SR 09-12-2017 3L
City Council Report
City Council Meeting: September 12, 2017
Agenda Item: 3.L
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Rick Cole, City Manager, City Manager's Office, Administration
Subject: Request for a Senior Advisor on Homelessness
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council approve the addition of a full-time employee to
the City Manager’s Office to act as Senior Advisor for Homelessness, and authorize the
budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget Actions section of this
report.
Executive Summary
Homelessness is one of our society’s most pernicious and stubborn challenges. Los
Angeles County is experiencing a mounting crisis with this year’s annual Homeless
Count showing a 23% increase countywide and a 26% increase in Santa Monica (after
five years of no increases following a significant decline).
Santa Monica will not accept that homelessness is inevitable. While the regional
homeless crisis can’t be “solved” within our borders, our City is determined to invest
additional local resources, stand with neighboring communities and take a leadership
role in regional solutions. We will gather and share timely data to track and analyze both
overall progress and individual cases and share the models that prove effective; we will
relentlessly and compassionately engage people experiencing homelessness in order to
make appropriate referrals to local and regional programs; we will mobilize a
community-wide effort to augment and target public, non-profit, civic and business
resources; we will work with LA County, LA City and other regional partners to
continually innovate, pursuing effective and compassionate approaches wherever they
can be found. City staff believe this comprehensive approach can make a difference in
the lives of vulnerable people and support health, safety and equity in our local
community.
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Such a comprehensive and sustained community-wide approach will require a
significant increase in the level of resources devoted to staff training, outreach efforts,
social services, housing placement and retention, law enforcement, public information
and education, data collection, analysis, and sharing. Naming a Senior Advisor for
Homelessness to focus exclusively on the issue out of the City Manager’s Office would
locate policy, program, and resource development in the executive office, create new
capacity for intergovernmental and community relations to better leverage and
coordinate our partnerships with regional agencies, Los Angeles County and nearby
cities, as well as enlist residents, businesses, civic organizations, houses of worship
and local non-profits in collaborative action.
Background
Over the course of 40 years, Santa Monica’s local investment in permanent solutions to
address homelessness has produced a sophisticated, collaborative approach effective
in transitioning highly vulnerable individuals off the streets and into housing. The City’s
homeless policies, like its service system, have evolved over many years to be a
reflection of the priorities and needs of this community. Homelessness, however, is not
an isolated local concern. Santa Monica is but one of 88 cities in LA County, which is
home to the second largest homeless population in the country. Over 57,000 homeless
individuals were identified through the 2017 LA County Homeless Count. Unlike other
urban centers where the majority of homeless people are in shelters, 74% of LA
County’s population is literally on the streets and in public spaces. The scale of the
regional homeless crisis has pushed Santa Monica’s local homeless system beyond its
capacity to meet growing demand.
The plight of homelessness has taken on a higher profile and priority nationwide in the
past year as local and state governments are becoming increasingly overwhelmed by
the depth and breadth of this growing problem. The County of Los Angeles has adopted
a set of 47 strategies (Attachment A) that encompass services, shelters, employment,
benefits, outreach, jail diversion and system coordination and a funding plan for three
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years of projected Measure H revenue. The City of Los Angeles has begun awarding
funding generated through Proposition HHH, a $1.2 billion bond measure passed in
November 2016 to fund supportive and other types of housing for homeless people.
Locally, Santa Monica residents voted to enact Measure GSH, a local transaction and
use tax, a portion of which will fund affordable housing.
On August 23, 2015, City Council established taking a leadership role in regional efforts
to address homelessness as one of the City’s top five strategic priorities (Attachment B).
The Council instructed staff to do more on a regional level, especially by engaging with
LA City and County partners to address these local impacts, and to continue to innovate
and invest locally. The Community and Cultural Services Department (CCS) convenes
the Chronic Homeless Project (CHP) which brings local and county services together to
share resources and collaborate on case plans for homeless individuals. In addition, the
Santa Monica Police Department’s Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) team hosts an
interdepartmental meeting to track progress and coordinate efforts to house chronic
offenders. CCS also leads the Senior Housing Task Force, which brings together city
departments and non-profit providers to identify and support low-income seniors at risk
of homelessness, and partners with the City Attorney’s Office to administer the
Homeless Community Court. The Housing and Economic Development Department is
dedicated to preserving existing affordable housing in Santa Monica and creating new
housing opportunities for residents with low and moderate incomes. The Housing
Division administers federal Continuum of Care vouchers, Section 8 housing vouchers,
and Housing Trust funds for this purpose.
In June 2017, CCS and the City Manager initiated a community homelessness steering
committee comprised of representatives from the business community, City
commissions, faith partners, non-profit agencies, LA County services as well as state
and county elected offices. Local organizations such as the Westside Coalition,
Downtown Santa Monica, Inc., Santa Monica Chamber of Commerce and Santa Monica
Travel and Tourism frequently invite CCS staff to provide updates on local and regional
homeless issues. Regionally, the City participates in a range of planning meetings
hosted by LA County’s Chief Executive Office, the Los Angeles Homeless Services
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Authority and the United Way of Greater LA, and represents the Westside Cities Council
of Governments on the Regional Homeless Advisory Council. The City also meets
regularly with other Westside jurisdictions and state and county elected offices to
coordinate regional efforts and leverage local resources.
The City is also pursuing a range of responses to safety in public spaces – funding
Ambassadors into Tongva and Palisades Park, heavily programming Reed Park with
activities and focusing law enforcement on Chess Park. All have had some success,
but all require a level of resources that are currently difficult to scale and sustain
citywide.
Discussion
An increase in homelessness between 2016 and 2017 locally (26%) and regionally
(23%) have strained the City’s existing strategies and resources. The County of Los
Angeles is at an inflection point – the decisions made today both locally and regionally
on policy and implementation of new programs will decide if the curve of homelessness
continues to climb or whether strategic investments and collaborative efforts can turn
the tide. Many cities are declaring a state of emergency to signal the importance of
addressing this issue. Santa Monica has taken a more pragmatic approach,
redeploying resources to service the homeless, engaging the business and resident
communities, and serving as a regional partner with neighboring cities and the County.
In response to Council naming homelessness as a strategic goal, staff formed an
interdepartmental Homeless Strategic Goal team. This group worked across department
lines to develop an action plan with seven desired outcomes (below) and associated
goals and metrics which relate to the City’s outcomes regarding place and planet,
economic opportunity, and community.
1. Smart deployment of local resources
2. Prove the efficacy of models that connect people to housing
3. Increase availability of housing and services in other communities
4. Ensure effective, safe, respectful use of the Library
5. Active internal and external stakeholders
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6. Analyze the interventions that help people retain housing, and retain landlords
7. Prevent homelessness among low-income SM residents
As the surge in homeless individuals on our streets, in our parks and in our libraries is
visible and disturbing, staff is testing new interventions in public spaces. A team of
Human Services Division staff and two police officers recently engaged people
experiencing homelessness at two parks in Santa Monica. They relied on Homeless
Management Information System (HMIS) data during the interaction to connect
homeless individuals to resources that correspond to their needs and tested the
usefulness of using such data in the field. Regular and pop-up social services
connections are happening at the Main Library, a model of bringing services to people
where they already are.
As the team continues to implement its Action Plan, strategies will evolve and emerge,
focusing on the most effective ways to address homelessness in Santa Monica. The
City’s Action Plan is embedded in a larger strategic framework for dealing with the local
impacts of the regional homelessness crisis. The four elements of this effort (which
goes well beyond the scope and resources of City government) include:
1) To address the increase in homeless individuals in our community, we will
relentlessly, humanely, compassionately, constitutionally and effectively engage
people in distress. This effort will encompass not only our front-line emergency
response staff in Police and Fire. We will also provide scalable training and
information that can be used by other City staff, non-profit service providers,
Downtown Santa Monica Ambassadors and volunteer community members and
businesspeople, as appropriate.
2) To maximize the City’s resources, we will coordinate planning, communication and
collaborative action across numerous city departments, community-based
organizations, the business community and regional partners, working with a new
Homeless Steering Committee that is being organized by these stakeholders.
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3) To leverage available data, we will share useful information to provide appropriate
assistance and to make allocation of resources and evaluation of interventions
more accurate, timely and effective.
4) Recognizing the regional nature of this challenge, we will actively work in support of
the evolution and funding of the regional homeless services system that provides
critical outreach, mental health, housing, health care and other services to make
a difference in the lives of vulnerable people and support health, safety and
equity in our local community.
In addition, the City will deal firmly and effectively with criminal and anti-social behavior
that is often mistakenly conflated with the problem of homelessness. Homeless people
are more likely to be the victims of crime than perpetrators. There also exists, however,
an increasingly estranged and alienated element of transient individuals whose drug
and alcohol use, as well as criminal and/or chronic anti-social behaviors have made
them menaces to public safety. This is a particularly difficult challenge to which law
enforcement alone is an insufficient answer. We will work creatively and consistently to
ensure the safety and enjoyment of Santa Monica’s public spaces are not threatened by
this small, but deeply troubled segment of our population. We will continue to treat
people as individuals, not stigmatize all homeless people with the behaviors of a small
fraction who constitute a threat to others.
A Senior Advisor for Homelessness would focus exclusively on the overall approach to
the homelessness issue out of the City Manager’s Office, further develop the four-
pronged strategy and its implementation plans and long-term funding strategies,
represent the City’s interests to intergovernmental and other partners, and engage the
community on this issue. This approach is not new. In 2005 and 2006, Los Angeles
County Supervisor Ed Edelman served the City in a somewhat similar role, advancing
the City’s policies and priorities regarding regional collaboration and fair share allocation
of resources. In addition, for many years City Manager’s Office senior staff members
devoted significant time to local, state, and federal intergovernmental relations. Staffing
patterns in the Manager’s Office have changed and capacity for this work has
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diminished, increasing the need for this position, which would bear primary
responsibility for homelessness-related intergovernmental and community relations.
Given the increasing gravity of the regional homelessness crisis and its local impact,
having a Senior Advisor for Homelessness as a member of the City Manager’s Office
could further our progress profoundly and meaningfully. Establishing such a position
would locate policy, program, and funding development in the executive office, increase
intergovernmental and community relations capacity, and provide community and
regional stakeholders with a single point of contact with direct access to the City
Manager and Council. Departments would continue to offer, evaluate, and improve the
numerous services dedicated to addressing homelessness and implement the strategic
goal team’s action plan.
Therefore, the City Manager requests the addition of one Senior Advisor on Homeless
to be added to the City Manager’s Office for a two-year limited term basis, through June
2019. This position would be funded by the General Fund with an impact of $135,875
($181,166 prorated to nine months for FY 2017-18) and $184,284 for FY 2018-19.
Fiscal Impacts and Budget Actions
The addition of a Senior Advisor for Homelessness requires a net increase of 1.0 Full-
Time Equivalent (FTE) positions in the City Manager’s Office during the remainder of FY
2017-18. This requires an appropriation of $135,874 for nine months of staffing in FY
2017-18 and $186,732 for FY 2018-19 in the City Manager’s Office. These changes are
funded through the General Fund. Staff also expects to request some additional
allocation of resources during the Year End Budget presentation in October.
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Prepared By: Christopher Smith, Assistant to the City Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. LA County Strategies
B. Strategic Goals and SMART Metrics Staff Report 1408
C. Resolution
D. Written Comments
1
Vernice Hankins
From:Estefania Zavala on behalf of Council Mailbox
Sent:Tuesday, September 12, 2017 3:22 PM
To:Terry O’Day; Gleam Davis; Pam OConnor; Councilmember Kevin McKeown; Sue
Himmelrich; Ted Winterer; Tony Vazquez
Cc:councilmtgitems; Clerk Mailbox
Subject:FW: additional city staffing for homelessness
Council‐
Please see the email below regarding the senior advisor on homelessness.
Thank you,
Estefania
From: Faustino Garza [mailto:Faustino_Garza@msn.com]
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2017 9:23 AM
To: Council Mailbox <Council.Mailbox@SMGOV.NET>
Subject: additional city staffing for homelessness
Dear Council Members:
I see in today's local newspaper that Mr. Cole is asking approval to increase what is already
an over-inflated city staff.
The number and pay-levels of SM City employees are significantly higher than most (if not
all) comparable cities in this state. This is an unnecessary burden for us who pay for their
budget. Mr. Cole should be looking for ways to reduce, not increase, the size and cost of
our city operations.
If this proposed staffing is to be filled, let it be through re-assignment of staff from other
areas.
Faustino Garza
SM Homeowner and Resident of 30 Years
Sunset Park
Item 3-L
09/12/17
1 of 1 Item 3-L 09/12/17