorous research miD the caus
c' of thc problem It can .tread) be said
ho...ever that at the ver} least 8 S1inlfi
cant fraction of the people who frequent
Ihellen have dlagno~ble menial dlStur
banees Public SEn.nts of all Jdeoloiles
ha\ e falled to recognize the unplica
lions of thl~ facI Man, polllleal con
~er<all\fs seerr. to bellne the Go\ern
men' has little or.ri~allon IC' care (or Ihe
homeles~ lhls attitude IS perhaps beSl
u.empllfied b\ President Reagan s olleT'
quoled rem".\- ma: 'the homeless are
homeless )OLi mlgh' sa) b\ chOICe
For pohtl.::a~ llberah the phght of the
homeless senes a~ ammU"'Il'lor. In Ihelr
au..::\.. on the ~dmmlStrallon S eeonom
IC polloes but the 501 ullOr. the\ lend
to surpo.! lS the expansion of emergen
C\ shellers Slmph puttmg a lemporan
dre!.sm~ 0"'1 ",ha' has become a la"Be
fe!.lerll'~ ",oun::! 10 the SOCIal bod',
There IS no m~slen aboul the nalure
of d more appropTlale solulIor. Essen
tldl'., J: ,,"ould eaP for CaTT}mg OUllhe
aborted plam of the 191'11 comm UnI!'.
men:,,: health la"- b\ pro'>ldlng a spc;;
trurr, o( housmg Opllor" and relaled
heal';" ::are and sOcia] Ser\ Ices for the
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lIIenlalh ,II 1lt.cw. ...ould enl,..l In Jn~
arr.nlemt"n.~ ~ Ith \ an lnt: d. j:'L <, "1
lupenlSlon from ~~ hcoLU (,U, oIlll>t'..
peUllC fC51dencn for JIolIM.nl' '" 11'" .."
YCrc pS)'ChDSC~ to more Jndq'C'nJ"1' I"
Inl II half.. a) houK') for rot11< n" "'lib
leu ac..ere ddOfdets 5cIm, 1""''''"1'
would rfcel\e cOunK'hnE and IhL!4r\
....Ith the loal of rch4"'llll"t1n~ Ih, m 4nJ
even IC'fUnethem JObs In Ihe communI
t)' The one major chan~L need,.: In
1M communll) menIal hC4'rh rr<>j:",1nl
ho\/oever IS a .realn re;(\.n'lHH' (lr Ih,
l.ullltilllomofpS\chldlr\ ~I"r IhL'1I'
renl staIr (If thl art m ,." ch'[l-,,,,lI,
dlstur'x-d peopl< ~Irnr ' ~..nn,'" 0" ~,
habllllated 4nd Ihr IOcl1 In Ih", . .I,,'
,..ould be to pro\ IdL Ih, r.l'" n' ... 1~1,
comfortable and fflendh d't '.,-
The communll\ men:d' hldl:~. mp' l
men I faded pnm,uJl\ I'>',dll" th, I <J
era I and Slate 1(1< nnme"', n." T ..I
locatee the mOl"ll\_f1ccd,J to full.I' lb
promIse American ~or1Ct\ l' cun, 'Ill,
trymg to 50" e the prot-1L m eh, ...ph i:"
I1Ig the menlallt III hC'mrl", at be,1
emergenC\ rerugc an': cI' \l 0',1 n(l ref
uge al all The qlle~ll"n fcll>rd l'>\ thL
Incrcaslng number of horn, Ic>~ p< or1l I'
M VeT) baSIC onc Arr "m('TICdn~ \\ Illmg
to consign a brOdd Cld~,Or dl~..hkd pLn
pie to a life of dcgr..ddflon or \\ Illlhn
ma~e the commllmeni 10 ~1' r 'L1L h pll'
pie the cart' Ihe\ nerd' In.. CI\ IIIILJ S(l
Clel) the am"'er should Ix clcd'
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f/I'nlbu. ..i_lazatJ... .... .. .. ~_. ..... ~~ ....kI.o, .... ~-
...... mt.. ~oMO_I.lU"'" Hr" .... M eIIr IIIn'ft f.. f_' ,aft.
ta.,h,If.. dllld. Jolla.) \t. _ 1II1er ~.ID.iI'I" te. ...tar........
~ "rll.r kad . .eroo. br~do"" Hr ... '~Ilar&"'.,"r 1lciI.'
~c;
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PFFENDIX II I
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61
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APPEHVIX IV
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1
2
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4
5
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25 !:
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.
SKAROt; DORSEY
! am a 33 year old woman.
1 have been homeless since my
apartment in Hollywood was destroye~ in a f~re last year.
: ar c~sa~lec fron a head i~Jury.
Shortly before the f~re
....
. WQS ~~e V~=~l~ 0: a ga~; rape, an= : ha~e bee~ ~~ce=
....lr..-
........'1:;:
ca:--:? 0: a ~Si_~C:-...l.a-:=:.s-: a:lc.
C:l me=:=a-:::>:: s:":1ce the::... S"-
T wa~~ ~o be re~a~~~~tated
a~c get cac~ ~o~e~he~.
: :se:
- ~a~e a :C~ t~ o::e~ the wcr:c.
'-
0- F=~~a~, ~a: 4, 198~~ ! ea~e to ~~e DPSS o~~:ce a~ 8.~
4~~ P:a:e to ge~ a ?:a:e to s~a~.
A~ 4:5Q p.m. ! was
g:~e:: a c~eck for S24.CO a::~ teld to cc~e back on Mc~~a"
... ~~e~ tc:= ~e ~ha~ ~~a~ c~eck was =~r ~e tc go to a
:"~-:e:.
...a..~_f..
w__...,J ~
;~~e me t~e na~es 0: a~~ ~=~els.
'!':: e ':
: cas~e~ t~e c~ec~ a~ a check cash~n~ ~lace~.~ :t cos~ me
sc~e~~~~g tc cash
bu~ : do~'t re~err~e~ t~e exac~
. ...
. ~.
a~c...:.:: "; .
I walked arcur.c look~n; :or a hc~e:.
: we:i~ t:;
t::e We:.::c::.
T~e ;~y sa~c i~ was $10.00. ar.c I hac to wa~~
:0::
50r.eo~e else to shew me the roc~.
Wh~:e !. wa~':ec.
. ..
.....
~::.e
me:: we~e bo~~er~~g me.
Whe~ t~e o~~er ma~
C"'-o
~. -
~OD:::,:.
~~ S~C~ ~e t~e rocm, t~e=e we~e two people ~~ ~~e r~c~.
:he ma~ at the desk sa~c. ~~e~ c~cn't have anyt~~~g e:se.
T~e~ : we~t ou': to Ing:ewood to the Oa~chi Mo':e: a~c
~e~~ec a roc~ for S15.CCa
. knew : was~'t 9o:~~ t~ na{~
~~ a:: wee<e~er bu~ ~ hac to ~et a ?lace...
1
1
2: ':
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The next day was Saturday, anc I d~dn't have enough fDr a
second nlg~t.
I checkec out and Just began to wander. My
feet were all b~1stered frem walk~ng.
I ended up r~dlng
the b~s.
I tole the bus dr~ver my situat~on and he JUs~
:e~ ne o~: a~ 109t~ S~. and w~~~~gt~r.. ~ sle?~ on a
st::c~ there.
! wancered a1: day Su~day.
! ha"e bloci<e:: a.
~C~ 0: t~a~ t~~e be=ause ~~ ~s sc ?a~~:u_.
: re~e~=e=
b~~:~S serre :u~ce.
! k~cw : was o~~s:ce Sunca: n~g~~, b~~
: ec~'t =~~e~~e= tte st=eet.
-.
T~e wee~e~~ was sca=~, fr:;~~e~~~g, ee~ea~~~;, te==~!~:~g.
: ca.::ec ~~e ?c:~ce beca~se = was so fr~;~~e~ec by the me~
c:: tr~e s~:-ee~.
ri ~a~ ha= bee~ =ol:owi~; me, p~lli~g C~
t:-e s:ee':e 0: :!'~. c :~t;se, d'.;=k~:'!c ~~ anc. ou~ 0: doorways
a::c. sc.a=':':l~ ::e.
rl wc~a~ c:=~=e= made =t;~ 0: ~e a~c she
sa:= =,",. ?=c=~e:"'" was ! was on the s~:eets because the :l?S2
hac p~~ me t~e=e.
T~e~ she hc~g up O~ me.
A:: : wa~~ lS t~ be s~rc~;.
~~:s mcr~~~g : pra:ec t= Gee
~~ =e~e~~e~ ~v 5~~e~gths anc my ca?a~~:~~~es.
?c=~?~ rA?~ ?CSS
! aT" 36 yea~5
~ .
O...c.
:: a~ homeless.
! earee ~o Los k~;e:es
w~t~ my w~:e, Judy ~oss, on ~ay 2, 1984, !rcm Tucso~,
i\= :.. : :: :"'. a It
: ca~e to =~~C wo:k.
2
II
111
2/
:3
411
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On ~he same day we came to Los An;eles, we were robbed a~
~lfe po~nt by 4 guys.
They took all our money ($112.00)
a~d my ~de~tlf~cat~on. They ~ook all my clot~es, exceot
w::at I have on.
-
-
S~~ce be~~g ro=~ec, we have be~~ llv~~g O~ ~~e s~=eets.
.....
w:.=e :5
Sc ~e 'w'e:-":
.. "II ....
s~:.__ te~=:=:"e~
t~=~ be~~; ~c=~eC4
a=ou~c a_. ~~;~~.
W~e~ we ca~'t go en, we S~~? a~= S~~
cc~~ a~= ;e~ a :~~~:e s:e~~4
I wat=h ove= my w~=e ~~~:e
s~e s:ee-;s.
: do~lt s:eep muc~ myse:=_
We we~e last ~~ a
be::' c"e= a 'we~'-: asc.
v,'e caI"'e ":.0 :':.e we::a=e o::~::e e:; Be'.:e~:y Bc'..:.:eva==- on v-..
B, :?S~. A ~~~:s~e~ tc:c me we co~:c qe~ he~? a~ the
we:=a=e c:=:..=e.
A~ abou~ 5:32 ?~., t~e we::a=e wc=~er
~-: _=- r:'t€
a::' ~;-;.e::.
C......_,"'I.,,:. .A-
....--"'" --
a c:;.ec'< :c=
was g~ve \:5
eac:-:.
S2.~::.
C'. .:.
--
J:,...._
.......-
:coc
7he:-~
s~ar.ps
c; ~ .t/"e
~s
a:-:'
or mc::e:'
~c":
:ccc.
Ke ~a~ la5~ ea~e~ a~ a m~ss~on O~ Ma~ ~,19@4. We ha~
nc~~~ng a~ a:! to ea~ O~ ~a: 8, We lookee fc= a ho~el
r:c:-ft
Ke we~~ ~~ 15 or :6 hc~e:s.
Nc~e 0: t~e~ ~ac a
.....-._.~
- -"--"
:':= S:6.CC
:c= t-wo pecple.
· t=~ec a:l t~e p:ac:s
" -
-..
S~~C row. None 0: t~e~ ~ac a rocr. we c::ou:c a==cr=.
F~~a:ly, we gave up look~ng fer a place about 2:00 a.~"
a:~e= wa:~~~g arounc S2~ce 5:3C
0& .'1/:
- ...-
l.. .
...a~
p.m.
Ne~":he=
ea~e~ :0= ~cre tha~ 36 hours. We spe~~ 5c~e 0: t~e ~c~e:
3
-~......~--=-------- [I I
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on fooc, a=te~ ~t became clea= we were never go~ng tc
"-:"I-~
.. -....."-
a p:.ace.
We t~e~ begar. wa:k~~g the streets a;e~~, as we have cone
:~~ ~~e ?as~ wee~.
As lc~S as yc~ keep ~ov~~S, the ?c_~ce
co:: I ~ bc.t~e=
2:": we::
. .,. ....... ...::.~
--~...................
B,.~
... -
we t=::. t~ s-::a:'
"'IT'-' .
"'---11
a=eas S~ w~ cc~'~ ge~ a~~a=~e= =;a~~.
E~~ W~e~ ~e S~=~,
~::\: cc'Cs ~a J;.e us r-.-::~.e or.....
:~e ~a~=es~ ~~~~g ~a5 ~ee~ tav~~g ~o ~a~=~ ~~ w~=e
5"~;"'-
-- _.....-
~:- =-~.....~~ ~:"'..:' s.
S:-.e :"as :-ea:"::~
S~: ~S~I~ a~ ~~~g~ as : a~~
c~a~qe= ~~ t~e :35: wee<.
S~e ~s ~e=~o~s a~c ce~=essec
a::' ~.-e ~.:.:-e.
v.;'e c=r-.' ':.
\,e de:",. r -=- we::": to
""'- ....
-.....-'
c:::
r:.eec
We
w=~~g.
_0..'- _
- 1_._......
1''''~-- .......
w_..... '-_
13'.;":. we ~a'.e t.c ::.=.'"e a pla:e to s-:a'-.
s .:.=':: -:e .
:'~ ~c:. g~:..:":.;
: e 5 .. ~ ,': w:.:: e a: ~!' e wl.,:..: e
: lOCI{
&_-
...-
wc::l<.
Sr.e :5 t=o sca=ec c= =e:..~; a~~ackec aga:r..
};C~
~::a-:.
ca~ :cc~ ~or wc=~ a~"wa~.
: ha~e~'~ hac a 5~~~e=
a ..ee~.
~';e ::a~iIoe ~e"-e:' =ee:""'. Cr'.
. -
we_::=~.
- :as':.
as a ca:::;':'e-:.
wo::kec
~a~e= ~~ ~~cs~~~
~ wa~": -=.:::: wcrk.
~~e=e :~5~ ~S~1~ a~:.
".. c :: .<.
~_...
6 ...~
: ~us~ ha~e t~ S~:
he=e w:..~~ rey w::e,
no....'
W'a.:..~~:"'=
whc~ W~:: hap?e~.
--
- -'
see
4
.
I
,
.
CLAt::-E DA1.E NAS~
I 5m 44 yea=s ole.
! have l~ved In Los Anqeles 5~~ce
19~C.
c:- A.;==-:"
")':1
- - I
, QQ'
...... _ "'t ,
a:,o'l;",:"
: care tc t~e &?SS a~ a:3 E.
~ "::-.
?:a::;e!.
The dcct~= w~o ~s t=ea~~~; ~e ~c: t~be=c~:=s~s
~~_= ~e : s~=~:~ a=c:~ ~~~ ~e:?
was s:ee~~~; ~~ ~~~
s~=ee":.51 a::.c :""'''.. cc=~::- sa:.-:. ! 1 C. :'e~~e= ge:. a p:a=e .."'"\ l.:."'--:
~= : C~=~'".:. wa~~ tc c:e.
c!: ~.~~::
""""
~ ~ ,
: get
--
~~
~~e D;SS a :2~~:e ~e:~=e 8:::
a.--II
.~-:. a.::~\.:-:
... -
~.." . ,
a ~PSS wc~~e~ ;a~e me a vc~c~e= tc
-::-e
T~'=:':-:~2=--:' Ce!;-:.e::-.
~ wa:~e~ a:: t~e wa: tc ~~e Xe~nga=~
Ce~~e= a~ 6".:.~ S-.:.=ee".:. a~~ Sa~ Ju:~a~ 5":=ee~, a~c p=ese~~~~
......=-:;=-e~ .
..-;':...-.
... -. '=
ces-: :::e~\.:
t-:-~~ rre
...~--
_...c _
U". e ~: r. a ::
::=
'\"a=a::c:..es.
Sc : ~a _~"\.ec
a::
't::.e wa:'
bac~ to t::.e
T"'O::::
;,.;.._-
a".:.
8:3 _. 4~~ ?:a::~.
~:-~ a~ t~e ~?SS, : sa~ a~c wa:te= ~~~~: 4:~: p.~.
........;:::.-
_... - - ,
t.::e:' ;-a"e ~e a c::.ec'c fc= S16.0':.
. . .
',,;a_<e=
--
'--
~:-~e ~
:~~~ S~=ee~ ~a=<e~ ~:
ca::c ~::.~
=::e=~"
T~.e'. c:::.a:::-;e:::. :"\e S:. E;) ..", cas::. 't~e c~eck.
- c::. c=' ) ~ ::a ..~'= ::c
....
...... -. ,
-:.ba~' s w~::".
: we~".:. ~~ a:: ~~~es c= p:aces look~~g =0: a roc;.
: '..;e:". ':
cve= ~= ~~e ~==~~~e=,
a~
I;.-~
- ...-
a::c:. :~a:.~, l:n.:.t
the:~ wa~'te.:. t::;=
5
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1 walkec over to the Moeoc, at 5th and Stanfore, put
I tr~ed the Ell~s, but the~r door
the~ d~dr.'t have no rooms.
j
: ..a:r~e:.
...as lockec..
! t=~ec a hote~ dow~ a~ 12th and Ce~~=al.
a bu~ch 0: p:aces
~
~
car, 't
r~::\e!:'Lbe~.
~~~~~ ~a5 no pla:e
:c= .o:.:e mc!'.e';'
t.:-e" sa.Je :ne.
.. Sa'::
..~
~=-'
.,. 0 "eacec <__ t~e Ca"eo, .,. a:l-"~,,..t "c"~e 0" Bro.C.....
:-:,~"'.e::.
,,:::e:-e
-......--
-'- -.....
~=.;:-..~s.
': :-.. e Ca~e~ :.5 -,... ~=-:-t c: p::'ace y~~ c""''' t::: s:ee? 5......-- --
,.~ . ~ - - - --... ....
y::'..:. "",,,,,,- -"'" ,,:ee"= o~e e:::'e ope:". . - - ,tot"'- gc .. - s:ee~
~- ':::~ - -. -~ -- r
-:.:- e--
C~~ y~~= ?c:<e~s.
': !'. e
se-:::-:-..=-
-'" _\..-
.....'"::..... -
t::e=e.,
sa....
a
::=~.;.-:: _e
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g~~.S
~e":
~~e:.= pcc:<e~s
~...-
"""- -.
,::--.e Ca~e::
:.5 ==~~=e~ a:: n~;~~
:,~~;..
v,.......
;~-:
fa",:, ::. e s ,
pec,?:':.
CC,?€
::e~CS.
Y=',;
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",,-.. -:...
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-....----- .,
_-::Ii ....
,-...--~:
~
s:.":.":.:.~~ u~ ,~ t~e=e.~
-----....
~~~
::>--
a:: k:.~== 0: =~W~ ?e=?_e
i
\i
,
~~e pe=s~~a: ~:.s~==~e5 c: t~e cec~a=a~~= ~ere:.~
a==aa= re=re5e==at~ve 0= the horele5S =eou:at~e" ~= ~os ~,.ce:a'
,e-.=':::" Dr. ?~charc H. Ropers ar~ h~s co::ea,.es at t~e
U.C.~.a. sohoe: e~ .~=:.c He.:th ha~e re=e~t:y eo=e~cteC a
s., 5 te~",~ e $Or..-e:' co ~c s ~nge:e s' ho,.e:e 55 ?=p~ :at~e~.. '!~ 5
CO,.o_us:o~. ~r'~~ ~ror .c~e~t~~~c re5e.rC", ., cc~s:ste~= .~="
t~e :~c~..~~"a: narrat~"es .u=r~=tec c=::ect,',e:' .E o~"~=~= ;...
~
--
--"
~~e ~est cor.~c" sce=ar~o leae:"g to t~e hc~e:es5 co=c:t:o-
aro~g o~r res~e=de~t. .s that 0= a ?er.o= work'", .= a
b:". cc::ar er .e~:.ee occupa<.on y.th very l.tt:e .~ =h<
wa'" 0= a" et s. wt.o peceme. une"'p :oyec . ~he lack 0= .=e ore
a,.c .5.etS leac5 to an ,nab,l~ty to pay re~t a=e <0
e": 0 t' c,.. . ~he t ..= ~ oa: res pcr-ee" t ,S so c.a l:y ur.a t tac~e~ ·
.,. c ,. ~." a: 1,' ~,..r.arr .ee. w~ ~o,"ed, or c.. '.'or cec, w~ =~. ~ 0
c:ose ~ar'::' t.es .n the ~os ~.,.,e:es area. Declarat~C~ c=
?:.c~e=~ E. pcpers, p~.:.. Ex~:.b~~ a-5.
R::~e:::-E s--:.a:.es:
....-
J::..~
~. \'
t:.~ l.
2cor
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6
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./ 1
2
3
.
..
S
6
7
S
9
10
11
12 J
13
14 I
15
16
V'
18 '
19
20
21
22
23
2~
25
26 .
III
27 III
III
28 III
.
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....
JO~ GRAF
I ccce f=oc Iowa, where I ~ a professional
tr~cke=_ I was a Captain in the Air Force. Eight
months ago I was laid off my last trucking job and
have beer. unable to fine wc=k since eher.. I came to
Los Angeles five weeks age to look for work out
here. The une~loyment rate in Iowa is ove=
30:.
1 hac bee~ staying with a friend in Los Angeles
since 1 arrivec. . . . But he got married and tole
I
I
I
,
7
~ ~
1
2
3
, 4
~ 5
. 6
7
a
9
10
11
12
13
. 14
~
16
V
18
19
~
21
n
~
24
~
26
27
28
me 1 hac to leave. Last night, having nowhere to
go. I slept in a car.
I came on Thu=sday, December 8. 1983 ~o tbe
DPSS of:ice at 2711 Beverly
to get emergency
shelter . . . . I told them at that time that I hac
nc p:ace to stay a~c markec this on t~~
(a?pl~ca:~or.J for= t00.
I wa:tec ~.:il 4:0C p.~. At t~a: time. I was
ca:lec ~c anc:her wi=cio~ .
. [!jhey gave me a
wti:e ca=d rhat told me to come back in six (6)._days
anc a list of sk~c row missions. I found out
tha: the lis: is not even accurate.
I de not k~ow wha: 1 v~ll do tonight or fo= the
nex: six nigtts . . . .
!:LL WE:~E~
,
~ h~ve livec in California fo= rwenty-nine
yea=s, and I have always worked. I ao a cook. But
! gO! do~~ anc out and have not been able to find
ano:~e= job. I have beer. homeless for one month. I
sleep in the weeds behind Alpha Bees. Focr other
me~ sleep there too . . . . If I car. ge~ a place
inside, I car. get myself cleaned up anc get a job.
You can't work when you're sleeping in the weeds.
I cace to the DPSS office at 2711 Beverly
Boulevard . . . on Friday, December 2, 1983 . . . to
get a place to stay.
1 arrived at 9:00 a.m.
and got forms to fill out. The woman at ehe window
8
\
. 41 .. I ,
ADOPTED AND APPROVED THIS
29th
DAY
OF
November
I 1983"..
~~tf
MAYOR
~L
NO.
I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THE FOREGOING RESOLUTION
6786
.WAS DULY ADOPTED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF SANTA MONICA AT A MEETING THEREOF HELD ON
November 29
, 1983 BY THE FOLLOWING COUNCIL VOTE:
AYES:
COUNCILMEMBERS: Conn, Epstein, Jennings, Press,
Reed, Zane and Mayor Edwards
NOES:
COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSENT:
COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ABSTAIN:
COUNCILMEMBERS: None
ATTEST:
~ 717. dluvc~
CITY CLERK
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I volunteered for ~hat service and during my
duty earned a Vietnam Service Medal with ~o Bronze
Service Stars, an Armed Forces Expeditionary Medal,
anc a Sharpshooter Badge with Automs~1c Rifle Bar.
r have papers vith me today to prove chis and aerve
as I.D.
..
I hac roo place to go. I walked the streets for
~.~ days a~c t~c nights trying ~c think what I
sho1;ld do . . . .
On Decembe~ 13. 1983 I C~e for the first ~ime
..
to the De?a~tme=: of Social Se~ices
. . . .
I': try~ng to find a place to s~ay until I can
f~nc wo~k ar.d help myself. I've been working and
paying ~axes fo~ eigh~eet yea=s and now I need a
l:t:~:e he:?_
A!~e~ wa:t~r.g Almas: three anc a half hours
they callec my name and I got in to talk to a
scree~e~. Today is Tuesday and she told me it would
be a: least Fricay befo~e I could get a housing
vouche~.
I doc't know where I'm going to stay at night
un:il then~ The screene~ asked me where I live and
! hac nothing to say.
Chances are tbat I'll enc up sleeping on the
beach for the next three nights. It 1s cold and wet
out there. I have no blankets and no~here else I
ca~ th~nk that's any better.
10
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7
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9
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11
12
13
. 14
~ ~
16
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V~
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1 The County also prevents homeless individuals i~ immediate
2 need from obtaining temporary shelter by imposition of its
3 identification req~irement. The resulting delay to ~he rece~pt
A
of othe~ise available housing may be weeks or even months as
5 the sixteen (16) declarations of adcitional recently homeless
6 1
Cc~ty reside~ts reveal.
3/
...
The following narratives
(excerptec as above) a~e re?resenta~~ve for these inc:vicua:s
ROS~~Y C~~~y
! ac twe~ty-eight yea=s old. I have no
acic~ess.
Ap?~oxioate~y six weeks ago I arrivec ir. Los
Ar.geles .fro= West Me=phis, Arkacsas. I came to th~s
city to eake a bette~ life for myself.
I a~ skillec in do~estic and office work as
~e~: as sa:es. The company ! wc~kec for in Arkansas
we~: bankr~?t anc I lost my job as a result.
18 Af~e= tha~ I decided the best thing to do was
19 r take on ocd jobs, domestic work, save that money anc
20 co~e to a place with lower unemployce~: as soor. as I
21 co~ld.
22 On the _ay f=o~ Arkansas to Ca:lforn~a, my
.
.
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23
24
~
26
27
28
11
~
I
1 luggage was stolen rogether with most of my savings.
2 my jewelry. and all of my iden~ifica~ion papers,
3 including my bi:th certificate and a check-cashing
.
I.D. Also stolen were all the references I brought
with me from my former ecployers to help me find a
job once I ar~ived.
.
.
5
6
1
8
9
10
11
12
13
I spent the money I hac witr. me on hotels,
incluc~~g The Caesa= and the Ha~a=c. b~= tha= ra~
O~: oVe~ a week age.
Since then I've beer. stay~ng anywhere I coul,.
Mcstly I've stayec in the pa=k on Alva=ado and
~l~sh:~e. 1 t:)' to stay in the ~ddle sectior. or.
the bench. !he=e's a porod with ducks there and a
14
restaur~~ on the corner.
~
16
This is the best place in the pa=k I could
find. The lights fro~ the s:reet and that
V re5tau~ant make it well lit up. .
18 My boyfriend fro~ ArkansAs came with me for the
19 S~e reason (to fine a job and make a bet:er life).
~ we take turr.s sleeping all night long in that park.
21 ' He watches over me while I sleep; I watch ove= h~
~ vhi:e he sleeps.
n
One night it rained all night long. We got
soaked. I'm still wearing those clothes today.
On Monday, December 5, 1983, I went to the DPSS
office or. 4th Place to apply for housing. I had no
24
~
26
27
28
iden:ification papers with me.
They asked me for proof of my identification.
12
1
/ 2
3
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5
6
7 r
a
9 I
10
11
12 r
13
14
1.5
16
. 17
18
19
20
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21 ,"
I
Z2
j;
23 I
t
24
25
~ 26
27
28
j
,
\
I tolc them I bad been robbed and bad no 1.D. To
prove this to them I showed the~ my Greyhound bus
~icket and the cla~ papers I got from the bus
company after I repor~ed the theft.
They just looked at me and told me there was
nothing they could do until I hac some proof of who I
.
was. They ther. askec me if I hac an~' friencs 0:'
~e:a~~ves ne=e who cou:ci p~: me
I sa~c no but
......
....~.
t~ey sti~: tu=nec me a~ay . .
1: ! hac B place to stay I co~ld showe~, put pn
c2e~~ clot~es ar.c ~ke myself presen:able to an
e:!:.:;.lc;ofe:- .
wee wo~:c ever th~nk I hac sales exper1ence
looki~g l~ke ~he way I de no~;
~y ne~~es a~e shot. I'~ aware of people
~OOK1~g a: me as : ~a:~ do~~ the streets. ! :ee~
like pc:-:ing s. sign on cy back sa)1ing "I a.:::
somebody. I have some clothes'! . . .
GAP,: COl.~.r.s
I have no sderess. I ac fro~ Orlando, Florida.
Abou: a mo~:h ago I came to Los &~geles on the
t=a~~. wne~ I ar~ived. all my luggage was stoler. at
the trair. sta:ion, including my identificatior..
I bega~ to sleep in a pa~k. 1 didnft have a
b:anket or a cardboard box for warmth. It was
cole.. .
On Tuesday, December 6, 1983 I came to the
13
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18
l
"
relief office located at 4th Place. Los Angeles,
California a~ 8:00 a.m.
. . .
At about 1:45 p.m. I saw an eligibility worker.
She tole me 1 couldn't get a voucher because 1
didn't have any identif~cation. I told her my
luggage anc identification bad been sto~n and she
sa~c she was sorry but those were the rules.
~~S ~s the f~~st tice ! have ever been wltho~t
I
!
I
~l
,
!
I
1
I
i
I
I
I
I
a ho~e. It's very lonely and I'm very afraid. I
uSt;ally Just ,,",elk the streets until I get sleepy. : I
a= a:=a~d that 1'1: get robbec again. 1 have triec
to s:ee? at the missions but rhey are always
ful:. . ~I .
! caoe back to the relief office ~oday to see
1: t~ey could give me a vouche~ for a ho:el room. I
5t1:1 do~'t have any ide~~if~ca~ion but I thought
I'e give it a try.
19 I my b~=-ch ce:-:i=ica te. I was again refused a
Today ~hey tole me to write to Florida and get
.
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21
22
23
2..
2S
26
27
28
vouc~e:'.
J IMXY AnAY.5
" .
I ~ f:,o~ Georgia originally and I've lived i~
Los &~geles since 196~. I wo~ked at Todd Shipyard
in Sar. Ped~o until 1 hac a be art attack a year anc a
half ago. I vas under a doctor's care and couldn't
work for that tice. I could work now that I'm
feeling bette=. although I keep nitroglycerin just in
14
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5
6
7
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10
11
12
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case. . . .
I've looked for a job here for a year. My old
employer isn't hiring. In fact. ~hey're laying
people off. I don't have much education anyho~ so I
couldn't find anything.
I lost all my things when I got rolled one
..
nigh:. They took everything I had -- my satchel with
a:1 ~y clot~es ir. it anc ~y pe~sonal things, ~y
shaving gear. They took my pants anc ever. my boots.
They took all my identification, too.
I came to DPSS on Fr~day, December 8. 1983 to
ge: G vouche= for a place to stay. I came in whe~
the office opened anc fillec out the form and waited
2 hou~s fo~ someone to see ce at window 15. But
they tole me tha: ~ithD~t any ID they couldn't help
oe, so ! we~t to the missior.. The people at the
~ission told me to go back on Monday and try again.
I handed out handbills at ~he miSS10n which gave me
enough to eat.
! co~ldr.tt ge: into ~he cission so ! slept in a
carcbcard box in the parking lot on Hill Street
be=ween 5th anc 4th Streets. I stayec the~e all
weekend. I usually stay in the parking lot but
sometimes when it rains or gets too cold and I have a
little money I go to the all night movies to stay
'the:- e .
I came back here this morning to try to get a
voucher again. But without ID you can't get a
15
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,
;(
~
~
voucher for a place to stay. They have vou~hers for
ID too but they cost $6.00 anc I dontt have any
money.
The parkir.g lots are the safest place to stay.
5 I've hea::-c: lots of stories about what happer.s to
6 peorle. I sleep in the lot wi.th a fe.... other men to
. 7 stay safe':". I dor.'t ha"\Te anyth:.ng for anyone to
a ;.ake ary ~o::-e.
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HPFH~[' I >~ U
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RPPP',m I X l) I
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TAfJI.E J
Total Arre~t Trends 1973-1982
4)458 Agenc~e5) 1982 E5t. Pop 122)241)000
1973 1982 %Change
Dr- u nke r.e e.:=. 1,045)143 731,701 -30't
Plse:.rc.erly Conduct 362,149 380 324 + 5st.
,
Ua}ranc') 29)137 1'3)4i2 -3.3.4%
D U 1 5::'''7)44t. 777)600 +44 7\
SCjF :E
Fe~er~l B~re~J of In~e5t~gatlon)
U~lfDr~ Cr~~e ReForts, 1982) p 170
TABLE II
Total Arrest Trends 1975-1982
7,559 Age~clee.; 1982 Est Pcp 156)051,000
~
1978 1982 % Cnange
Drunkene:s;. 967~874 920)344 - 4,S%
D150rderly Cc. ndu c-\:. 42Q,605 455/78E- + 8 4%
Uagranc }J 23)802 22/719 - 4 5%
1) U I 938,647 1)203,789 +28 2st.
SOURCE. Federal Bureau of Inve5t~gatlon)
U~lfor~ Crlme Report5) 1982, p 172.
TABLE r II
1982 Arrest) Number and Rate~ Populetlon Group
For Group III Cltle5 wlth POpul~tlon Between
50)OOO-99~999 (Statl~tlcs from 264 Cltles)
Compared wlth Natlonal Rate.
Natlonal
Grou~ III Cltl~~
[Jr un ke- 'Ie S 5
l,034,5:2? (Total
~rree,t:s)
106)640
R3te
55:L 2*
Sf:, 7
Dlscr2erly Conduct
76-.t,32'-i
60,316
Eate
4Ge 0
{)ecran='~
_ J
32;158
2)325
Fa"te
17 2
12 8
D U I
1 ) 4 'J 4 ) 6 ~b
115)950
~ate
749 8
6.=,8 2
*Hrrests per 100)000
Nat~onal Flgure5 for 9,832 Agencle~) Populatlon
18"')34t.~OIjO
SOUPCE. Federal Bureau of Inve~tlgatlon>
Unlform Crlme Reports) lS32) p 169
.
.
.
TABLE ~U
Surburban Area Arrest Trends
3}eS6 Agencles) Est Pop 62}343}OOO
Uagrancy
~All Ase~)
Vagrancy
(l)nder ~8)
Vagr elnc)'
(Over 18)
1981 4)E.7t. 1)379 3}297
1S'S'::' 4)42Cl 1}202 3}216
-
-
<.to [I~f~erence -5 5"" -12 8% -2 4~
Dloorderl:' D ~ 5 0 r de r 11' Dloorderl~)
Conduct Ce:,nduct CondL..o.ct
. tAll ~ge~~ (Under 18) rOver 1"2" 1
1981 141,616 30)964 110}652
19b: 139)521 2E;e13 111)005
.
~ D~ff~rence -1 3% -6 9't "'0 :;~
Drunl--eness Drun~eness Drunkeness,
(All Ages) (Under 18) (O""er 18 ~
.
193~ 237)357 11)101 226,256
19E.? 237,13E 10;3&6 226,752
. ~ D::.ffer-eflce -0 1% -6,4% +0 2%
.
.
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....
APPENDIX UIl
.
.
.
.
.
MEMORANDUM
.
DATE:
November 26, 1984
TO:
Santa Monica Police Department
=-
FROM:
Robert M. Myers, City Attorney
City Attorney Prosecution Policies with
Respect to ~lcoholic Publie InebrIates,
Homelessl and Indlgents
.
SUBJECT:
.
The purpose of thIs memorandum Is to
polIcIes of the CIty Attorney's office with
prosecutIon of crImInal offens~s by public
homeless, and destItute indIviduals.
clarify the
respect to
inebriates,
.
Current prosecutIon poliCIes
offIce have been formulated in the
conSIderatIons:
of the CIty Attorney's
context of the following
1. Homelessness is a national problem.
.
2.
inebrIation
AmelIoratIon
SIgnIfIcant
prosecutIon
AlcoholIsm manifested in
IS a national, state,
or deterrence of
way will not be
the form of public
and muniCIpal problem
these problems in any
engendered by increased
.
3. CrimInal cpnduct and not mere status Is the only
legItimate baSIS for lawful arrest and prosecution. The fact
that a person is poor, aleoholic1 a noneonformist in dress or
attitude, an idler or loiterer, or smelly and unsightly may be
reprehenslble to certaln segments of the community.
R~prehensibIlity, however, is not synonymous with criminality.
.
4. Penal Code
person actually be
thlS sectlon makes
conduct short of
prosecutions under
used threats, force
647(c} requires as an element that the
"accosted." Judicial interpretation of
permisslble or noncriminal a range of
accosting. The City Attorney will file
this Section only when the individual has
or other offensive conduct.
.
s. Sleeping in one's 9wn vehicle or with the permisslon
of the owner is not a violation of Penal Code Section 647{i).
.
6. Absent extraordinary circumstances, the City
~ttorney WIll not proseeute persons for sleeping in parks or
other public areas. The County of Los Angeles, according to a
recent study by the United States Department of Housing and
1
.
Urban Development, has the largest homeless population 1n the
United States, estimated at more than 30,000 persons. Since
the 48 shelters In the county can only house 2,417 persons
daily, tens of thousands of people are sleeping in public
places on a daily basis out of necessity.
~
It should be remembered that panhandling and-sleeping in
public accessible places are incidental to homelessness. If
people do not have income or places to sleep, they are forced
to survive by any means possible. Slnee society currently
does not provide adequate support mechanisms for people in
need, these indlviduals are required to survive on the
streets Punishment for such conduct is clearly
1nap?rOpr1a~e.
Numerous stud1es lndicate that livlng on the streets 1S
d1sabllng. As one noted expert in the field indicated:
Llfe on the streets is itself
dlsabllng. . {A)fter one or two
weeks on the streets, [the homeless)
have deterlorated not1ceably. They
frequently lose whatever ambltion they
carne wlth. Thelr dally activities
become focused exclusively on day to
day surv1val. The future becomes a
lost concept. (Testimony of Mathew
Lyons, Elsenheim v. Board of
Supervisors of the County of ~os
Anqelesf et al.)
.
It 1S not surpr1sing that some of the C1ty'S homeless
population may engage in conduct that it detrimental to the
property or well being of other indlvlduals. In such
Situations, prosecution is clearly appropriate as the only
socletal mechanism currently available to deal with the
problem However. it is incumbent upon the Police Department
1n 1ts reports to indicate in detail the nature of such
conduct. Thorough police reports are required both for
purposes of ensuring a prosecution by the City Attorney's
off1ce, but more importantly to ensure that appropriate ja1l
sentences may be imposed against those individuals who are
interferlng with the rights of others.
.
.
The following cases will illustrate our filing policies
in action:
I
~PPENDIX 1. Tony Clayton was prosecuted for Penal Code
Section 64?(c). The report indicates clearly Mr. Clayton's
inappropriate conduct with respect to other citizens. (Even
thiS report could have been more thorough by obtaining the
name and statements from indlviduals from whom food was taken
in which event a theft charg@ would also have been .dd~d.)
Even though this is one of the few Penal Code Section 647{c)
2
~
.
.
cases that we have filed, and
the conduct was pointed out
Clayton was sentenced to only S
for time served.
.
APPENDIX 2.
since information
request for money.
RH:rcprosec
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
even though the seriousness of
to the sentencing judge, Hr.
days In jail with 1 day credit
This case vas rejected for~rosecution
provided indicates nothing o~her than a
3
,
APPENDIX 1
.
.
.
.
4
.
..w _. DETF.CTJVE
".NO I
'-.... ' -
." .
CUlolO taC>OlI'..GNO
t c 7089
AMESlEE ShAME !LAST FIRS UID::J,E'
~YTON, TONY
WfRA HS .., .
llE.SCE...~... IHAlR 'EYES
WHT 'IRN:BLU
.,ATMPJ.../<Cf
,tv IRG~IN'IA
'( ARI'IESTlNCi
"\MPO
'VE... ~c 100
~v,
Loc. - ,;;... OF AlVi~ S-
t~R~P 8R OA DW&\' --
.6l.~7" (C) PC
.W...R"'......TS
J,~ Y .
~TM ; . I "':A.A'"'' DATE 1 TI...E I COU"1
r2~~6~336 rm: ~E.EPMtS~~~~~~CHE
IIIP,OTfJ; ,F./!... Of< PE'lSO'" S .......... C'-iT 1 P,,;...E..:::
'UNEMPL
( .-~ (~
SANTA MONICA POLICE DEPARTMENT
ARREST & BOOKING REPORT
r;;5T j r$lNO I ! JAIL CUSTODY RECORD
TEe..
l~NO
~
18;:-26062-0~
TRANS
CITy
SE-
. .
M
3 MOS
NOT
- .
-S INGLE
. .. '.
-. -
NONE -k~ .
I;~; rE~Ci;~ rR;~:T6_S 8
...11.... NJCMN......,E
AGE
26
.
1 ,
DAlE. TII,IE AIlAESTEO
TIME BOQKEO
"
11-12-BJf 2015
01\ .Ie 100
..V~
Q,OT."t." ....Ol"l.. ........
e~O"~~~Es~ATj;)I"~~VE~~7' ILU CORDS I BRN IMJII SHOES
tNVI .
-.... C"5E or E~EI'IGE"CY NOT,'" I"'''''''E RE'-A110NSH'F AODi:lESS CITY 1 PHO",E..O i
:: NO ONE
jut,qES.,NG OI=I'.CE"
-r-HORLEV-w r 2259
-~NSPOP'-I"C> OFFICER ,'; ". _
"t.tORlfY ~~ ~. -. 2259
'PfIOPER'"'r DEPOSITEP IN Pf'lOPE~Ty ROO'" _ .
:;t. 'I , . J ~ ~ -
.Jrt fV1t:'ENCE" IAFHEEPlNG CAS'" ~ 0
-PflOPERly DEPOS'TEO I'" JAI~ U~E -
.=- ca.~,::-'" ~ . , 1 . of I' , PfllO~,"" :. ~
- PROPER,..,. Pt:OOOSlTEO;'" JAI~ U'E
::;. -. '" ~~
lifiCpE"'';::;'' OEPOS.TE:- '" .....'L SAFE
-_ P .. ..... ~ " LJ:
i..P .,-,.. ~ .2... J....J~ _
.& 6 ; .II::' t-... ~:;-: :--: :.....:-
,,~ ..-::. I
} ~~ - " :~
2035
Loe BlI\u
~~. . '1..
. : 'I
- -
,
..
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CRIME REPORT 11-13-84 JDDY
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SU(:lervlsor Approving
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APPENDIX 2
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CITY IF I&IT. .'lltA ~ No
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I jOc:J E j 7rJ.J.- fr /n! L
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RPPENDIX UIl I
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PROSECUTION SUHHARY
(January I) 1984 - November 15) 1984J
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Penal Code ~ectlQn G02(J) - Trespass Involv1no Inluru
or Interference WIth Propertv ~lgnts
.
GU11ty Pleas
No Co~plalnt FlIed
Dlsmlssed
lGullt~1 Fleae- to
Lessor IT"1cluded
Offense or Felated
Otfenses)
.
19
13
5
15
Pe~al Code Se~tlon 602el) - Occu9a~cy of Feal Property
or S+ru~tures Wlthcut Cor5e~~
.
G'.ll: t}' Fleas
he Complalnt FlIed
I)lsmlsse;:J.
4
10
5
Fenal Code Sectlon tC2'r~ - Refusal to Leave Prlvate
Fro L:' e r 't ~ 1
- -
.
Gr.l J. 1 t" FIe as
No COIDFlalnt FlIed
Dls~155ed
c:
..J
1
1
Alms
Pe~al Code Se=tlo~ E02lc~ - Beggln; or SollcltJ.na
.
.
GL..1It'Jl PIEa~
N~ Complalnt FlIed
DlsTrlJ.5saI
( G'.lll t~,J PIe a to
Lessor Included
Offense or Related
Offense)
2
42
1
1
Pe~3l Code Sectlon c4?(f) - Influence of Drucrs In
Putl::.c Place
.
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G'.H 1 t ~J Pleas
No Co~plal~t FlIed
D1STT'1ssed
(Gul1tV Pleas to
Lessor Included
.
10
11
3
Offen5es or Related
Offenses) 3
Penal Code Sect~Dn 647(fi - P~bl~~ Inebr~a~~o~
No ComplaInts
?e~al Code SectIon 647(9) and lh' - LOlterlng an~
Pr 0 l.J 11 rg
GUllty Pleas 15
Nc C0mp1al~t5 FlIed 4
DlsffilS5ed ~
Fenal G~d~ SectIon 64-{1' - Lodglng 1~ Ue~lcle,
B~Lldl~g oc Structure Wltnou~ Pe~~lS5~Gn
GUIlty FIEa~ ~
ha Con,p:alnt FIled 5
[J 1 5 '1' 1. "5 5 all
(GuIlt':;) Plea to
Les~Dr I.-I': 111d~ci
0rfense or Relat~d
(: f f e P::: e i 1
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~3.n"t-=t t1:n'-'::.ca nur'lslpal C-e,de Se::tl.on 42G2~ - SleeplnG
1n Fu~llC Par~ ~nd Dr Beaches
.
GUllt~l Plee5
N~ COffiplalnt FlIed
Bene!" Warrant
tGl.llt') Plea::: to
Le~scr Inch.lOt-:1
Offense~ or Related
Of fensE's "
12
20
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APPENDIX IX
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A Task Force Report of the Amerlcan Psychlatric
Assoclatlon, The Homeless Mentally Ill, Washlngtop,
D.C. (1984)
Chapter 1
.
Summary and Recommendations
John A Talbott, M 0
H Richard Lamb, M D
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A large number of dIfficult and often seenungly oveJ"W"helmmg socJa1
Issues) most of which elude easy soluuons, confront us today Pnn-
clpal among them IS the widespread) senous, and mcreasmg
phenomenon of homelessness 1D Amenca, many of whose VICtIms
are senously andior chromcally mentally ill. To address this prob-
lem, the Amencan Psycruatnc Assoclauon appomted a Task Force
on the Homeless Mentally III 10 1983, reahzmg that wmle all CItiZens
have a responslbIllty for the welfare of the homeless, psycmatnsts
have an addlUonal responsibility for the mentally ill among them
The recommendauons m thIs report reflect that general oblIga-
non as CItiZens to address the problems of this heterogeneous popu-
lauon as well as our speCific oblIgauon as psyduatTlsts to help the
large number of homeless mentally ill. Recommendauons for addi-
tIonal acuon on the part of the Amencan Psychlatnc Assoclauon
and Amencan psycmatrists will be contained m a jomt posluon
paper formulated by the AssocIauon's Task Force on the Homeless
Mentally Ill, ItS COIIlIJl.lttee on the ChroD.lca11y Mentally Ill, and Its
CouncIl on Psycmatnc Services.
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Dr TalboulS professor of psyduatry at Cornell Umverslty Medical College and
assocIate medJcal chrector of the Payne Wh1tney Psycluatnc Clullc of the Ne\l,
York HospJtaJ m New York Cny, he IS presIdent of the Amencan Psyduatnc
Assoclauon for 1984-85 Dr Lamb IS professor of psyduatry at the L'mverslty of
Southern Cal1forma School of MedJcme Ul Los Angeles and ch;urperson of the
Amencan Psyd118tnc ASSOClatlOn'S Task Force on the Homeless Mentally III
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THE HOMELESS MENTALLY ILL
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To provide a basIs for the recommendations below, we will begin
by ll-nmnumzmg the maJor points of th1s study of the homeless
mentally ill m Amenca Both here and in the recommendations,
the reader IS referred to mdIvidual chapters for more detailed mior-
matlon ]t should be noted, however, that most of the points are
discussed m more than one chapter
.
Summary
.
Homelessness lS not a 1IeU.-' phenomenon Large urban centers have
always attracted vagabonds, dereucts, and hoboes, but unul recently
these unfortunare mmnduals tended to duster In cenam areas,
ofren called skJd rows Today, however, we are experIencmg a new
phenomenon--one of unprecedented magnItude and compleXlty-
and hardly a section of the country, urban or rural, has escaped
the ubiquItouS presence of ragged, ill, and hallucmaung human
bemgs, wandenng through our cny streets, huddled m alleyways,
or sleepmg over vents
Th.1s rapidly growmg problem of homelessness has emerged as a
malar socIetal tragedy and has recently commanded mcreasmg
attenuon from all segments of socIety, inc1udmg the government,
the medIa, and the publIc at large The mdlvIduals affected are
now regarded as an eyesore at best and the VlCumS of a moral
scandal at worst
It now IS apparent that a substantial portion of the homeless are
chrorucally and severely mentall} ill men and women who In years
past would have been long.term residents of Slate hospItals They
now have no place to hve because of efforts to depopulate publIc
hospitals coupled WIth the unava.tlability of swtable hOUSIng and
supervIsed hYIng arrangements in ..the COmmunIty:' madequate
conunwng memcal-psyduatnc care and other supporuve scnrices,
and poorly thought-out changes m the laws governmg mvoluntary
treatment
Homelessness has lustoncally reflected the mteraction between
the most vulnerable of our populauon and the scarCIty or plenty of
our resources Those members of society least able to care for them-
selves have always been at greatest nsk for loss of reSidence and
affiliatJon-for example, the never-insUlUUOIl;1ih7ed alcoholic, the
unemployed, and the Dllgrant and the refugee. Today their ranks
are swelled by the addIuon of thousands of people suffenng from
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summary and Recommendations
3
severe and chroDJC mental disorders, mcludmg maJor psychouc
dIsorders, aJcohol1sm, drug abuse, and severe personalIty dJsorders,
who have been dJScharged or cbvened from lDSUtUUODS
The causes of homelessness are many and complex, and the homeless
compnse different populan0n5 WIth different needs Some of the home-
less are undorruclled because they have lost thell" Jobs, others because
of the gentnficauon of urban areas WIthout a concomItant replace-
ment of mexpenslve housmg Sull others suffer from substance
abuse or severe and chrome mental dIsorder and dIsabdny Thus
each person's needs can be Idenufied only by knowmg whIch subset
of the homeless populauon he or she belongs to
The concept of detnstttut1onallZalt01l per se was not bad The Idea
that many, If not most, of the severeI~ and chromcalJy mentall~ III
suffermg from senous tllnesses such as scluzophrema and mamc-
depressIOn could be cared for as well ill commumty programs as m
msutuuons, If not better, was 10 Itself not a bad Idea It was cl1n~
Ically sound and economIcally feasIble
However, the way demsUtutJOnalIzation was ongmally earned
OUt, through the poorly planned dIscharge of thousands of mentally
III resldents of state hospua]s Into lDadequately prepared or
programmatJcally deficIent commUIUues, was another thmg alto-
gether. In addmon, as a result of the states' adnusslon dJ\'ersJOD
pohcles, mcreaslDg numbers of "new" chromcally mentally III mdl-
VIduals have never been msutlluonahzed, and have further expanded
the homeless mentally ill populauon
Vual res.ources for both groups have been lackmg They mclude
adequate and mtegrated communny programs for these mdIvlduals,
an adequate number and range of commurnty resldenual setuogs,
ymh varymg degrees of superVlSlon and strUctUre, a system of foliow-
up, morutonng, and responsibilIty for ensunng that sen~ces are
prOVided to those unable to obtalD them; and easy access to short-
term and long-term mpatlent care when indicated. The conse-
quences of these gaps in essenual resources have been dIsastrous
(see chapters 2 and 3).
An emphasIS on homelessness per se deflects attennon from the baste,
tmderlytng problem of eM lack of a comprehenstve support syStml for
the severely and chranu:aIly mentally III As was noted above, It was
not the concept of demsutuuonabzauon, but ItS unplementatIon,
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4
THE HOMELESS MENTAllY III
that was flawed. All servIces av8l1able to patients wlnle they resIded
1D state facilities, includIng the function of asylum, were not avlUl-
able when they returned to commuruty settmgs (see chapter 3) In
addmon, in hospitals such services are provIded under one roof,
and no such umbrella eXIsted m the commuruty
Wlule temporary housmg such as shelters may be an imponant
stopgap measure for many of the homeless mentally ill, mcreasmg
the number of shelters merely postpones the day of reckomng when
we will have to try to provIde all the servIces needed as well as a
system to glue them together Such a support system can be famillal
or mstltuuonal (that 15, provlded by mental health programs), or a
combmauon of both, but soc1ety must ensure that the system eXists
and IS adequate
SOCletv's ambIvalence about wannng the mentGlly zll kept out of nght,
whzle at the same nme oppOSIng mvoluntary mcarceratwn, must be better
resolved, When demsututlOnal1zallon occurred, socJety reacted
vehemently to the presence on our cJues' streets of the most sen-
ollsly and chroIllcally ill pauents Yet sooety has mcreasmgly reJected
the Idea of mvoluntanly comnurung such pauents to state hosp1tals
for long perlOds of tuDe Currently few stares have cOIllIllltmenr
laws that gIve fanuly members or those responsIble for treatment
easy access to prompt treatment for persons whose mental illness
has worsened or whose condlUon has detenorated severely SocIety
cannot contInue to have 11 both ways.
These major points of the Task Force report lead to three general
statements that relate to proposed solutions to the problems of the
homeless mentally ill
First, there IS no nngle, sample solutwn to the problems of Jwmeless-
ness Because of the dUferent subpopulauons of the homeless, the
dIfferent causes of and reasons for homelessness, and the chfferent
needs of the vanous subgroups, no one SOIUllOD w1l1 meet all the
needs of the homeless Moreover, while temporary housmg, such
as shelters, IS a necessary step, It J5 only a shon-term solution
Second, solutlons must be targeted to the dlffenng populatlons
ObVIously such wverse groups as the unemployed, those dIsplaced
by gentnficatJon, alcohol1cs and drug abusers, and the severely and
chromcally mentally ill have very dIfferent needs The solutions for
those who are unemployed include Job assessment, placement, and
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Summary and Recommendations
5
rttr:umng, for those dtsplaced by gentrificaoon, an ambitious DeW
program of low-cost housing, for those suffenng primarily from
substance abuse and alcohohsm, outreach seI'Vlces, detoXlficatJon
facIlItIeS'. medical treatment, and a host of speCialized programs;
and for those suffenng from severe and chrome mental illnesses,
supervised housmg, medIcal and psyduatnc care, aggressIve case
management and follow-up, and a mulophcny of other servIces
Laszl).', the recammendatums thar follov..' will deal only WIth the mentally
III homeless, the group WIth whIch tlus repon deals, DOt WIth the
homeless m general To come to gnps WIth the problems of the
homeless mentally Ill, we must address both short- and long-term
Jssues sImultaneously. thus the recommendatlons suggest both
lUlffiedlate and long-range acoons U'hlle other advocates and agen-
cies WIll address the problems of other groups of homeless Amer-
Icans, and some of thelI' proposals Will apply to the enure populatIOn
of the homeless. we WIll confine our recommendaoons specmcally
10 the homeless mentally 111
The reeommendauons that follo\\ are proposed as opumal solu-
!JDDS that all concerned segments of SOCIety should work to carry
out Clearly thelf rmplementauon, however, will depend on SOCl-
et' 's willmgness to reallocate resources to meet tlus pressIng prob-
lem
Recommendations Of the Task Force
Major Recommendation
To address ehe problems of the homeless mentally III an Amenca, a
comprehenstve and tntegrared J)'Slml of care for thiS vulnerable popu-
larlOn of the mentally tll, t;.,'tlh destgnated responstbtltly, wllh account-
abdlt\', and 'Ultlh adequate flScal resources, mUSI be establIShed.
Derivative Recommendations
1) Any attempt to address the problems of the 1umJeless menIally III
must begm wllh provtSUJnS for meettng their basu rueds food, shelter,
and clothIng The chronically mentally ill have a "ghl, equal to that
of other groups, to these needs bemg met
2) An adequate number and ample range of graded, Step-u/lse, super-
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t1lSed communuy lwustng stlhngs must be establuhed. (See ~hJllpter 6.)
While many of the homeless may benefit from temporary housmg
such as shelters, and some !:.mJllII portion of the severely and cbron.
. ically mentally ill can graduate to independent livmg, for the vast
ma)onty neHher shelters Dor mainstream low-cost housmg are
appropnate Most housmg setungs that reqwre people to manage
by themselves are beyond the capabilines of the chromcally mentally
ill Instead, there must be 5etungs offermg dlfferent levels of super.
. VISion, both more and less mtenslve, mcludmg quarterway and
half....'ay houses, lodges and camps, board-and-care homes, satellite
hou~mg, foster or fanuly care, and cnSlS or temporary hostels
3) Adequate, comprehenSIve, and accesnble psyChullnc and rehabJi.
uallve sertllces must be avaJwble, and must be assernvely prCYlJ1ded
through outreach Sert-1US when necessaf)' (See chapters 5, 8, and 9 )
. Filst, there must be an adequate number of dtrect psydllatnc serv-
Ices, both on the streets and In the shelters when appropnate, that
provide (a) outreach contact ynth the mentally ill m the commumty,
(b) psydllatnc assessment and evaluauon, (c) cnsls mtervennon,
mcludIng hospnahzanon, (d) mdIVlduall7.l:d treatment plans, (e)
. psychotropIc medlcanon and other somauc therapies, and (D
psychosocial treatment Second, there must be an adequate number
of rehablhtauve sen'lces, provldmg sociahzauon expenences, tram-
109 10 the skIlls of everyday hvrng, and SOCial rehabllJtauon. Thud,
both treatment and rehablluauve services must be provided assert-
ively-for mstance, by going out to pauents' hvmg serungs If they
. do nOl or cannot come 10 a centralIzed program And fourth, the
dIfficulty of workIng WIth some of these panents must not be under.
esumated (see chapters 7, 9, and 11),
4) General medual assessment and care must be avadable (See chapter
11 ) Smce we know that the chromcally mentally ill have three
. ODles the morbldny and mortahty of theJ1' couDterpans of the same
age m the general populauon, and the homeless even h1gher rates,
the ready availabllny of general medical care IS essennal and critical
5) Crms seroues must he avaJlahle and accesnhk Ie both the chron.
t.Cally menially III homeless and the chronually mentally IU 111 general
Too often, the homeless mentally ill who are 1D ensls are Ignored
. because they are presumed, as part of the larger homeless popu-
lauon, to reJect all conventJonal forms of help Even more map-
propnately, they may be put mto inpauent hospital umts when
rapId, specific mtervenuons such as medJcanon or cnsis housmg
would be more effective and less costly Others, 10 need of acute
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Summary ana Recommendations
7
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bospltsl1zauon, are denied If because of resmctJve admission cnte-
ria or commitment laws. In any case, it will be chfficult to provide
adequate CnslS sen1ces to the homeless mentally ill unul they are
conceptualized and treated separately from the large numbers of
other homeless persons
6) A s)'stem oftesponitbtltty for the chronually menzally dllwmg m
1M communal}' m:lSl be eszabluhed, unth the goal of ensunng thaI uln-
JMlely each pallenr has one person resptJnS1.blt for hIS or her care Clearly
the shIft of psychl8tnc care fmm lnslltutJonal to commuruty settmgs
does not In anv way eh.'D.lIlate the need to continue the provision
of comprehensIve serVIces to mentally ill persons. As a result, SOCI-
et) must declare a pubhc pohcy of responsIbility for the mentally
ill who are unable to meet theu own needs, governments must
deSignate programs lO each reglOn or locale as core agencies respon-
Sible and accountable for the care of the chromcally mentally 111
hnng there, and the staff of these agencies must be aSSIgned mdl-
VIdual pauents for whom they are responsIble The ulumate goal
must be to ensure that each chro01Cally mentally ill person m thts
country has one person-such as a case manager or resource
manager-who IS responsIble for ius or her treatment and care
For the more than 50 percent of the chronically ill population
b"mg at home or for those Wlth pos!U\'e ongomg relauonslups WIth
theII fa.m.ilies~ programs and respIte care must be proVIded to enhance
the famIly's abllny to provIde a suppon system. Where the use of
fanuly systems IS not feasIble~ the pauent must be lmked up WIth
a formal commumty suppon system In any case, the enure burden
of demsutul1onahzauon must nOl be allowed to fall upon fanuhes
(see chapter 13)
7) Bane changes mUSl be made tn legal and admlnlstrattve procedures
to ensure contInumg commumty care for the chronually mentally dl.
(See chapter 12 ) In the 19605 and 1970s more stnngent conumt.
mem laws and pauems' ngh!s advocacy remedIed some egregIOUS
abuses m publIc hospItal care, but at the same tune these changes
neglected patIents' nght to hlgh-quallty comprehenSIve outpauent
care as well as the nghts of families and society. New laws and
procedures must be developed to ensure prOVlSlon of psychiatnc
care In the communlly-that IS, to guarantee a nght to treatment
m the community.
It must become eaSIer to obtarn conservarorsmp status for outpa-
tIents who are so gravely disabled andior have such impaired Judg-
ment that they cannot care for themselves m the communlty Wlthout
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THE HOMELESS MENTALLY lu
legally sancuoned SUperviSIon Involuntary cOlIllIlltment laws must
be made more humane to pennlt prompt return to active inpatient
treatment for pauents when acute exacerbauons of theu illnesses
make thelt lives In the commumty chaotJc and unbearable. Invol.
untary treatment laws should be revised to allow the opuon of
outpauent clvll commltment, m states that already have provIsIons
for such treatment, that mechamsm should be more wIdely used
Fmally, advocacy efforts should be focused on the avatlability of
competent care ill the cornmumty
8) A system of coordmacum among fundtng sources and tmplemen-
tanon agencieS must be establz~hed. (See chapters 2,5, and 8 ) Because
the problems of the mentally ill homeless must be addressed by
mulnple publ1c and pnvate authonues, coordmauon, so lackmg m
the demstnuuonahzatlon process. must become a pnmary goal. The
ultImate obJectlve must be a true system of care rather than a loose
network of servIces, and an ease of commumcauon among chfferent
types of agencIes (for example, psyeh..1amc, SOCial, vocanonal, and
housrng~ as well as up and down the govemmentalladder, from
local through federal One charactensnc of a genwne system IS the
ability to fleXibly alter roles, responSlbiliues, and programs as speclfic
servIce needs change, and tlus ulumate end must be stnven far.
9) An adequale number of profesnonais and paraprofemonals must
be rramed for communtl)' care of the chron~al/y ill. Among the addi-
nonal specially traIDed workers needed, four graups are partIcularly
l111portant for thIs populauon. (a) psyduatnsts who are slulled In,
and Interested In, workIng With the chrome ally mentally llP, (b)
outreach workers who can engage the homeless mentally ill on the
streets, (c) case managers, preferably With suffiCIent trlllIllng to
proVide therapeuuc mtervenuans themselves, and Cd) conservators,
to act for patIents too dIsabled to make chmcally and economIcally
sound declSlons.
10) General soczal servu:es must be prO'l.'1.Jed. Besides the need for
Specl:1IJ7ed SOCIal sen'lces such as S()('I:1I17.:ltJon expenences and ttammg
1 Readers desmng specIfics of how to mterest psyduatnsts m treatmg the ChrOD-
!call} mentally ill and how to proVide relevant trauung are referred to "Encour-
agmg PsyduatnsIS to Work W'uh ChrODlC Pauents Opponu.Dltles and Lmurauons
of ResIdency EducaUOD," by Anhur C Nlelscn, Leorwd I Stem, John A Talbott,
and others ID HospuaI and CmnmlUuty PsycJnarry, volume 32, 1981, pages 767-
775, and "Treatment and Cart of the Chronically Mentally Ill, chapter 7 In TIu
Chrcmu; Mtr1lal Patum Five Years Laler, ed!ted by John A Talbott, Grone &
Stratton, ID press for 1984
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Summary and Recommendations
9
m the skills of everyday hvmg (referred to in RecommendatIOn 3),
there IS also a pressmg need for generic social services Such services
11lclude escort servIces to agencies and potenual reSIdential place-
menrs, help ~1th appbcauons to enut1ement programs, and aSSIS-
tance ill mobilizmg the resources of the fanuly
11) Ongomg asylum and Sa7UlU07)' should be avatlable for lhat small
proporttOn of the chrofUcaLJy merually tll 'lL,ho do Mt respond to current
methods of lTtarment and rehabl1tlalUm (See chapter 3 ) Some pauents,
even wnh h1gh.qualIty treatment and rehabIlnauon efforts, remam
dangerous or gravely chsabled For these pauents, there IS a pressmg
need for ongomg asylum in long-term setUDgs, whether m hospItals
or m facIlIues such as Cahforrua's locked skIlled nursmg faclhues
that have specIal programs for the mentally III
12" Research mto the causes and treatment of both chrome mental
Illness and homelesmess needs to be expanded ~1111e our knowledge
has greatly advanced ill recent years (see chapters 4 and 10), It IS
stIll lumted Treaunent of chrOnIC mental Jllness remams largely
palhauve, and defiruuve treatment wIll occur only With an adequate
understandmg of etIOlogIC processes In addlOon, our understand-
mg of dlfferentlal therapeuucs--that IS, what treatment works for
whIch pallents III what setungs-ls III Its lllfancy and requIres
!Dcreased resources and attenUon
13) More accurate epIdemIologIcal data need to be gathered and
analyzed Currently the research fmdmgs of mCldence of mental
Illness among homeless groups are fughly vanable, rangmg up 10
91 percent, these dIfferences depend largely on such methodologIcal
Issues as where the sample]s taken, whether standardJZed scales or
comparable cntena of illness are used, and theorencal bIases (see
chapters 4 and 14) Better data, usmg recognIZed dIagnOStIC cntena,
need to be acqUIred
14) Fmally, add1l1onal montes must be expendedfor ltmger-lmn $o/u-
lWnS for the homeless mentally III Although health and menta] health
costs and fundmg m thlS country have recently Increased., the home-
less mentally ill have nor been beneficlanes of t1ns Increase. There-
fore, adequate new momes must be found to finance the system of
care we envlSlon, whIch Incorporates supervIsed IIvmg arrange-
ments, assertIve case management, and an array of other servIces
In addlOon, fmanctal support from eXlsnng enndement programs
such as Supplemental Security Income and MedicaId must be ensured.
In summary, the soluuons to the problems of the mentally ill
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THE HOMELESS MENTAllY ILL
homeless are as mamfold as the problems they seek to remedy.
However, only wnh comprehensIve shon- and long-leon soluuons
will the pl1ght of thts most neglected populauon in Amenca be
addressed.
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