SR 09-10-2019 3I
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: September 10, 2019
Agenda Item: 3.I
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Karen Ginsberg, Director, Community & Cultural Services
Subject: Approval of Modification of Contracts for Homeless Street-Based Services:
OPCC HMST and LA County C3 Team
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to execute a fourth modification to agreement #10291
(CCS) in the amount of $1.2 million with OPCC, a California based company, for
the continued operation of the Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST).
This proposed modification would also extend the term through June 30,
2021, resulting in a five-year amended agreement with a new total amount not to
exceed $2.85 million, with future year funding contingent upon Council budget
approval.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute a second amendment to agreement
#10593 (CCS) in the amount of $893,103 with Los Angeles County, for
the continued operation and expansion of the C3 homeless outreach team to
operate within Santa Monica city limits, under the direction of the City. This will
result in a three year amended agreement with a new total amount not to exceed
$2 million, with future funding contingent upon Council budget approval.
3. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts and Budget
Actions section of this report.
Summary
The regional crisis of homelessness affects everyone in our community. To advance
Council’s strategic goals of Taking a Leadership Role in Regional Homelessness and
Keeping Our Neighborhoods Safe by addressing the unmet health and behavioral
health needs and impacts of unsheltered people in public spaces, the City piloted the
use of multi-disciplinary street-based interventions.
Two models are currently active: the Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST)
focuses on high utilizers of City emergency services, and the C3 (County, City,
Community) Team focuses on the City’s downtown and nearby spaces. On June 25,
2019, City Council adopted the FY 2019-21 Proposed Biennial Budget, which included
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funding for HMST and C3 to advance the Reduce Homelessness Framework Priority. In
order to incorporate additional funding for FY 2019-21, staff recommends Council
authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a fourth modification to the
agreement with local nonprofit OPCC/The People Concern for the continuation of
HMST, and to negotiate and execute a second amendment to the Letter of Agreement
with the County of Los Angeles for the continuation and expansion of the C3 team.
Discussion
Homelessness has been a challenge in Santa Monica for decades. In 2015, the City
Council renewed its commitment by focusing on Santa Monica taking regional
leadership on what was emerging as a growing crisis in Los Angeles County and other
parts of California.. The heart of this response has been to mobilize a community
partnership that works with all levels of government, non-profit and faith organizations,
business and other community institutions, leaders and volunteers.
What emerged from this partnership is a four-pillar approach to homelessness. To
support two of those pillars (addressing the behavioral health needs of vulnerable
residents; and maintaining equitable access to safe and healthy open spaces), t wo
skilled professional street teams have been deployed to consistently engage persons
experiencing homelessness in our community, one focusing on the highest utilizers of
first responder services citywide, the other on homeless individuals in the Downtown
area. Both teams operate in collaboration with a wide range of local and regional
service providers to directly link people living on our streets to the services that will
assist them on a path to get off the streets into permanent housing. In cooperation with
law enforcement, these teams also contribute to making our public spaces safer,
healthier and more accessible to all by working to address and prevent the anti-social
behaviors that can accompany mental illness, drug and alcohol abuse and other
conditions among those who are living on our streets.
Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team
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In 2016, following a competitive request for proposal (RFP) process, City Council
authorized an agreement with OPCC/The People Concern to operate a Homeless
Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST) to serve the highest utilizers of police and fire
resources (Attachment A). The contract was modified three times, extending the term,
adding City funding, and incorporating funding awarded from Los Angeles County
Supervisor Sheila Kuehl’s office (Attachment B).
Since its launch, HMST has served a cumulative total of 37 chronically homeless
individuals identified as the highest users of local emergency resources. HMST has
placed 25 of the 37 participants (67%) into interim housing and 19 of the 37 participants
(51%) ultimately into permanent housing. A recently published evaluation of HMST by
RAND Corporation found HMST was viewed as a valuable community resource, had a
positive impact on participants’ lives, and yielded significant savings in City spending
(Attachment C).
County, City, Community C3 Team
In 2017, City Council authorized an agreement with Los Angeles County Department of
Health Services, as a sole source provider, for the implementation of a C3 homeless
outreach team to serve the Downtown Santa Monica area (Attachment D). The
agreement has since been amended once to extend the term and ensure ongoing
operation of the C3 team.
The C3 team provides geographic-based outreach, medical, and behavioral health
interventions to people experiencing homelessness in the Downtown area. Since its
launch, the C3 team has made more than 3,000 engagements with more than 1,600
unduplicated individuals. C3 has provided more than 200 medical services and
connected 61 individuals to mental health resources. Concurrent with the C3 team’s
operation, homelessness in the Downtown Santa Monica area decreased by 19% year
over year between the 2018 and 2019 point -in-time Homeless Counts.
On June 25, 2019, Council approved the proposed FY 2019-21 biennial budget, which
maintains current funding levels for HMST and C3 for an additional two years, and
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enhances C3 funding to provide additional coverage to the beach and other areas most
impacted by homelessness (Attachment E).
Past Council Actions
Meeting Date Description
April 26, 2016 Award RFP #71 to OPCC to develop and operate the HMST;
Authorize an agreement with OPCC for $600,000.
August 8, 2017 Authorize a modification to agreement 10291 with OPCC for
HMST in the amount of $1.05 million, resulting in a new total
amount of $1.65 million. Authorize acceptance of a grant award
in the amount of $300,000 from the Los Angeles County Board
of Supervisors District 3 for HMST, along with all renewals.
November 28, 2017 Authorize an agreement with Los Angeles County for
implementation of a C3 homeless outreach team for a total
amount not to exceed $1,106,897. Award made as an exception
to the competitive bidding process.
March 26, 2019 Authorize budget changes to facilitate acceptance and
expenditure of grant renewal in the amount of $300,000 from LA
County SD3 for HMST.
June 25, 2019 Adopted FY 2019-21 Biennial Budget includes an additional $1.2
million to maintain HMST at current levels and an additional
$893,103 to maintain and expand C3.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
Staff seeks authority to approve funding from the General Fund to increase the amount
of agreement #10291 with OPCC/The People Concern for the operation of the HMST,
and to increase the amount of agreement #10593 with the County of Los Angeles for
the operation of a C3 homeless outreach team.
Agreement Modification Request
Current Authorized
Amount
FY 2019-20
Modified Request
Amount
FY 2020-21
Modified Request
Amount
FY 2019-20 Budget
Dept Account #
Total Revised
Contract Amount
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$1,650,000 $600,000 $600,000 01400009.552010 $2,850,000
Agreement Modification Request
Current Authorized
Amount
FY 2019-20
Modified Request
Amount
FY 2020-21
Modified Request
Amount
FY 2019-20 Budget
Dept Account #
Total Revised
Contract Amount
$1,106,897 $400,00 $493,103 01400009.552010 $2,000,000
Future year funding is contingent on Council budget approval.
On January 31, 2019, the City and the LA County Board of Supervisors District 3 (SD3)
executed an amendment to renew the grant for HMST for one additional year and for an
additional amount of $300,000. On March 26, 2019, Council authorized FY 2018-19
budget changes required to accept the renewal (Attachment F). The following budget
changes are required to allow for expenditure and reimbursement of that grant renewal
in FY 2019-20.
FY2019-20 Grant Budget Changes
Establish Revenue Budget Appropriate Funds
Account Number(s) Amount Account Number(s) Amount
20400001.405470 $300,000 20400001.555930 $300,000
Prepared By: Brian Hardgrave, Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Attachment A - Staff Report 04.26.16
B. Attachment B - Staff Report 08.08.17
C. Attachment C - RAND Evaluation of HMST
D. Attachment D - Staff Report 11.28.17
E. Attachment E - Staff Report 06.25.19
F. Attachment F - Staff Report 03.26.19
G. Written Comment
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: April 26, 2016
Agenda Item: 3.E
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Karen Ginsberg, Director, Community & Cultural Services, Human Services
Subject: Award Contract for Homeless Multi-Disciplinary Street Team
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Award RFP# 71 to Ocean Park Community Center (OPCC), a California-based
nonprofit organization, to develop and operate a Homeless Multidisciplinary
Street Team.
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement with OPCC
in an amount not to exceed $600,000 for a one-year period.
Executive Summary
Assertive case management is a best practice model designed to do “whatever it takes”
to effectively engage the complex needs of chronically homeless individuals. The
Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team would provide field-based medical and
behavioral health treatment to an initial cohort of 20-25 unsheltered adults who have
been identified as the highest utilizers of City emergency services. The Homeless
Multidisciplinary Street Team would complement existing services while piloting an
enhanced response to address the changing profile of Santa Monica’s homeless
population.
Through a competitive bid process, one proposal was received. Staff is recommending
awarding the project to OPCC to implement and opera te the Multidisciplinary Street
Team as a proof-of-concept at a cost of $600,000
Background
Homelessness has long been identified as an area of concern in Santa Monica. For
decades, the City has invested in creative solutions to address this complex issue.
Guided by the Action Plan to Address Homelessness, housing and services have been
prioritized to the most vulnerable, visible, and chronically homeless individuals in the
community. In addition, the City has promoted a “whatever it takes” approach, which
emphasizes flexible delivery of services in a way that reaches people wherever they
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are. The traditional forms of street outreach have evolved from simple engagement by
peers or advocates into sophisticated and medically/clinically trained teams tha t can
provide field-based assessments and treatments.
One example of this, Street Medicine, is a rapidly evolving best practice, which delivers
quality medical care directly to people living on the streets through mobile services.
Popularized by the work of Pennsylvania-based Dr. Jim Withers in the early 1990’s,
Street Medicine delivers compassionate, accessible, and cost -effective treatment to
individuals who otherwise cannot or do not receive care until they are admitted to
emergency rooms and hospitals. Street Medicine programs throughout the country have
expanded to include mental health and substance abuse interventions in addition to
physical healthcare to meet homeless patients’ complex needs while reducing repeat
emergency room visits.
In 2004, the City formed the Chronic Homeless Project (CHP), which prioritizes
intensive field-based services to a group of individuals who have been homeless in
Santa Monica for a period of years, who are the most visible in the community and may
be high users of police, paramedic and emergency room resources. The CHP
approach incorporates the knowledge and expertise of dozens of interagency partners
in order to meet the complex behavioral and medical needs of the City’s identified
priority population.
Another program that has yielded successful results is the Integrated Mobile Health
Team (IMHT), an innovative treatment model combining the efforts of the County
Department of Mental Health, OPCC, Venice Family Clinic, and St. Joseph Center.
IMHT focuses on placing vulnerable individuals in housing first, then surrounding them
with the supportive services necessary to promote wellbeing and housing retention. A
multidisciplinary staff provides mental health, physical health, and substance abuse
services in the streets and in the client’s home. Since it began in Santa Monica in 2012,
the IMHT program has permanently housed dozens of the City’s most vulnerable
chronically homeless individuals.
Discussion
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On August 23, 2015 (Attachment A), the City Council convened a special Council
meeting and identified the City’s five top priority Strategic Goals from a broader list
developed by the citywide leadership team. One of the emerging Strategic Goals was
taking a leadership role in regional efforts to address homeles sness.
On October 27, 2015 (Attachment B), staff recommended appropriating $5.1 million of
one-time General Fund savings for projects that will produce measurable results in
support of Council’s Strategic Goals. Council approved a one-time allocation of
$600,000 to implement a Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team. This team would
build upon the successful assertive case management model utilized by the CHP Team
and the comprehensive medical and behavioral health approach used by IMHT to
address the changing characteristics of the homeless community in the City.
The City’s local initiatives and regional partnerships have successfully housed many of
the individuals identified as “Santa Monica Priority” as defined by the Action Plan to
Address Homelessness, and helped reduce homelessness overall by 20% since 2009.
However, data from the 2016 Homeless Count continues a trend of increasing
unsheltered, or street homelessness, and describes a changing profile of Santa
Monica’s homeless population, which is comprised of people who have been homeless
for long periods of time, but who are newly arrived in Santa Monica. In a recent survey
of 133 homeless individuals, 62% report having been homeless for more than one year.
The majority, 55%, report being in Santa Monica for less than one year. In addition,
nearly half (44%) of survey respondents said they do not receive services from any of
the local agencies, despite a high prevalence of self-reported mental illness, substance
use, and medical problems. This small sample supports data collected by the Police
and Fire Departments, which indicate a disproportionate number of calls for service
among homeless individuals, including 2706 homeless distress responses by the Fire
Department last year
One-time funds of $600,000 would support one year of operation for a caseload of 20 -
25 individuals. The caseload would be developed through an interactive process
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incorporating data from Police, Fire, and local hospital emergency departments to
identify the 20-25 highest utilizers of public services. As a proof-of-concept project,
there would be a focus on reducing public service costs among the City’s highest
utilizers as demonstrated by reductions in the number of Police and Fire contacts by
these individuals, as well as reduced visits to emergency rooms. Documentation and
tracking of these and other positive outcomes that reduce the impacts of homelessness
would demonstrate a need for on-going funding, which could be a City/County joint
commitment at a similar funding level on an annual basis.
The team would operate five days a week from 7:30am to at least 5:00pm. Daily case
conferencing would allow the team to effectively develop and modify treatment plans.
The interdisciplinary staff would consist of a licensed Program Manager, Physician
Assistant, Substance Abuse Clinician, Clinical Case Manager, Housing Case Manager,
Psychiatrist, Peer Advocate, and Program Evaluator. The team would provide street-
based medical and behavioral health evaluations and treatment, transporting clients to
clinic-based services when necessary. The team would integrate services with the
agency’s existing programs and resources to enhance treatment and housing options.
Collaboration with Police, Fire, and Human Services Division (HSD) would allow the
team to strategically engage clients who have declined traditional services. The team
would be required to achieve and track outcomes including:
Number of police contacts before/after engagement by the street team
Number of emergency department visits before/after engagement by the street
team
Referrals to clinic-based medical, mental health, and substance abuse treatment
Placements in emergency/transitional/permanent housing
Results from the one-year pilot would inform future program and funding decisions,
including whether to make an ongoing commitment to this service, either as a city or in
partnership with other public agencies such as the City and/or County of Los Angeles.
Vendor Selection
On February 12, 2016, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Homeless
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Multidisciplinary Street Team. The RFP was posted on the City’s online bidding system
in accordance with the City Charter and Municipal Code provisions. FY2015-19 Human
Services Grants Program (HSGP) grantee agencies and the Westside Coalition were
notified via e-mail. Nine prospective vendors downloaded and viewed the RFP. One
proposal was received. HSD staff contacted vendors that did not elect to submit a
proposal. Four of the vendors responded, and all in dicated that they did not feel like the
scope of work was a good fit for their resources, including two that are City-funded
agencies.
The proposal, from OPCC, was reviewed by staff from HSD, the Police Department, the
Fire Department, and the Library. The proposal was reviewed for competence,
qualification/expertise, staffing capacity, and cost effectiveness. The staff reviewers
found that OPCC has extensive experience providing integrated field-based homeless
services through their IMHT, Multidisciplinary Integrated Team (MIT), and the
Department of Health Services C3 initiative in Skid Row and recommends that they be
selected for these reasons.
OPCC currently receives $1,620,928 annually through the Human Services Grants
Program (HSGP) to operate all of the City’s single-adult emergency housing beds
through four shelter locations (Daybreak, Safe Haven, Turning Point and SAMOSHEL),
as well as the City’s only drop in center for homeless individuals (Access Center) and
the City’s primary domestic violence shelter and services (Sojourn and Westside
Domestic Violence Network). They are well equipped to manage additional City funds,
as well as leverage these existing City and non-City funded resources to support the
efforts of the new Multidisciplinary Team.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The contract to be awarded to OPCC is $600,000 in one time funds. One-time funds of
$600,000 are available in the FY 2015-16 budget at account SO015401.589000.
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Prepared By: Margaret Willis, Administrator
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. October 27, 2015 Staff Report (Web Link)
B. August 23, 2015 Council Minutes (Web Link)
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: August 8, 2017
Agenda Item: 3.J
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Karen Ginsberg, Director, Community & Cultural Services
Subject: Modification of Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team Contract
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant award in the amount of $300,000
from Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors District 3 for the operation of the
Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST), and to accept all grant
renewals.
2. Authorize the City Manager to execute all necessary documents to accept the
grant and all grant renewals.
3. Authorize the budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts & Budget
Actions section of this report.
4. Authorize the City Manager to execute a second modification to agreement
#10291 (CCS) in the amount of $1.05 million with Ocean Park Community Center
(OPCC), a California-based company, for the operation of the Homeless
Multidisciplinary Street Team. This will result in a 3 year amended agreement
with a new total amount not to exceed $1.65 million, with future year funding
contingent upon Council budget approval.
5. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Software Licensing and
Professional Services Agreement with Akido Labs, a California based company,
for the development of data governance polices, user licenses, creation and
maintenance of data sharing platform for first responders. The recommended
award is made as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to
Section 2.24.080 (d) and is for a term of four years with one three-year option to
renew for a total amount not to exceed $85,000 with future year funding
contingent on Council budget approval.
6. Authorize the City Manager to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding with
the University of Southern California (USC) and the Milken Institute to pursue
solutions to homelessness.
7. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a Professional Services
Agreement with RAND Corporation, a California-based company, for an
assessment of the HMST at no cost.
Executive Summary
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The Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST) began operating in September
2016 as a jumpstart project in association with the Taking a Leadership Role in
Regional Homelessness Council-adopted strategic goal. HMST is staffed by a highly
skilled team of mental health, medical, and substance abuse professionals, and a peer
specialist. The team provides medical and behavioral health interventions on the
streets, in parks, jails and hospitals to the highest utilizers of City emergency services
(police, fire, hospitals). The RAND Corporation has offered to review HMST and City
data to assess the efficacy of providing intensive, clinical services in the field and the
cost effectiveness of this intervention. In addition, the City has been approached by the
University of Southern California’s (USC) partners, Akido Labs and the Milken Institute,
to develop a custom data sharing platform that would allow first responders to have
access to information about homeless individuals who are high users of emergency
services in order to facilitate safe and effective interventions in the field.
HMST received City jump start funds of $600,000 that will be expended through August
2017. An additional $150,000 has been identified in the FY 2017-18 budget to extend
the team through December 2017, with an additional $300,000 budgeted for FY 2018 -
19. Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl has committed $300,000 in FY 2017-
18 discretionary funds and will consider another grant of the same amount for FY2018-
19. Staff recommends accepting the Supervisor’s discretionary funds and modifying the
City’s agreement with OPCC for a total amount not to exceed $1.65 million through
June 30, 2019 to deliver street-based medical and behavioral health care which would
enable the program to continue uninterrupted funded by County, City and possibly other
dollars. In addition, staff recommends entering into an agreement with Akido Labs to
create a data sharing platform for first responders as well as a Memorandum of
Understanding with the Milken Institute and USC’s Keck School of Medicine to
memorialize the new partnership, and an agreement with RAND Corporation to
complete an assessment of the HMST model.
Background
On August 23, 2015 (Attachment A), the City Council convened a special Council
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meeting and identified the City’s five top priority Strategic Goals including taking a
leadership role in regional efforts to address homelessness.
On October 27, 2015 (Attachment B), staff recommended appropr iating $5.1 million of
one-time General Fund savings for projects that will produce measurable results in
support of Council’s Strategic Goals. Council approved a one-time allocation of
$600,000 to implement a Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST). This team
builds upon the successful assertive case management model utilized by the Chronic
Homeless Project (CHP) and the comprehensive medical and behavioral health
approach used by the Integrated Mobile Health Team (IMHT) to address the changing
characteristics of the homeless community in the City.
On February 12, 2016, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for a Homeless
Multidisciplinary Street Team. The RFP was posted on the City’s online bidding system
in accordance with the City Charter and Municipal Code provisions. One proposal, from
the non-profit agency OPCC, was received and reviewed by staff from the Human
Services Division (HSD), the Police Department, the Fire Department, and the Library.
Reviewers found that OPCC has extensive experience providing integrated field-based
homeless services through their IMHT program, Multidisciplinary Integrated Team
(MIT), and the Department of Health Services C3 initiative in Skid Row and
recommended that they be selected for these reasons.
On April 26, 2016 (Attachment C), City Council authorized the City Manager to
negotiate and execute an agreement with OPCC to develop and operate HMST in an
amount not to exceed $600,000 for a one-year period. Contract # 10291 (CCS) was
executed on June 14, 2016 and fully staffed and operational in September 2016. The
initial contract amount will fund the program through August 2017. On June 7, 2017,
the First Modification to Grant Agreement 10291 (CCS) was executed between the City
of Santa Monica and OPCC to extend the HMST contract through December 31, 2017.
An additional $150,000 in strategic initiative contingency funding has been identified in
the FY 2017-18 budget to sustain the program through the end of the modified contract
term.
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In June 2017, Los Angeles County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl agreed to provide $300,000
in discretionary funds to sustain the program through June 2018. During budget
adoption on June 27, 2017, Council allocated an additional $300,000 of FY 2018-19
City of Santa Monica funds to operate HMST through December 2018 (Attachment D).
Supervisor Kuehl’s office will consider an additional $300,000 grant for FY 2018-19
operations to sustain the program through June 2019. This extension would result in a
strong, multi-year data set upon which to evaluate the effectiveness of this intervention.
The recommended second modification to the City’s agreement with OPCC would
increase the total dollar amount to $1.65million of City and County funds and extend the
term until June 2019. OPCC is in compliance with the Oaks Initiative (Attachment E).
Discussion
Prior to the launch of the HMST, the 25 homeless individuals on the initial cohort had
been treated by SMFD paramedics more than 200 times, transported to local hospitals
more than 100 times, and issued nearly 700 citations by SMPD. The 18 individuals
engaged by the HMST thus far represent a cumulative 195 years of street
homelessness. To date, seventeen clients have been taken off the streets since
engaging with the HMST, resulting in significantly decreased utilization of costly
emergency services by this group.
One HMST client had been chronically homeless in Santa Monica with numerous
arrests and hospitalizations related to public intoxication. He had rejected traditional
homeless outreach and mainstream services, due to the complexity of his physical and
mental health and substance use disorder. HMST worked with City staff and the County
Public Defender’s Office to arrange an alternative sentencing option. The client
completed a residential alcohol treatment program, was linked to a sober living program
at CLARE Foundation, employment training at Chrysalis, and a permanent housing
voucher through the regional Coordinated Entry System. This individual is now working
a full-time job in Santa Monica, and is regularly engaged in activities to promote his
sobriety, mental and physical health, and permanent housing. In the year prior to
engaging with HMST, this individual was arrested by SMPD four times and transported
by SMFD to local hospitals twice. Since participating in treatment with HMST, he has
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neither been arrested nor hospitalized. OPCC is tracking service and housing
outcomes using the City’s Homeless Management Information System (HMIS), as well
as engaging a third party evaluator to measure impact of services on clients’ wellbeing.
The cohort will evolve over time. City staff have identified additional vulnerable
individuals to be added to the HMST roster to replace those who have either died or the
HMST have been unable to locate. The contract extension would allow for an
assessment of “step down” interventions post-housing to determine how best to
transition participants from HMST to other lower-intensity support services, thereby
allowing the team to serve new individuals.
A forthcoming evaluation will examine cost avoidance and the effectiveness of this level
of intervention. Consistent multi-year assessments are necessary to demonstrate the
effects of social service interventions, the impacts of which are best measured by
changes over time as illustrated by other evaluative tools such as The Wellbeing Index
and the Youth Wellbeing Report Card. RAND Corporation has approach the City with
an offer to review the data collected by HMST, first responders and local hospitals,
looking specifically at the effectiveness of the intervention for this highly vulnerable
population and to see if the service model results in fewer contacts with local
emergency services. RAND is offering this at no cost to the City. Staff recommends that
the City enter into a professional services agreement with RAND for this work.
Should the evaluation of HMST confirm that this level of intervention is effective not only
in placing vulnerable clients in housing but also reducing the impact on local emergency
resources, the Community and Cultural Services Department may request an
enhancement of the Human Services Grants Program (HSGP) budget to provide
ongoing, sustainable funding for this program. The enhancement would be requested
for the next four-year (FY 2019-23) HSGP funding cycle. Discussions are also
underway to engage the business community to support this project as another ongoing
source of partial funding.
Vender Selection:
On October 25, 2016, as part of the City’s efforts to engage in regional solutions to
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homelessness, staff participated in a summit hosted by the Milken Institute. During the
summit, discussions of technology solutions prompted a suggestion from City staff that
providing first responders relevant information about homeless individuals in the field
could improve their interactions and lead to safer, more productive outcomes than
traditional enforcement alone. Representatives from the University of Southern
California (USC)’s Keck School of Medicine and the Milken Institute approached the
City in March 2017 offering to develop a custom data sharing platform for first
responders based on a similar health care data sharing system developed by Akido
Labs, a software company built out of Keck Medicine. Around the same time, staff
evaluated a similar product, GetRideALong.org, which was developed by a Code for
America team for the Seattle Police Department’s Crisis Response Team and gives
officers key information about people with mental illness at the scene. RideaLong
submitted a proposal for development of a custom software solution. Staff determined
that RideALong’s solution would have cost significantly more money and taken a much
longer time to develop than the solution proposed by Akido.
Akido has proposed a three-phased approach to supporting data sharing and the
coordination of care for homeless individuals who are frequently contacted by first
responders. The first and second phases, which include discovery, development of data
governance policies, and development, implementation, testing, and licensure of a pilot
solution, would not result in a cost to the City. This work is expected to take
approximately six months. The third phase of scaling, configuring, and implementing the
software for multiple year use would take approximately four months. A one-time user-
training fee of $5,000 would be charged at the end of FY17 -18. Annual licensing and
support would likely begin in early FY18-19 and would be charged based in part on
needed support services. Service levels may vary over time as the solution is
implemented. A service level agreement exhibit would be included in the contract.
Additional services such as data analysis, design, development, and integration would
be priced at $150/hour. Staff recommends enterin g into a four-year agreement with
Akido not to exceed $85,000, with an option to extend the agreement by three
additional years, as an exception to the competitive bidding process pursuant to Section
2.24.080 (d) given the proprietary nature of the product and its specify to Santa Monica.
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Staff have tested the theory that that real-time data sharing significantly improves the
coordination of care for homeless individuals and have found it to be true; it is likely that
this type of software will have long-standing applicability, therefore a term of up to seven
years is proposed.
Additionally, staff recommends entering into a Memorandum of Understanding with the
Milken Institute and USC’s Keck School of Medicine (KSOM) to memorialize the
partnership, roles, and responsibilities. The Milken Institute will provide coordination,
convening, and research support on a local, regional and state level in partnership with
the members of the homelessness collaborative. USC KSOM’s primary role will be to
document, research, write and develop case studies for the projects. The City of Santa
Monica’s primary role will be to support research, development, deployment and
evaluation of technology based projects.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions
The agreement modification to be awarded to OPCC is $1,050,000, for an amended
agreement total not to exceed $1,650,000. Funds of $450,000 are available in the FY
2017-18 budget in Strategic Initiative account SO015401.589000. Future year funding is
contingent on Council budget approval.
The agreement to be awarded to Akido Labs is for an amount not to exceed $85,000.
Funds of $85,000 are available in the FY 2017-18 budget in Strategic Initiative account
SO015401.589000 and 20262.522992. Future year funding is contingent on Council
budget approval.
Transfer of $150,000 in strategic initiative contingency funding, acceptance of a
$300,000 grant from Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors District 3 for the
operation of the HMST, and transfer of $85,000 in strategic initiative contingency
funding for the Akido Lab project require the following FY 2017-18 budget changes:
1. Transfer $150,000 from SO015601.589000 to SO015401.589000 to account for
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program expenditures through December 2017.
2. Establish revenue budget at account 2 0262.408500 in the amount of $300,000 to
facilitate receipt of the Supervisor’s grant.
3. Appropriate $300,000 to 20262.522992 to account for program expenditures
associated with the Supervisor’s grant.
4. Transfer $85,000 from SO015601.589000 to SO015401.589000 for costs associated
with the Akido Lab project.
For FY 2018-19, $300,000 is budgeted and available in account SO015401.589000. If
the Supervisor’s grant is renewed and awarded for future periods, budget changes will
be included in subsequent year budgets, contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Brian Hardgrave, Administrative Analyst
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. August 23, 2015 Council Minutes (Web Link)
B. October 27, 2015 Staff Report (Web Link)
C. April 26, 2016 Staff Report (Web Link)
D. June 27, 2017 Staff Report (Web Link)
E. OPCC Oaks Initiative Form 2017
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: November 28, 2017
Agenda Item: 8.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Karen Ginsberg, Director, Community & Cultural Services
Bill Walker, Fire Chief, Fire Department, Kenneth Semko, Interim Police
Chief, Police Department, Patty Wong, Director of Library Services, Library Services
Department, Andy Agle, Director, Housing and Economic Development
Subject: Annual Homelessness Report
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that City Council:
1. Endorse the concepts contained in the Strategic Goal Action Plan and direct staff
to continue implementation of Council’s Strategic Goal (Taking a leadership role
in regional efforts to address homelessness) through:
a. Pro-active engagement
b. Smart deployment of local resources
c. Prove efficacy of models to stabilize and connect homeless individuals to
housing
d. Increase availability of housing and services in other communities,
e. Ensure effective, safe and respectful use of the Library
f. Activate internal and external stakeholders to collectively address
homelessness
2. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute an agreement
with Los Angeles County for the implementation of a C3 homeless
outreach team to operate within Santa Monica city limits, under the direction of
the City. This recommended award is made as an exception to the competitive
bidding process pursuant to Section 2.24.080 (b) and is for a total amount not to
exceed $1,106,897 for two years, with two additional one-year renewal options
with future year funding contingent on Council budget approval.
3. Direct staff to undertake a selection process with pre-qualified City vendors and
the County of Los Angeles to identify and incubate flexible multidisciplinary
teams to provide outreach and engagement services to homeless individuals in
City public spaces and return to Council for additional authority as needed.
4. Authorize the City Manager to accept a grant award in the amount of $70,000
from United Way of Greater Los Angeles (UWGLA) Planning Grants for Cities for
the development of a community-wide homelessness training strategy.
5. Approve the staffing and position changes as detailed in Attachment A.
6. Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts and Budget
Actions section of this report.
Executive Summary
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Like many beach communities, Santa Monica has dealt for decades with the challenge
of homelessness in our society. The City has a long history of developing
compassionate policies and engaging in collaborative and innovative programs to
address homelessness that have positioned the Santa Monica community as a leader in
effective strategies to reduce homelessness. These efforts, memorialized in the City’s
Action Plan to Address Homelessness (Attachment J), led to a significant reduction in
2010 and sustained stable numbers until this year. However, a dramatic increase in the
number of homeless people in Los Angeles County has spurred a similar increase
locally. This surge has not only raised the number of homeless individuals in our midst,
but included a disturbing change in the incidence and severity of untreated mental
illness, substance abuse and anti-social behavior among the homeless population. This
has eroded our community's sense of Santa Monica as a safe and desirable place to
live, play, and do business. The increased pressure on community open spaces has
elevated public concern, impacted quality of life, and made clear that homelessness is a
crisis that demands a community-wide response, built on a history of successful policies
and programs.
In August 2015, considering all of the issues that influence community wellbeing,
Council established taking a leadership role in regional efforts to address homelessness
as a top five Strategic Goal. Council clearly identified that continued local success
would be contingent on broadening participation in regional partnerships. There was a
recognition that Santa Monica cannot solve this issue in 8.3 square miles and it was
imperative to increase capacity of the Los Angeles homeless service system to address
homelessness. In fact, both the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los Angeles
have subsequently stepped up in a major way, going to voters to significantly increase
resources devoted to permanent supportive housing and homeless services. Residents
countywide voted by 67% to support Measure H while Santa Monica voters approved
the measure by 77%.
In affirming the City’s commitment to actively engage in regional partnerships with City
of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County, staff, working as a strategic goal team,
created the Homeless Strategic Goal Action Plan. The Action Plan is the City’s
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framework for new local strategies to positively impact community wellbeing, tied to the
County of Los Angeles’ Homeless Initiative. The Action Plan drives towards the
Wellbeing outcomes of Place as well as Community and Economic Opportunity.
The proposed Action Plan focuses on pro-active engagement, smart deployment of
local resources, use of data, technology and analysis, expanding housing options, calls
for new service models and new approaches to supporting community safety through
outreach, engagement, enforcement, activation, and additional staffing. Strategies are
already in motion. The Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team, Ambassadors in
Tongva and Palisades Park, and homeless outreach in the Main Library, are new
models demonstrating efficacy and producing positive results. To continue making
progress, the City is re-tooling its approach to homelessness, expanding efforts that
focus on "where" (highly impacted public spaces) to complement existing strategies
focused on "who" (Santa Monica program eligible individuals). To support this broader
approach, last month Council set aside $1.4M in FY 2016 -17 year-end General Fund
savings to design and implement new homeless outreach teams, develop
comprehensive place-based strategies, and increase capacity for the Library to address
the effects of homelessness. Santa Monica Police Department is maximizing existing
resources by jump-starting new approaches including enhancing officer training, re-
deploying existing officers to high-impact areas and expanding the Homeless Liaison
Program (HLP) Team.
This work cannot be done by the City alone; the community is poised to support and
participate in new strategies in response to this changing environment. Staff are
creating new ways to improve communication between the City and the community on
solutions and partnership opportunities, including a public education campaign, a
homelessness steering committee, and a series of public safety listening meetings
currently underway. The City secured $70,000 in LA County Measure H funds, through
United Way of Greater Los Angeles, to design a flexible training curriculum for City staff,
businesses and residents to safely and effectively interact with homeless members of
the community. Much of this work, as well as strengthening regional partnerships, will
be coordinated by the new City Manager's Office Senior Advisor on Homelessness and
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tracked through the City's new SaMoStat model (Attachment B).
This report provides an overview of current and proposed efforts to address the impacts
of the homelessness crisis, based on the concepts of the Strategic Goal Action plan,
delivered within the framework of the countywide homeless services system of care. A
summary of new initiatives including the proposed use of Council-approved one-time
funds, are included in the Next Steps section. Staff recommends Council support
continued implementation of the Strategic Goal, taking a leadership role in regional
efforts to address homelessness, and endorse the concepts proposed in the Strategic
Goal Action Plan.
Background
On May 8, 2017, Council received an information item titled, “Local Homeless Efforts in
a Regional Context” (Attachment C). This report summarizes the 40-year history of
Santa Monica’s homeless service system, deta ils the City’s priority to serve the most
vulnerable individuals and discusses the heavy pressure on the regional homeless
service system, which has not scaled in step with the rapid growth of the homeless
population in Los Angeles County.
Increase in Homelessness
Since the May 8th report, City of Santa Monica and Los Angeles Homeless Services
Authority released 2017 Homeless Count results. Santa Monica’s Homeless Count
found 921 individuals on streets and in shelters. This represents a 26% increase over
the prior year. This finding is a symptom of the 23% increase in homelessness reported
in the 2017 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, now a total of 57,794 people. Unlike
other large urban areas across the nation, 74% of LA County's homeless population is
unsheltered, with 42,828 people counted as street homeless.
The size of the regional homeless population and local impacts of street homelessness
are of serious concern across Santa Monica. Until the most recent results, year over
year data since 2009 demonstrated that the City’s approach to serving the most
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vulnerable long-term homeless individuals in Santa Monica had been effective in
maintaining an overall reduction in street homelessness. However, continued local
progress is dependent on the Los Angeles regional homeless service system also
making strides in reducing homelessness.
Homelessness as Strategic Goal
In 2015, Council identified taking a leadership role in regional efforts to address
homelessness as one of its five priority Strategic Goals. Council directed staff to
broaden the City’s focus toward engaging City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County
partners to more rapidly implement services and build permanent supportive housing on
the Westside. In step with the increased regional focus, the City's strategic goal team is
working to connect this broader, regional perspective with measurable local results on
community wellbeing related to Place by focusing new efforts in public spaces as
outlined in the strategic goal team’s Action Plan (Attachment D). The Action Plan is a
living document constructed to be flexible and iterative. Plan concepts and strategies
will evolve over time as models are deployed and evaluated, and to respond to
changing environmental factors. Council approving the allocation $1.4 million in one-
time funds at the October 24, 2017 meeting supports the Action Plan strategies to pilot
new outreach and engagement efforts in parks and at the Library in response to the
growth of the street population (Attachment E).
Allocation of Resources
Homelessness is an issue that responds positively to appropriate resource investments.
The complexity across LA County and in Santa Monica is that the need for services
exceeds available resources. Making new investments requires careful consideration of
where the greatest return on investment can be gained. The homeless service system is
made up of three parts: (1) outreach, (2) care management and supportive services,
and (3) permanent affordable housing, all of which are currently over-subscribed and
under-funded relative to demand. The following provides more detailed information on
these aspects of the homeless service system:
Outreach
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Outreach is conducted by non-profit agencies, county departments and
collaborative efforts by the police department. The goal of outreach is to connect
with people on the street, assess their situation and guide them towards the
appropriate homeless service system equipped to meet their needs. In short,
individuals are triaged to local services when they ha ve ties to Santa Monica,
connected to LA County resources if they hail from other parts of the region or
provided resources to reconnect with family in their community of origin.
Care Management and Supportive Services
Care management and supportive services is the next element of the service
system. Locally, Santa Monica invests over $2.8 million annually through the
Human Services Grants Program to provide comprehensive services to address
housing and behavioral health needs of homeless households that meet the
City’s program eligibility criteria (Attachment F) This is coordinated through the
Santa Monica Chronic Homeless Project (CHP). CHP manages the needs of
each highly vulnerable individuals and addresses gaps between care providers to
ensure high connectivity between programs. Care management services follow
individuals as they transition from the streets into permanent housing. CHP
services providers address clients’ ongoing needs once they are housed with the
goal to enable them to retain housing. The on-going need for supportive services
puts a strain on case management capacity over time if additional resources
specifically for housing retention are not scaled to match the number of people
placed into housing annually.
Permanent Affordable Housing
Permanent affordable housing is the third element of the homeless service
system and critical to ending homelessness. Outreach and supportive services
can only go so far if there is no permanent affordable housing to access. Santa
Monica has long prioritized and committed to investing and building permanent
affordable housing (including supportive housing). The City has done so in step
with delivering intensive services to the most vulnerable individuals to offer
complete, permanent solutions to support homeless households. The City is also
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committed to preventing Santa Monica residents from becoming homeless, with
a focus on vulnerable low-income seniors and people with disabilities, especially
those in rent controlled housing.
Balancing Short-Term and Long-Term Solutions
The ongoing challenge facing Santa Monica and the region is the debate over where to
put new investments to address homelessness. Investing in outreach and engagement
is “quick” and responsive to the day-to-day impacts homelessness has on the
community. Care management and supportive services are the harder, more involved
and long term work. It is more resource intensive, requires more coordination between
providers and municipalities, is not visible to the public, and available to fewe r people.
However, this intensive work can alleviate barriers at the individual level that prolong
homelessness. And finally, it is creating and implementing policies that promote the
development of affordable housing and permanent supportive housing that can actually
end homelessness for the most vulnerable individuals in our community and in the
region.
As discussed in the May 8, 2017 Information Item (Attachment B), the City must
evaluate proposed solutions and support those that address existing local needs, get
households to appropriate housing with services, and help households retain housing.
The City must weigh the impacts of anchoring new programs locally versus the slower
process of advocating and supporting other Westside entities to build moment um and
expertise to implement their own long-term permanent solutions to address and prevent
homelessness. Increasing regional capacity will reduce the strain on Santa Monica’s
homeless service system, reduce the impacts on the Santa Monica community and
address the concerns of residents, business operators and visitors.
Measure H Funding
On October 1, 2017, LA County began collecting the Measure H sales tax approved by
voters in March of this year. A projected $355 million in annual revenue will be colle cted
for services to address homelessness. This new funding will accelerate the
implementation of the County's Homeless Initiatives, with a focus on 21 of the 47
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adopted strategies including: prevention, subsidized housing, increasing income, case
management, coordination across systems and increasing the supply of affordable
housing. The City's additional investments in outreach as of October 24, 2017 will rely
on these expanded regional Measure H-funded programs to move people through the
system of care.
Discussion
A fundamental principle throughout the Homeless Strategic Goal Action Plan is
proactive engagement, the idea that widespread homelessness is neither inevitable nor
acceptable -- and everyone must play an active part in doing whatever it takes to create
change.
To respond to the homelessness crisis, we are prioritizing proactive engagement with
homeless individuals throughout our community’s public areas (including parks,
beaches, libraries, alleys and streets) and mobilizing a communitywide effort to promote
donations to social service agencies; volunteerism; and informed advocacy that can
positively address regional and statewide policies that affect homelessness in Santa
Monica.
Proactive engagement of homeless individuals will be increased by the proposed 10-12
new outreach workers; re-deployed and augmented Police Department resources; a
software solution that enriches first responders’ contacts with homeless people; and a
full time social worker in the Library system. Proactive engagement with residents,
businesses, houses of worship and civic organizations will include deploying new
training in effective interaction with homeless people; a broad community information
and activation campaign; and citywide collaboration through the Santa Monica
Homelessness Steering Committee that is being organized by key community partners .
Above all, proactive engagement means mobilizing and directing additional resources
and innovative approaches to changing the status quo – to make a difference in the
lives of homeless individuals and to protect and enhance the wellbeing and security of
our entire community.
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This section details the planned local and regional coordination strategies in the
Homeless Strategic Goal Action Plan.
Smart deployment of local resources
Place-based proactive engagement by 10-12 new outreach workers.
Santa Monica Police Department is jump-starting new approaches by enhancing
officer training, re-deploying existing officers to high-impact areas and expanding
the Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) Team.
The City is using the SaMoStat process to guide targeted cross-departmental
activities addressing impacted community spaces. Staff analyze data and impact
to do more of what works and change what does not.
The City is partnering with Akido Labs to build a technology solution to help first
responders have more effective interactions with homeless people, and connect
individuals to appropriate services.
Prove efficacy of models to stabilize and connect homeless individuals to hous ing
The Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team is serving the top 26 utilizers of
emergency services. In just one year, 19 individuals are no longer living in
community open spaces and six are permanently housed.
Increase availability of housing and services in other communities
Housing staff recommend use of locally allocated federal funds to support
rehabilitation of a Venice supportive housing development in exchange for three
units being dedicated to Santa Monica homeless residents.
Ensure effective, safe and respectful use of the Library
Two additional Library Services Officers will be funded for an 18-month limited
term pilot.
A full-time social worker will be funded for a 12-month pilot to conduct homeless
outreach and train staff,
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Regular Pop Up Resource Fairs are bringing local and regional agencies to the
Library.
Library staff will receive new training to build skills in engaging with homeless
patrons and Mental Health First Aid training from the LA County Department of
Mental Health.
Activate city and community stakeholders to collectively address homelessness
The City is investing in a Senior Advisor on Homelessness who will actively
engage with the growing number of county and regional partners in ever-
accelerating homeless efforts. The Senior Advisor will ensure the City is
participating in policy and resource discussions regionally, while facilitating
coordination across City departments.
The City secured $70,000 in LA County Measure H funds, through United Way of
Greater Los Angeles, to design a flexible training curriculum for City staff,
businesses and residents to safely and effectively interact with homeless
neighbors.
The formation of the Santa Monica Homelessness Steering Committee to
coordinate and develop community-wide action steps to address the impacts of
homelessness and the needs of people living in parks and public spaces.
GOOD Worldwide is developing a public education and engagement campaign to
inform residents and visitors of efforts to address homelessness and activate
public involvement in solutions.
Analyze supportive service models to promote housing retention and landlord
participation
Assess the effectiveness of services to support formerly homeless individuals in
housing in the Santa Monica Continuum of Care Program.
Prevent homelessness among low-income residents
Preventing homelessness among existing residents through flexible funding for
eviction prevention, housing rights education and protection, tenant harassment
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and eviction defense through Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, and the
Senior Housing Taskforce to prevent vulnerable low-income seniors from losing
housing.
The City of Santa Monica operates and coordinates a local system of care scaled to
respond to local community needs. A parallel system is in place at the regional level,
historically coordinated by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority and now
benefitting from the leadership of the Los Angeles County Chief Executive Office.
Regional Service Landscape
Regionally, the Los Angeles County homeless service system is divided into eight
Service Planning Areas (SPA's) (Attachment G). Each SPA has a lead non -profit
agency that receives regional funding for outreach, assessment, housing navigation and
housing location services to serve homeless individuals in a designated geographic
area using the regional Coordinated Entry System (CES). City of Santa Monica is
located in SPA 5, where St. Joseph Center is the lead agency for CES. The City works
closely with St. Joseph Center to ensure County-funded CES services are also active in
Santa Monica, and the Santa Monica Housing Authority participates in CES, matching
housing vouchers to high priority homeless households. Since 2013, SPA 5 providers
have engaged and assessed over 2,000 homeless individuals for the barriers causing
their homelessness and entered these individuals into the Coordinated Entry System. In
the previous fiscal year, SPA 5 agencies housed 654 chronically homeless individuals,
including veterans, through the CES system. There are still an estimated 1,500
individuals on the CES list waiting for services and housing in SPA 5 alone.
Outreach and Engagement: Identify/Triage/Connect
Outreach occurs in many forms, and describes any activity that involves intentional
contact with people who are homeless to connect them to services. Outreach teams
traditionally do not deliver services or maintain an ongoing relationship once a referral is
made for services. City-funded contractors who provide these “first touch” engagements
include the Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. Ambassadors and West Coast Care.
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DTSM, Inc. Ambassadors
The Ambassadors are located in Tongva and Palisades Parks. Since starting the
park hospitality program in January 2017, ambassadors have enhanced the
parks’ atmosphere and cleanliness, while addressing common quality of life
issues. In the first nine months of the program, ambassadors have provided 549
referrals to regional social services. This program is currently a pilot, with a
contracted amount not to exceed $1,015,000 for the two-year period.
West Coast Care
The West Coast Care team engages with new arrivals in Santa Monica, referring
them to regional services or facilitating reconnection to friends and family via
Project Homecoming. In FY2016-17, WCC reported 10,650 duplicated contacts
with people who were homeless. Of those, 298 individuals were assisted with
permanent housing with friends or family or other housing programs. WCC also
accompanies the Santa Monica Police Department on joint engagement efforts
and makes daily contacts with individuals in the jail facility to connect homeless
individuals with services.
Project Homecoming
Project Homecoming is the City's family and friend reunification program, available for
use by any City-funded homeless program. Started in 2006, it reconnects homeless
individuals who are not eligible for local programs with their families and friends who
can provide housing and support as an effective means of ending their homelessness.
In FY 2016-17, Project Homecoming assisted 181 individuals with transportation
to a willing and supportive host home at an average cost of $300.
Follow up contact by case managers indicated that 99% arrived at their
destination and 53% remained housed when they were contacted at least three
months later.
Changing Population
In recent years, Santa Monica's homeless population has shifted to become largely
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people who are newly arrived in the city and not actively engaged in services. This shift
has challenged the City's homeless policies and practices, which are built to serve long
time local homeless individuals with intensive care management, interim housing and
permanent supportive housing. The flow of new arrivals is reflected in results from
surveys of homeless individuals conducted in 2017 in which 49% reported being
homeless in Santa Monica for less than six months, a slight increase from the 46%
reported in 2016. This increase in street homelessness, felt sharply by both residents
and visitors, puts enormous strain on first responders as well as the City’s public
spaces, including our libraries and parks. Building new approaches to address these
changing conditions falls under the Strategic Action Plan concept of focusing on the
smart deployment of local resources. The following outlines the impac ts and some of
the strategies to maximize existing and new resources being dedicated to address
homelessness in our community.
New Effort - Outreach
To address the increase in homelessness regionally, Measure H funds are being used
to expand outreach countywide. Given that SPA 5 is a large area, spanning north to
Malibu, south to Playa del Rey and east to Beverly Hills, current and proposed CES
outreach alone is insufficient to cover Santa Monica with the level of consistency
required to impact local public spaces. Therefore, staff is proposing to use a significant
portion of one-time funds to create a surge of outreach teams - partnering with the
County and local non-profits - using different staffing configurations to pilot different
approaches in City parks and libraries. The goal is to create a highly visible increased
presence in targeted geographic areas. Teams will proactively engage homeless
individuals, triage their needs, and connect them to appropriate resources, with a heavy
focus on leveraging county programs. These teams will also coordinate with first
responders, helping to identify behavioral issues that could result in 911 calls, creating a
presence to mitigate illegal activity and ensuring homeless individuals are aware of
regional services. Implementation actions are discussed in the Next Steps section of
this report.
Santa Monica Police Department
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The Santa Monica Police Department (SMPD) is often called upon by the public to be
the first point of contact for people experiencing homeles sness. SMPD responds to an
average of 350 calls per day and 40-50% are homeless related.
SMPD has a long history of treating homeless people, people with mental illness, and
other individuals in crisis with compassion and dignity. SMPD works collaboratively with
the City’s Human Services Division (HSD) and regional partners to develop
comprehensive strategies to improve the state of homelessness in the city. There is no
“one size fits all” method to address homelessness and enforcement of criminal laws
alone is not the answer. However, in order to effect meaningful change within the
community, law enforcement recognizes proactive strategies, coupled with coordination
of services, are key to lasting impacts. While compassion and understanding are key to
building trust with people who are homeless and those who assist them, enforcement
that is compassionately and incrementally applied, with the constant emphasis of
supportive services or family reunification, also builds trust and has been the foundation
of SMPD’s Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) Model.
Homelessness has increased to concerning levels and warrants a department -wide,
coordinated approach to affect positive change. Strategic engagement by teams of
officers, targeting specific areas and issues, has historically shown positive results.
Increased engagement efforts, buttressed by sound analytics, will be the department’s
focus and part of daily department wide efforts. All deployments and specialized units
have been provided with information surrounding homeless issues within their areas of
operation and have been enlisted in the department-wide effort. The HLP Team’s
staffing will be increased to provide seven-day coverage and further augment
coordinated engagement. Adding to these efforts are two co-located Department of
Mental Health (DMH) personnel who partner with the HLP Team and patrol officers to
provide mental health outreach and assist in streamlining DMH services.
Departmental data related to homelessness will be an integral part of weekly C ommand
Staff meetings, biweekly Crime Reduction meetings, and daily roll call briefings. New
technology has been procured and will be deployed by all field personnel to obtain key
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information and determine department effectiveness. Training curricula has b een
developed for staff and community awareness surrounding homeless engagement
efforts.
Santa Monica Fire Department
Homelessness is also a complex issue for the Santa Monica Fire Department (SMFD),
which is responsible for responding to all medical emergencies in the City.
In 2016, the Fire Department responded on average to 43 calls for service daily;
a projected 15% of these calls are homeless related.
SMFD paramedics follow strict medical protocols that standardize treatment across
every acute situation. For homeless individuals, untreated chronic medical conditions
can become dangerous and sometimes fatal. The paramedics’ protocol requires
transporting homeless patients to the local emergency room even when shelter,
substance abuse, or behavioral health treatment would be the most appropriate
resource linkage to address the root cause of their condition. The ER will evaluate these
patients, but frequently release the patient after a few hours with no long term plan.
In July of 2017, SMFD responded to 39 patients identified as homeless. Thirty-
one of these patients were transported to the hospital (79%).
Twenty-six of these patients (67%) were transported by EMT’s with Basic Life
Support (BLS), indicating a minor or chronic complaint.
In addition to calls with specific medical complaints or emergency incidents, Santa
Monica's 911 dispatch frequently receives concerned calls from the public about a
person lying on the ground, referred to as a "person down" call. Dispatch will
simultaneously send SMFD and SMPD resources to this “man down” but because the
SMFD responds code 3 (lights and sirens) on these calls, they arrive before the police
and handle the call. In July 2017, the Fire Department responded to 142 “man down”
calls, 51 of which were coded as a homeless patient. Typically, the patient in this
instance:
was sleeping only or has no medical complaint
is experiencing a medical problem and is transported to the emergency room
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walked away prior to the paramedic’s arrival, or
is under the influence of drugs or alcohol, where SMFD will;
o call for SMPD
o transport to the emergency room if they are so inebriated that they cannot
care for themselves
Intoxicated patients in emergency rooms frequently occupy ER beds for up to eight
hours. W hen all beds are occupied, the ER will go on “saturation” status, requiring
paramedics to transport patients to the next available hospital. When required to
reroute, paramedics will wait with their patient until a bed becomes available. This “wall
time” renders the paramedic unit unavailable for any other response. During busy days,
there can be multiple SMFD paramedic units on “wall time” simultaneously, greatly
reducing available SMFD resources.
Additional challenges are encountered among patients experiencing untreated severe
and persistent mental illness. These patients' behavior can at times become
unpredictable or dangerous. Still, SMFD is limited to transporting patients to local
emergency rooms, even when an acute psychiatric facility would be more appropriate.
The Fire Department works with other City staff, primarily with the Police Department
and Human Services Division, to coordinate efforts to serve this population. The
paramedics communicate with the SMPD HLP Team and Human Services Division staff
to pursue long-term solutions for the highest utilizers of local emergency resources.
New Efforts - Data Informed Deployment Models
The Fire department is advancing the Action Plan concept of smart deployment of local
resources by using data to evaluate deployment models that more efficiently address
the low acuity calls such as “man down” calls, involving the homeless population.
Additionally, we are exploring how to integrate a multi-disciplinary approach that adds a
social worker at high impact stations to provide people with options into service at the
point of interaction. We are activating a new software program that allows us to use
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data to predict needs by area and time of day, and maintain our response times.
New Efforts - Data Sharing for Improved Coordination
Helping individuals connect to appropriate care requires the timely availability and
sharing of information. First responders are in the field 24/7 while service providers and
Human Services staff are only available during business hours. To bridge this gap,
Milken Institute, a leader in social innovation, convened the City and Akido Labs, a
startup company developed out of an interdisciplinary collaboration between University
of Southern California's Keck School of Medicine and Viterbi School of Engineering, to
develop mobile technology and data governance procedures to allow first responder
services to share information.
This mobile platform will allow first responders to interact with homeless individuals
more effectively by providing real-time data to enable better referrals, facilitating direct
communication with care planners and treatment teams, and allowing quick access to a
holistic picture of contacts. Akido is currently in the discovery phase, interviewing staff,
first responders and technical experts. A draft governance policy is expected by the end
of 2017 and a working pilot is expected in April 2018.
Santa Monica Public Library
The Santa Monica Public Library is advancing concepts identified in the Action Plan to
ensure effective, safe and respectful use of the Library as part of improving community
wellbeing related to Place. While outreach teams and first responders coordinate to
manage homeless behavior and connect with individuals in open spaces, the Santa
Monica Public Library is developing innovative support and interventions to address
homelessness within the Main Library and four branch libraries. The Main Library is
open seven days per week for a total of 63 hours per week, and each branch is open 6
days per week for a total of 49 hours per week. Last year, over 1,250,000 people visited
a library location; 800,000 of which visited the Main Library’s 104,000 -square-feet
facility. With the amount of volume and activities available at the libraries, both staff and
public have noticed an increase in behavioral challenges and incidents.
Approximately one out of every four comments from the public received by library
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staff recently involve concerns around homelessness.
Informal counts by Library Service Officers (LSO's) over a 10-day period found
an average of 50-60 homeless patrons visit the Main Library each day.
Over the course of two weeks in August 2017, non-incident data revealed that of
the 775 rule violation interactions, approximately 58% (or 451) invo lved homeless
patrons.
In order to improve and enhance the presence of LSO’s, additional LSO staff is
required.
The Library is currently implementing a number of approaches to address the needs
and concerns of the community. The Library is focusing on a comprehensive approach
to address the complex issues of homelessness and mental illness, while also
maintaining a balance of being open and accessible, especially for those who need our
services the most. We continue to learn from our neighbors at Los Angeles Public
Library (LAPL), Los Angeles County Library, Glendale Library and Pasadena Library
about their programs addressing homelessness, including The Source at LAPL, weekly
drop-in service programs at LA County, and social/outreach workers at Glendale and
Pasadena Libraries.
The Library offers unique opportunities for non -traditional outreach and engagement
efforts, creating opportunities to bring services to the places where homeless people
spend the day. Since July 2016, with support from the Human Services Grants
Program, an Outreach Specialist from The People Concern visits the Main Library three
times a week and various branches once a week to directly connect with homeless
library patrons. In FY2016-17, the Community Outreach Specialist contacted 408
unduplicated individuals, providing information and linkages to local and regional
resources. In addition, the Library has engaged with the Department of Mental Health
(DMH) to set up a monthly informational table at the Main Library lobby.
New Effort - Pop Up Resource Fair
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In October, the Library in partnership with the Human Services Division hosted its first
“Pop-Up Resource Fair,” which invited homeless patrons visiting the library to connect
with six local and regional agencies including Chrysalis, St. Joseph Center, and LA
County Departments of Mental Health and Public Health. More than 40 homeless
individuals participated, receiving referrals and same-day services including County
benefit applications and Hepatitis A vaccinations. Another event is being planned in the
coming months.
New Effort - Additional LSO’s and Clinical Social Worker
In addition to on-site services, the Library Services Officer (LSO) team is working to
increase visibility on the library floor and coverage for all branches. With five locations
open to the public for 259 hours per week and a team of five full-time LSO’s, staff find it
challenging to achieve optimal coverage and support for all locations, even with the use
of as-needed staff. Funding set aside by Council on October 24th to address
homelessness will be used to fund two additional full-time LSOs on an 18-month limited-
term pilot, which will be evaluated for effectiveness at the end of the term. The new
LSOs will be directly assigned to the branches as a point of contact for staff questions
and concerns. The Library will also be connecting more often with the Police
Department to provide appropriate, consistent training for the LSO Team and a
collaborative approach to handling issues that happen both inside and ou tside of the
Main Library. In addition, Library staff is currently reviewing the Library Rules of
Conduct and will be making recommendations on how to best approach behavior
infractions in a consistent way. This staff team, which consists of frontline and branch
staff, supervisors and LSO’s, provide different perspectives on how these rules can be
used as a tool to create an open, welcoming environment for all visitors.
While connections with various local agencies on a semi-regular basis has helped the
Library, a full-time in-house social worker would allow for an increased amount of
service delivery inside the Library. This person would also provide ongoing training for
staff at all levels on how to interact, refer, and empathize with individuals who are
suffering from homelessness or mental illness. The Library is reaching out to other
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systems that staff a similar position, including San Francisco, Richland, and Denver
Public Library systems. One-time funding approved by Council on October 24, 2017 will
be used to fund this position as a one-year pilot.
New Effort - Homelessness Training for Library Staff
An additional staff engagement piece is the roll out of the “Homeless Library” training
module. This online training, conducted by Ryan Dowd and used by a number of library
systems across the country, will be available to both permanent and as-needed staff
shortly. The roll-out will include intentional conversations around specific videos, which
cover library-related issues and concerns around homeless patrons. The Library has
also partnered with LA County Department of Mental Health to provide Mental Health
First Aid training to staff.
New Effort - Community Training on Homelessness
The Action Plan also calls out the importance of activating city and community
stakeholders through training to collectively address homelessness. Supporting staff
who encounter homeless people during the course of their daily job duties is an
important component to effective engagement. To that end, the City is developing a
community-wide training strategy, funded by LA County Measure H funds through the
United Way of Greater Los Angeles. The City is currently soliciting proposals for a
consultant to develop a comprehensive, modular, scalable training curriculum that could
be used by staff at all levels, local businesses and community groups to inform safe and
effective ways to approach people who are homeless, engage in meaningful dialogue,
make appropriate service referrals and manage anti-social behavior. A training plan and
curriculum are expected to be completed by June 2018.
Care Management and Supportive Services: Navigate/Motivate/Support
The success of outreach and engagement is contingent upon the availability of robust
case management services and an interim housing system once an individual agrees to
services. This "middle" portion of the service delivery system provides homeless
participants with support to secure government documentation, determine program
eligibility and complete rental applications for housing. Highly vulnerable individuals are
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connected with short-term housing options while waiting for permanent housing to be
available. This is also a time for people, both sheltered and unsheltered, to receive
treatment for physical and behavioral health issu es. While the City embraces the
Housing First approach, the shortage of appropriate permanent housing options
regionally makes long waits for housing the norm. This reality also makes it necessary
to pursue and implement short-term housing options as well as supportive services to
those who are not yet permanently housed.
The combination of longer waits for housing and more people in need is overwhelming
the middle portion of the homeless system. Trends in service delivery, based on
program enrollments and exits recorded in the City’s Homeless Management
Information System database, illustrate the system is unable to match demand.
Within City-funded programs, since 2013, there has been a steady decline in new
enrollments in case management and interim housing programs, with a drastic
reduction of new enrollments in 2016 of nearly 45%.
At the same time, the number of active clients in programs remains about the
same, while the number of clients exiting programs to housing has dropped 20%.
Of those entering programs, over 80% are entering directly from the streets or
places not meant for human habitation - an increase of 11% over 2015.
For people who are experiencing homelessness for the first time, whose situation is
largely caused by economic issues or who have well-developed resiliency skills, their
experience in the system may end with engagement. An effective outreach worker may
assess their situation and be able to connect them to existing local or county resources
that the household is able to navigate successfully without additional assistance, or they
may need only one or two case management meetings to get themselves on the path
out of homelessness. The County is investing heavily in Rapid Rehousing programs for
this sub-population; these programs provide short and medium term rental assistance
(up to 18 months) in order to divert these households from the shelter system, keeping
those beds available for higher need households.
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However, the City's homeless population is largely single adults, the majority of whom
are chronically homelessness and have numerous barriers to navigating the service and
housing system. Many chronically homeless individuals struggle to use shelters. In
addition, these highly vulnerable individuals tend to cycle through very high-cost
interventions such as first responders and emergency rooms. Therefore, they require
much more intensive and long-term supportive interventions, including treatment and
services that are delivered to them in the streets.
Care Management
The City has long prioritized the most vulnerable individuals for the limited local
services, shelters, and permanent housing resources. This approach has been adopted
nationally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) and
county-wide as "Coordinated Entry". Since 2013, county-wide Coordinated Entry
System (CES) investments have focused on assessing as many people as possible.
Recently, under the County's Homeless Initiatives, expanding CES is a top priority,
including bolstering supportive care through the addition of housing navigators, care
coordinators and benefits enrollment specialists necessary to move people from the
point of engagement into permanent housing.
The City's Human Services Grants Program focuses on services that fall in the middle
of the continuum of care, ensuring that individuals identified by City partners and first
responders have the intensive services needed to move them from the streets into
housing. As described earlier, the HSGP does not directly fund out reach services.
Rather, it funds case management (individuals are assigned to a specific case
manager, who is responsible for coordinating all aspects of their care and housing plan),
mental health and substance use disorder treatment, primary health care, legal
services, employment support, benefits advocacy and other supportive care, in addition
to short-term beds. In FY 2016-17, the HSGP programs that provide case management
and interim housing to people who are homelessness served:
1015 total duplicated clients (clients may have accessed multiple programs)/ 728
unduplicated
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466 duplicated Santa Monica participants / 339 unduplicated
47 unduplicated clients report being veterans
59% identified as male, 40% identified as female, 1% identified as transgender
Local Service Capacity
This robust local capacity and comprehensive infrastructure coupled with highly
sophisticated non-profit providers makes Santa Monica programs and facilities the hub
of regional services in SPA 5. While Santa Monica’s approximately 92,000 residents
represent 14% of the overall population of SPA 5, we provide a much larger percentage
of the service infrastructure. For example, according to the Los Angeles Homeless
Services Authority Housing Inventory Chart for 2017, SPA 5 ha s 687 emergency and
transitional housing beds (excluding those on the VA campus), of which 275 (40%) are
located in Santa Monica. Narrowing that inventory to programs that serve single adults
only, the percentage of single-adult SPA 5 beds located in Santa Monica increases to
53%. This is in addition to 125 substance use disorder treatment beds for homeless
individuals available in Santa Monica that are not recognized in the county's homeless
bed inventory. Of the 728 unduplicated homeless individuals served by HSGP-funded
homeless programs in FY2016-17, 47% were eligible for City-funded services. In total
these facts illustrate the contribution of local services in serving the needs of the region.
As the City and the County embark on increased outreach an d engagement, it will be
important to monitor the impacts on the current case management capacity and shelter
capacity. City staff will be tracking outreach contacts and referrals to services,
identifying individuals eligible for City-funded services, coordinating with the County and
SPA 5 representatives to divert ineligible individuals to non-City resources, and
monitoring the system capacity locally.
Multidisciplinary Street Teams
One way to address this gap between engagement and case management is th rough
the use of multi-disciplinary street-based teams that merge the traditional roles of
"outreach" and "case management" as well as comprehensive health and behavioral
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health services delivered by one team directly in the field. By bringing support services
out of offices and directly to individuals on the streets, engagement occurs
simultaneously with the delivery of services, rather than as a pre -cursor to a referral.
The team then also stays with the client throughout the housing placement process,
eliminating the need to hand-off clients from one team to another, which can disrupt the
trust built by outreach teams with the individual. This service delivery strategy is
relatively new compared to traditional service models and is less researched than
existing approaches. Proving the efficacy of multidisciplinary models to stabilize and
connect homeless individuals to housing is a concept included in the Strategic Plan and
implemented through the City’s new Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST).
The HMST serves the highest utilizers of local emergency service resources by meeting
their complex needs with street-based interventions delivered by a skilled team of
interdisciplinary professionals. A 2016 report released by the LA County Chief
Executive’s Office revealed that nearly $1 billion was spent in FY 2014 -15 providing
public services to homeless single adults, with more than 50% of public service costs
(including arrests/jail stays and medical/behavioral health hospitalizations) expended on
the top 10% of high utilizers.
Since launching in September 2016, the HMST has engaged 26 chronically homeless
individuals who have been identified by City staff and local hospitals as the highest
utilizers of emergency services in Santa Monica. The team, operated by local nonprofit
The People Concern (formerly OPCC), is staffed by a licensed clinical program director,
psychiatrist, physician assistant, clinical case manager, substance abuse clinician,
housing case manager, and peer support specialist. The team delivers medical and
behavioral health interventions on the streets or wherever clients may be located -
including jails, hospitals, courtrooms, or libraries. The team is currently funded though
FY 2018-19 with a mix of one-time funds from the City and discretionary funds from LA
County Supervisor Sheila Kuehl's office.
In the first year of its operation, the HMST has taken 19 of the 26 individuals off the
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streets, representing more than 200 collective years of homelessness. Six participants
have been placed into permanent supportive housing. The team has enrolled five clients
in the City’s Homeless Community Court (HCC) program. In addition, the HMST
interfaces closely with social workers at local hospitals, providing timely field-based care
to connect clients to outpatient clinics and curb the costly revolving door of paramedic
transports and emergency room visits. One client, with over 300 emergency room visits
prior to connecting to the HMST, is now stably housed with her mother appointed as her
conservator to ensure that her housing, treatment, and financial needs are met. The
client has not had any contacts with first responders or local hospitals since
reconnecting with her family.
The HMST engaged with another client during a lengthy incarceration in the LA County
Jail. Through building relationships and persistent advocacy, the HMST coordinated this
client’s release to one of The People Concern’s interim housing facilities, where the
client is actively participating in integrated services and pursuing permanent housing
opportunities. The client had approximately 15 arrests and 50 citations in Santa Monica
in the five years prior to engaging with the HMST. Since participating in services, this
client has remained free from legal issues and is on a path toward permanent housing.
The City’s Action Plan calls out the smart deployment of local resources to inform the
shift in the City’s outreach strategy towards addressing impacts of homelessness in
public spaces. Staff is recommending the use of one-time funds to pilot an additional
multidisciplinary team, using the county’s C3 (County/City/Community) team model.
These teams are staffed similar to the HMST, but rather than being assigned specific
individuals, the team is assigned to a specific area where they do generalized outreach,
identify the most vulnerable individuals in that area, and engage those individuals with
field-based treatment and clinical interventions in order to get them into stable housing.
LA County has existing non-profit vendors with whom they hold contracts for C3 teams.
By contracting with LA County as the sole-source provider of C3 teams, the City can
expedite the implementation of a new C3 team locally by leveraging the existing
contractor capacity, vendor selection process and staffing capacity.
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The RAND Corporation will evaluate the model, looking at the HMST’s clients and a
comparison cohort, to identify efficacy and outcomes as well as costs and cost
avoidance benefits.
Homeless Community Court
Despite the best outreach efforts, some people cannot successfully engage in services
and treatment without external motivation. For the most difficult to engage who are
frequently contacted by SMPD due to criminal behavior, Homeless Community Court
(HCC) offers a vehicle for enrolling in services as an alternative to jail. Though voluntary
participation in HCC, homeless individuals are connected to an HSGP -funded case
manager, treatment and housing options. Since the program's inception in 2007, 290
chronically homeless individuals have participated in HCC, with 176 graduating the
program, and 116 graduates exiting to permanent housing.
Permanent Affordable Housing and Homeless Prevention: Place/Sustain/Maintain
The key to ending and preventing homelessness is providing quality af fordable housing.
The City has a number of strategies that support moving people from the streets into
permanent housing, as well as services to provide stability and housing retention. The
Action Plan proposes further studying the effectiveness of service s to support housing
retention among formerly homeless and other vulnerable populations.
Flex Funds
While adopting the Housing First approach, the City recognized that federal housing
subsidies did not cover expenses to move people into apartments such as security
deposits, application fees and basic furnishings. In 2006, the City designated funding
that could be used flexibly for "whatever it took" to move someone into a home. When
the funding from the federal American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) expired
in 2012, these "Flex Funds" were used to continue to provide short-term rental
assistance, back rent and utility payments for local low-income renters at imminent risk
of eviction. Flex Funds are accessed only through City-funded service providers,
ensuring that financial assistance is paired with case management and legal services
that aids the participant’s success in maintaining/securing their housing.
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In FY 2016-17, Flex Funds helped 51 households and totaled $52,031.
Half of the assistance was for short-term rental assistance and the retention rate
for all households is 100%.
FY 2017-18 first quarter requests are twice the number last year and the majority
of these requests are for move-in assistance for homeless individuals.
Senior Housing Task Force
The City's Senior Housing Task Force, established in 2015, serves low-income older
adult renters who are at immediate risk of eviction due to hoarding, health or cognitive
issues. Supporting this population to remain housed is critical. Providers meet seniors at
home to check for safety, hoarding, wellbeing and any resources needed to keep their
current housing. The Task Force meets monthly and brings staff together from the City
of Santa Monica and local non-profits to develop a plan to retain housing for vulnerable
seniors. Plans often include benefits advocacy, care management, home modifications
or legal representation. Task Force agencies can draw from a reserve of City Council
jumpstart funds to pay for decluttering and deep cleaning services to quickly address
hoarding conditions to keep clients housed. Since inception, over 40 longtime Santa
Monica residents have been served through Task Force coordination. One hundred
percent have avoided eviction and homelessness, remaining in -home or moving to
higher levels of care to support their wellbeing. Participating City departments include:
Fire, Code Enforcement, Rent Control, Police, City Attorney’s Office, and Housing.
Legal Services for Tenants
Preventing homelessness often requires legal intervention. Legal Aid Foundation of Los
Angeles (LAFLA) provides legal advice, eviction defense and anti -discrimination
intervention for low-income residents as part of the Human Services Grants Program. In
FY 2014-15, funding was added to the contract to provide eviction prevention and
tenant harassment assistance for 200 residents. In addition, housing-related legal
concerns reported to the City Attorney's Office are tracked and referred via Human
Services to LAFLA for their review and follow-up. In FY 2016-17, LAFLA's year-end
status report indicated that 145 residents received eviction prevention counseling.
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New Effort - Preserving Our Diversity (POD)
Implementing programs which assist people with remaining in their homes is more cost
effective than re-housing them once they have become homeless. One pilot program
aimed at preventing homelessness was approved by Council in July 2017 and began
implementation in November. Known as the Preserve Our Diversity (POD) program,
POD is targeted to 26 extremely low-income senior households (i.e., income of less
than $18,950 for 1-person household) who are currently paying more than fifty percent
(50 %) of their income toward rent. The program provides a monthly subsidy to
households to increase after-rent income to an amount sufficient to cover basic needs
including food, healthcare, and transportation. The subsidy amount adheres closely to
the Elder Index model (developed collaboratively by UCLA and the Insight Center for
Community Economic Development). At the end of initial pilot period, staff will evaluate
the effectiveness of the program and report findings to Council. The Housing Authority
created new protocols for the federal HOME program, which provides a voucher for
households at risk of losing their housing but not eligible for the Continuum of Care
Program. Twenty-five new HOME vouchers were issued to these households to prevent
homelessness.
Support for Low-Income Households
Another program that promotes greater housing and income stability for low-income
households is Family Self-Sufficiency (FSS)/Housing Self-Sufficiency program (HSS).
FSS is a federally funded program administered by the Santa Monica Housing
Authority. The program provides a vehicle for households with a Section 8 voucher to
become gainfully employed and establish a 5-year goal to be independent from welfare
assistance. Increases in rent that would be adjusted from earnings are placed in an
escrow account to be used for household goals upon completion. FSS families in this
program receive services such as child care, transportation, education job training,
employment counseling, financial literacy and homeownership counseling that are
provided by St. Joseph Center through the Human Services Grant Program. In FY
2016-17, 45 participants were enrolled in the program and all remained permanently
housed. Three graduates received a combined $50,000 from their escrow accounts.
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The HSS program serves low-income families who do not have Section 8 vouchers
through the Santa Monica Housing Authority but are vulnerable and at risk of
homelessness. These participants are also paired with St. Joseph Center case
management for as long as they need it to achieve self -sufficiency. While these
households are not eligible for the FSS escrow account, the City offers short-term
financial assistance to help with rent, utilities and other critical expenses through Flex
Funds. In FY 2016-17, 70 residents were served and all but one participant remained
permanently housed.
Permanent Affordable Housing
Housing persons who are homeless requires more permanent affordable housing, as
current demand exceeds supply. Increasing the supply of affordable housing stems
from the investment of public funds (i.e., capital subsidies), as well as inclusionary
zoning programs (i.e., requiring a percentage of newly-constructed housing to be
affordable). Formerly homeless persons are housed in both publicly-subsidized
developments (owned by non-profits), as well as in inclusionary housing (owned by for-
profits). Typically, persons who are homeless are extremely low-income (below
$18,950/yr.) and require rental housing vouchers, even in ‘affordable’ housing.
Additionally, not all persons who are homeless need the same level of supportive
services. Therefore, affordable housing created by both non-profits and for-profits can
benefit a range of persons who are homeless.
Rental housing vouchers may be ‘attached’ (known as ‘project-based vouchers’) to
buildings to provide income to operate the building and supportive services. For
buildings that require more intensive or specialized support services, capital
development funds are complemented by programmatic operating support through
federal, state and local funding, including the City's Human Services Grants Program.
New revenue from Santa Monica’s Proposition GSH, approved in November 2016, will
provide funding to create more affordable housing. A portion of those funds could be
allocated to developing permanent affordable housing targeted to persons who are
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homeless (known as ‘supportive housing’). The Housing Division is currently drafting a
multi-year plan for the use of housing trust funds, including GSH revenue. The plan will
be made available for public comment, as well as advisory input from the Housing
Commission, and then presented to the City Council for review and approval.
City affordable housing trust funds have provided approximately $25 million in capital
funding to develop five permanent supportive housing buildings containing 136
apartments for homeless households. Additionally, a Housing Trust Fund loan was
approved this month for the future development of a new supportive affordable housing
development for eight homeless young adults (18 -24 year olds).
Housing Development - New Regional Partnerships
The City has funded five permanent supportive housing developments in Santa Monica,
and transitional supportive housing in West Los Angeles and Culver City. In support of
Council's Strategic Goal, taking a leadership role in regional efforts to address
homelessness, Housing staff recently presented a recommendation to the Housing
Commission to use locally allocated federal funds to support rehabilitation of a
permanent supportive housing development in Venice, in exchange for designating
three apartments for Santa Monica homeless residents. Housing staff will be coming to
Council on December 12, 2017 for authorization to advance this unique regional
partnership with Venice Community Housing Corporation. Opportunities for newly-
constructed permanent supportive housing could be prioritized to increase the supply of
this affordable housing type, whether in Santa Monica or in the region.
Housing Vouchers
The Santa Monica Housing Authority administers Continuum of Care (CoC) vouchers
which target chronically homeless households from Santa Monica. Voucher holders with
service support find an apartment in Santa Monica and access services as needed or
reside in supportive housing sites. Administered by the City’s Housing Authority, the
Santa Monica grants total approximately $3.2 million annually and provide for 239
vouchers. Forty-two of the 239 vouchers are linked to two permanent supportive
housing properties and the remaining 197 are dispersed in numerous properties
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throughout Santa Monica. Three local social services agencies (St. Josephs Center,
Step Up on Second, and The People Concern) provide support to the CoC program
participants. Furthermore, the Housing Division employs a contract licensed clinical
social worker to assist with coordination between landlords, tenants, and social service
agencies. The 197 ‘tenant-based’ vouchers conceptually facilitate greater housing
choice, however, this ‘choice’ means having to compete for vacant apartments in the
open market.
New Effort - Enhancing the Value of Housing Vouchers
A key challenge to the success of the CoC program has been the gap between market -
rents for most of the City’s housing stock and the maximum rental subsidy allowed
under the program. Such disparity, typically amounting to hundreds of dollars, limits the
effective choice of housing for program participants. Property owners are key to the
success of the CoC program, so a pilot program is underway to incentivize property
owners to participate in the voucher program. Council approved the pilot program,
known as Housing Opportunities Using Subsidy Enhancements (HOUSE), in 2016
(Attachment H). The HOUSE program provides: 1) a $5,000 signing-bonus for qualifying
apartments; 2) loss mitigation up to $4,000 per apartment for actual rent losses and
repairs beyond normal wear and tear; and 3) dedicated staff support to assist landlords
and coordinate with social services agencies. Furthermore, during 2016, the Housing
Authority successfully petitioned the federal government to allow Santa Monica to
increase its voucher payment standard, which made the voucher payments more
attractive to landlords in the housing marketplace.
New Effort - Graduating from Permanent Supportive Housing
The Housing Authority created a graduate program for existing Continuum of Care
voucher holders who currently reside in supportive but no longer need the level of care
that they originally did. Qualified stable tenants would ‘graduate’ from housing which
has intensive case management and move to less service enriched subsidized housing
developments targeted to them. The graduate program will consider a limited number of
graduates to be eligible for a Section 8 voucher. With a Section 8 voucher to move
anywhere, the tenant vacates the service enriched supportive housing apartment
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making it available for a new tenant who needs the services. A new housing
development intended for occupancy by CoC graduates was acquired by a local
nonprofit in 2016 using City housing trust funds and is currently undergoing
rehabilitation. Completion of rehabilitation is anticipated for the first quarter of 2018.
Outcomes of this approach will be evaluated, and if successful, the strategy could be
further implemented.
Regional and Local Coordination: Policy/Planning/Collaboration
Homelessness is a regional issue that requires resources and scale beyond any single
jurisdiction. Throughout LA County, critical physical health and behavioral health
services are provided though county departments of mental health, public health and
health services, who are tasked to care for the 88 cities and unincorporated areas of the
county. Affordable housing, shelter and services are unevenly distributed in the region
and require a mix of funding from federal, state and local sources, both private and
public. Solutions, therefore, must be reflective of this diverse set of regulations,
expectations and priorities, and coordinate across agencies and jurisdictions.
Regional Participation
The City participated in the development and implementation of a number of the county-
wide homeless strategies adopted last year, and continues to be involved in planning
and oversight of the County’s Measure H investments as a member of the Regional
Homelessness Advisory Committee, which is managed by United Way of Greater Los
Angeles and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Staff also actively engage
in the Westside Cities Council of Governments’ newly restored Homelessness Working
Group, comprised of representatives of Santa Monica, Culver City, Beverly Hills, West
Hollywood, City of LA Council Districts 5 and 11, County Supervisorial District 3 and
State Assembly District 50. Furthermore, staff attend quarterly meetings organized by
the County’s Housing Authority and including many regional housing authorities, to
enhance coordination and information sharing among housing authorities.
New Effort - Senior Advisor on Homelessness
In order to continue actively engaging with a growing number of county and regional
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partners in ever-accelerating homeless efforts, the City is investing in a Senior Advisor
on Homelessness. The Senior Advisor will ensure the City is participating in policy and
resource discussions regionally, while facilitating coordination across City departments.
While relying on and building upon the expertise of existing staff who have worked
diligently to address, implement and innovate in this arena, the Senior Advisor will also
support departments as they implement the activities outlined in the strategic goal
team’s Action Plan.
New Effort - SaMoStat
Each of the Council’s strategic goal teams have developed Action Plans, which are the
focus of monthly SaMoStat meetings. SaMoStat launched in June, 2017, with the City
Manager convening department heads and strategic goal team members to identify
tangible actions whose impacts can be measured using existing data sets. Each month,
the team reviews data from the previous month’s activities, identifies internal procedural
and resource barriers to tackle, and sets goals for the following month. The objective of
SaMoStat is to use data to take quick action that is relentlessly evaluated in order to do
more of what works and change what does not. The homeless strategic goal team has
participated in four SaMoStat meetings through November 2018.
New Effort - Homelessness Steering Committee
While the City continues to make addressing homelessness a priority, the issue itself
requires active engagement and support from the entire community to bring about
meaningful change. Activating community stakeholders is a concept included in the
Action Plan framework and depicted in Attachment I. Efforts are underway through the
emerging Santa Monica Homelessness Steering Committee to coordinate and develop
community-wide action steps to address the impacts of homelessness and the needs of
people living in parks and public spaces. The committee is comprised of representatives
of City departments, City Council, the business community, faith partners, non-profit
service agencies, offices of county and state elected officials, City commissions, people
with lived experience, and people who live and work in the city. The committee seeks to
engage all segments of the community and invite them to participate in specific actions
to improve public safety, enliven parks and advocate for adequate behavioral health
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care and housing options. In addition, GOOD Worldwide is developing a public
education and engagement campaign to inform residents and visitors of efforts to
address homelessness and activate public involvement in solutions.
Update on VA West LA Campus
The West LA VA Master Plan includes the proposed addition of 1,200 units of
permanent supportive housing for homeless veterans. In 2015, Building 209 re -opened
after significant reconstruction to house 65 homeless veterans, with Step Up on Second
providing on-site supportive services. Buildings 208 and 205, located in the same
courtyard with 209, are currently being renovated to produce another 100 units of
permanent supportive housing. These three buildings were identified as possible assets
for homeless vets in a 2004 review by the WLA VA, and designated as housing for
homeless veterans by the Department of Veterans Affairs in 2007. The City has actively
advocated for the development of these buildings for use as therapeutic housing for
homeless vets since 2005.
NEXT STEPS
The increases in street homelessness locally and regionally have created a community-
wide crisis. The City alone cannot address the needs and impacts of every person
experiencing homelessness. The scale and scope of this issue requires renewed
commitments from every sector.
The Strategic Goal Action Plan frames the City’s path forward. The City is committed to
continuing its role in developing, funding and advocating for more services and housing
locally and regionally, in addition to creating opportunities for the community to come
together to participate in designing and implementing solutions. Through community
feedback meetings and the homelessness steering committee, as well as continued
input from business and resident stakeholder groups, the City will continue to evolve its
response, adjusting outreach deployments and reviewing outcomes regularly to address
emerging needs.
City staff will maximize existing resources and apply the new $1.4M in Council -
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authorized funds to deliver additional outreach in public spaces as indicated in the
Strategic Goal Action Plan. Newly activated enforcement strategies are in motion and
upcoming additions to local social service outreach will address community concerns
and reach people experiencing homelessness who are not connected to services. Of
the $1.4M approved by City Council, up to $1,106,897 will be used to fund new place -
based outreach teams. The City will use two parallel processes to rapidly deploy new
outreach teams:
Upon Council approval, CCS will execute a contract with LA County to bring a C3
team to Santa Monica using one of the existing County vendors. The initial
contract, up to $400,000, will provide outreach services in geographic areas
identified by the City. Dependent on contract execution with the County, it is
anticipated a new team could be deployed by February 1, 2018.
Concurrently, in partnership with SMPD and SMFD, CCS will solicit proposals for
outreach solutions from existing City contractors. After a selection process, CCS
will execute one or more contracts up to $80,000 each to test and evaluate
selected proof of concept models. CCS will return to Council for additional
authority to modify contracts for those programs that demonstrate viability.
Contract execution is projected in February 2018 with new outreach staff
deployed by April 2018. If the County relationship, noted above, proves effective,
CCS may expand the County contract up to the full amount authorized for place -
based homeless outreach ($1.1million).
In addition, by maximizing existing resources, a new County grant and remaining one -
time funds approved by Council, City departments are engaged in the following
activities based on the concepts of the Strategic Goal Action Plan:
SMPD has made effective interaction with homeless individuals, including
connecting to non-law enforcement resources, a top priority for all personnel. An
internal recruitment is underway to assign two additional officers to the HLP
Team using existing resources.
The Library, with support from CCS, will be developing a scope of work and
Request for Proposals (RFP) to add a full time Licensed Clinical Social Worker
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as a contractor to the Library team. Having dedicated social workers within the
Library is a promising practice that has been implemented by other Library
systems in the country. Approximately $95,000 in one-time funds will be used to
support this position.
The Library is also working with Human Resources to add two additional 18-
month limited-term full-time Library Services Officers. One position is being
funded through re-allocation of existing as-needed LSO hours. Approximately
$188,103 in one-time funds will be used to support the positions and associated
operating costs ($64,430 in FY2017-18, and $123,673 in FY2018-19).
CCS, in partnership with community groups, will continue to advance the Meet
Me at Reed program to activate the space through cultural, recreational, and
community-based classes, programs and events, as well as support events in
other under-utilized parks. Approximately $10,000 in one-time funds will leverage
existing operating funds to support events, marketing and stipends to performers.
Collectively using the SaMoStat model to evaluate available data across
departments, inform new deployment models and targeted interventions, and
establish baseline measures against which to evaluate the impacts of these
interventions.
Continuing to support the development of community action plans through the
homelessness steering committee.
CCS is the lead department coordinating the annual homeless count on January
24, 2018.
The Office of Communications, in partnership with CCS and the strategic goal
team, is launching a homelessness public education messaging by GOOD
Worldwide.
CCS, in partnership with Human Resources and SMPD, is developing a
community-wide training curriculum using a grant from LA County's Measure H
funding via United Way.
Using existing resources, the Library is implementing homelessness training for
Library staff.
The Library, in partnership with CCS, will conduct another Library Pop Up service
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event for homeless patrons.
CCS, ISD, SMPD and SMFD will be working with Akido Labs to field test a
mobile data sharing platform for first responders.
CCS and Public Works, in partnership with SMPD, will be evaluating the physical
environment of identified public spaces most impacted by homelessness for
possible modifications to mitigate health and safety issues.
Staff will return to Council as needed to seek authorization to award contracts and
allocate funding as a result of the RFP processes for these new interventions.
VENDOR SELECTION
Staff recommends Los Angeles County to furnish and provide C3 outreach services as
an exception to the competitive process. Per section 2.24.080 (b), the County’s C3
vendors were already procured using their competitive bid procedures.
FINANCIAL IMPACTS AND BUDGET ACTIONS
Acceptance of the $70,000 grant from United Way of Greater Los Angeles requires the
following FY 2017-18 budget changes:
1. Establish a revenue budget at account 20262.410400 in the amount of $70,000.
2. Appropriate $70,000 to expenditure account 202628.579996. All Grant funds will
be expended in FY 2017-18 in accordance with the grant application and all
associated grant conditions and requirements included in the grant agreement.
The appropriation of set-aside funds requires the release of fund balance from reserve
account 1.380258 (Homeless Programs) of $1,181,327 in FY 2017-18 and $123,673 in
FY 2018-19.
An appropriation of $1,116,897 to account 012628.555060 in FY 2017 -18 is required for
the following:
$400,000 to award a contract to LA County for the implementation of a C3 team
$706,897 to award contracts of up to $80,000 to selected City vendors for proof
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of concept outreach programs and/or additional funds added to LA County C3
contract
$10,000 for community outreach efforts to activate public spaces
Staffing adjustments include a net increase of 1.0 FTE limited-term positions in the
Library Department. This addition requires an appropriation of $64,430 for six months of
staffing in FY 2017-18 and $123,673 for a full year of staffing in FY 2018 -19.
Staff will return to Council for additional authority to award and/or modify contracts as
needed. In addition, staff may submit capital improvement projects for key public spaces
that cannot be funded with existing departmental resources for consideration during the
FY 2018-20 CIP budget process.
Prepared By: Margaret Willis, Administrator
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Attachment A - Position and Classification Changes
B. Attachment B - SaMoStat
C. Attachment C - May 8, 2017 Information Item
D. Attachment D - Homeless Strategic Goal Team Action Plan
E. Attachment E - October 24, 2017 Staff Report
F. Attachment F - FY2015-19 Human Services Grant Program
G. Attachment G - LA County SPA Map
H. Attachment H - April 12, 2016 Staff Report
I. Attachment I System to Address Homelessness
J. Attachment J - Action Plan to Address Homelessness
K. Written Communications
L. Powerpoint Presentation
City Council
Housing Authority
Parking Authority
Report
City Council Meeting: June 25, 2019
Agenda Item: 9.A
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To: Housing Authority, Parking Authority, Mayor and City Council
From: Gigi Decavalles-Hughes, Director, Finance Department, Budget
Susan Cline, Director, Public Works Department, Lori Gentles, Chief People
Officer, Human Resources Department
Subject: Adoption of the First Year and Approval of the Second Year of the FY 2019 -
21 Biennial Budget, Adoption of the Second Year of the FY 2018 -20 Biennial
Capital Improvement Program Budget
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council, Housing Authority and Parking Authority:
1. Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Monica adopting the
first year and approving the second year of the FY 2019 -21 Biennial Budget and
adopting the second year of the FY 2018-20 Biennial Capital Improvement
Program Budget at Attachment A, as amended by Attachment D;
2. Adopt a Resolution of the Housing Authority of the City of Santa Monica adopting
the first year and approving the second year of the FY 2019 -21 Biennial Budget
and adopting the second year of the FY 2018-20 Biennial Capital Improvement
Program Budget at Attachment B, as amended by Attachment D; and
3. Adopt a Resolution of the Parking Authority of the City of Santa Monica adopting
the first year and approving the second year of the FY 2019 -21 Biennial Budget
and adopting the second year of the FY 2018-20 Biennial Capital Improvement
Program Budget at Attachment C, as amended by Attachment D.
Staff also recommends that the City Council:
1. Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Monica revising the
City’s master fee schedule to establish and revise certain permit and user fees
and charges in the Planning and Community Development, Public Works,
Community and Cultural Services, Housing and Economic Development and
Records and Election Services Departments (Attachment E);
2. Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Monica setting forth
the administrative citation schedule of fines for certain violations of the Santa
Monica Municipal Code, setting civil penalties for parking violations and for the
late payment of penalties, setting fines for Police and Fire Department responses
to excessive false alarms, and setting fines for the Santa Monica Public Library
(Attachment F);
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3. Adopt a Resolution of the City Council of the City of Santa Monica establishing
parking rates and permit fees for all City parking facilities and resources
(Attachment G);
4. Adopt a Resolution of the City of Santa Monica establishing new classifications
and adopting salary rates for various listed positons (Attachment H) and approve
the position and classification changes (Attachment I);
5. Adopt a Resolution of the City of Santa Monica establishing the Gann
appropriations limit for FY 2019-20 (Attachment J);
6. Adopt a Resolution incorporating a project funded by SB1: The Road Repair and
Accountability Act (Attachment K);
7. Approve the Proposed FY 2019-20 Human Services Grants Program (HSGP),
incorporating the proposed funding levels (Attachment L);
8. Approve the Final Proposed FY 2019-21 Organizational Support Program (OSP)
Grants for Arts and Culture Nonprofits (Attachment M);
9. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute contracts for OSP grantees
(Attachment M);
10. Accept Continuum of Care Program Grant funds from the U.S. Department of
Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in the amount of $3,640,550 to serve
the homeless and disabled populations with housing subsidies;
11. Authorize the City Manager to negotiate and execute a third modification to
Services Agreement #10402 (CCS) in the amount of $247,968 with Downt own
Santa Monica, Inc. to expand ambassador services to Reed Park for a six-month
pilot program. This will result in an amended agreement with a separate scope of
work for Reed Park, and a new contract total amount not to exceed $5,045,799
with future funding contingent on Council budget approval; and
12. Provide direction to staff on allocation of Council discretionary funds.
Summary
The FY 2019-21 Proposed Biennial Budget marks the beginning of a six-year effort to
shift from traditional “maintenance of effort” budgeting to performance-based,
outcome-driven budgeting. This budget plan for FY 2019-21 and beyond is designed to:
• Ensure continuing excellent service and safety to our community
• Maintain fiscal balance in a changing economy
• Eliminate the threat of our unfunded pension liability
• Sustain our ability to recruit and retain the best available talent
• Continue our commitment to keeping our neighborhoods safe as we reverse the
recent rise in crime
• Invest in a 21st Century government, which includes a new Cit y Hall extension,
new Fire Station and modernized City Yards; revamp our work processes to be
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more efficient and better serve customers; and launch a digital City Hall using a
new website to deliver 24/7 responsiveness to our community members.
On April 30, 2019 (Attachment N), the Council received a presentation on the strategy
to achieve fiscal sustainability for the FY 2019-21 Proposed Biennial Budget and the
following two biennial budget cycles. The City released its Proposed Budget for
FY 2019-21 on May 23, 2019. At a Budget Study Session on June 5, 2019
(Attachment O), Council asked staff detailed questions, and heard extensive public
testimony. After discussion the council expressed support for the overall Budget
Framework, including Plans of Action for the City’s Framework Priorities (Affordability,
Climate Change, Engaged and Thriving Community, Keeping Neighborhoods Safe,
Mobility and Access, and Reduce Homelessness). The Council also directed staff to
reexamine certain elements of the proposed budget, including a few of the proposed
eliminations and efficiencies. In addition, staff has made some corrections to the
FY 2019-20 operating budget to reflect past Council actions or changes in accounting
that had not been included in the initial proposed budget. The Proposed Budget as
revised is $712.9 million in FY 2019-20 and $756.4 million in FY 2020-21, a difference
of $0.7 million and $0.5 million, respectively, over what was presented in the initial
proposed budget on June 5. These changes are partially offset by $0.5 million and $0.3
million in additional revenues.
This report presents information and requests actions necessary to adopt the first year
of the FY 2019-21 Biennial Budget for the City of Santa Monica, the Santa Monica
Housing Authority and Santa Monica Parking Authority following the budget study
sessions on April 30 and June 5, 2019. The Biennial Budget includes the second year
of the FY 2018-20 Biennial Capital Improvement Program (CIP) Budget. Staff also
requests that Council approve the operating budget plan for the second year of the
Biennial Budget. Since the City Charter requires Council to adopt a budget annually,
staff will submit the FY 2020-21 budget plan to Council for formal adoption, with any
necessary revisions, in June 2020.
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This report also includes actions necessary to revise certain fees, fines and parking
rates and responds to Council queries and requests from the public hearings.
In this report, staff also recommends continued funding to Human Services Grants
Program grantee organizations at the FY 2018-19 funding levels, approval of the final
proposed Organizational Support Program (OSP) Grants for Arts and Cultural
Nonprofits that identifies each cultural nonprofit organization proposed for funding, and
the acceptance of federal Continuum of Care Program renewal grant funds.
Discussion
The FY 2019-21 Proposed Biennial Budget is balanced, with resources reallocated to
invest in achieving key Council and community priorities and maintaining the City’s core
services, as well as budget reductions and investments that will slow the growth of
future year shortfalls during a fiscally challenging period. The Proposed Biennial Budget
has been revised from the document presented to the public on May 23, 2019 to reflect
final changes based on Council feedback and new information received. The Proposed
Budget as revised is $712.9 million in FY 2019-20 and $756.4 million in FY 2020-21.
The June 5 Budget Study Session provided an opportunity for Councilmembers to
ensure the Proposed Budget meets community needs. During the study session,
Councilmembers directed staff to consider incorporating various changes to the
proposed operating budget, and to provide additional information on certain items in
time for the budget adoption public hearing on June 25, 2019. Requested information
and changes are included below and any relevant changes are also included in the list
of proposed final changes shown in Attachment D.
Santa Monica Pier
Council directed staff to explore the possibility of naming rights or other funding
opportunities without over-commercialization of the Pier, and the formation of a Pier
Business Improvement District (BID), to close the Pier funding gap. Staff is already in
the process of studying the feasibility of a Pier BID, and will include the option of naming
rights or other funding opportunities at the Pier as well as other appropriate city assets
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in the Mid- and Long-Term Program Changes that will be evaluated by the Budget Task
Force.
KCRW Broadcast of Council Meetings
While the Proposed Budget included the elimination of the contract with the Santa
Monica Community College District to provide live broadcasts of regular Santa Monica
City Council meetings from 8 p.m. to midnight on KCRW -FM, Council directed staff to
continue the contract for one year and return to Council to present alternative ways to
more effectively provide direct access to Council proceedings to community members.
Staff has incorporated this change in the amended Proposed Budget.
Santa Monica Swim Center
Council expressed concern that the winter closure of the Santa Monica Swim Center
would be extended by three weeks to a standard six-week closure for maintenance of
the pool. Council also expressed concurrence that this was an operat ional issue, that
the closure should be as short as feasible to maintain the pool and should be managed
outside the budget process. Staff has amended the proposed budget to reflect a three -
week closure and is working to ensure that the closure is as short as possible, although
it may extend beyond three weeks in certain years.
Code Enforcement
The Code Enforcement Division had proposed to reassign two full-time officers to the
Santa Monica Pier/Beach enforcement detail to enforce vendor regulations and other
Pier and beach related activities. This reassignment would have eliminated leaf blower
enforcement. At its meeting on June 5, 2019, Council rejected the proposal to eliminate
leaf blower and Conditional Use Permit (CUP) enforcement, directing staff to return with
alternatives. Attachment P details the types of cases that are investigated by the Code
Enforcement Division.
Staff recommends rebalancing Code Enforcement to reduce Short-Term Rental
enforcement to one full-time officer, reassigning the second officer to general code
enforcement duties, which would continue to include leaf blowers. When the Short-Term
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Rental ordinance was passed in 2015, staff estimated that there were 1,700 unlawful
vacation rental listings. Council authorized the hiring of two full-time, dedicated Code
Enforcement Officers to enforce short-term rental violations. The most recent analysis
estimated that the number of unlawful listings has been reduced to about 500, in part
due to Santa Monica’s successful enforcement efforts as well as its well-publicized
prosecutions of flagrant violators of the vacation rental law. At this time, the
enforcement of vacation rentals can be managed by one -full time officer. The division’s
Senior Administrative Analyst, who is the coordinator of the enforcement program, also
investigates cases, writes reports, reviews home-sharing applications, and provides
strong administrative support to the officer. A second officer would continue to act as a
backup when necessary. The Code Enforcement Division is committed to maintaining a
successful vacation rental program and staff does not believe this change would reduce
the effectiveness of the program.
Pilot of Ambassador Services in Reed Park
Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. (DTSM) launched the Ambassador program in 2009 to
offer hospitality, maintenance, and restroom attendant services to downtown property
owners. In 2016 and again in 2018, the City entered into an agreement with DTSM for
Ambassador services in Tongva and Palisades Parks with the goal of improving the
parks’ cleanliness and safety and the public’s perception of the parks. Hospitality and
restroom ambassadors help maintain a welcoming environment by engaging visitors;
offering directions, recommendations, escorts and other customer service assistance;
providing visual and audio observation to public space management; light cleaning and
restocking of restrooms; and providing minor maintenance assistance when needed.
Ambassadors also work closely with SMPD, monitoring for anti-social and illegal
behavior.
The program has been well-received and has had a positive impact on visitors’
perception of safety and cleanliness of the parks, particularly in and near the public
restrooms.
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In response to Council direction during a March 5, 2019 study session about strategies
to address park and beach safety, public health, maintenance, and activation, staff
solicited a proposal from DTSM to station restroom and hospitality ambassadors in
Reed Park. During the June 5, 2019 budget study session, Council directed staff to
include a six-month Reed Park Ambassador pilot program at a cost of $250,000 in the
FY 2019-21 budget funded by Council discretionary funds ($150,000) and General Fund
dollars ($100,000), and seek to identify new internal and/or external funding sources to
continue the program if it demonstrates value. Therefore, staff recommends modifying
the existing agreement with DTSM to expand the program to Reed Park for six months
and give the City discretion to end the program or extend it d epending on an
assessment of outcomes and available funding. The FY 2019 -20 total contract cost will
be $1,009,274. Council is being asked to authorize a contract amendment for this pilot
program. Staff will return with the results of the pilot program before the pilot expires.
Performance Management Advisory Committee
To ensure community participation and consistent with Council input, staff will expand
an existing internal advisory committee on performance management to include
representation from the community. This Performance Management Advisory
Committee (PMAC) will be appointed by the City Manager and comprised of both staff
and community members. The PMAC will advise the Chief Performance Officer on
which outcome metrics should be included in the Framework to monitor whether the
City is on track to achieve key outcomes for the community. Additionally, the PMAC will
provide advice on setting targets for these metrics and reporting, and will work with the
City to effectively communicate performance management activities across the
community. Information on applying to serve on the PMAC will be sent out by mid-
September, with a goal of holding the first meeting by the end of October.
Proposed Budget Revisions
Modifications to the Proposed Budget, kn own as final changes, are based on Council
direction, new information and identified omissions. The changes increase the
expenditure budget by $0.7 million in FY 2019-20 and $0.5 million in FY 2020-21. These
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changes are supported by increased revenues of $0.5 million in FY 2019-20 and
$0.3 million in FY 2020-21.
In FY 2019-20, the changes primarily reflect one-time funds to support the pilot of
ambassador services in Reed Park, grant funds from the California Community
Foundation for a feasibility study on interim and permanent housing needs of the City’s
homeless population, and corrections to support the renewal of a contract to manage
implementation of the Transportation Management Ordinance (using Transportation
Management Program funds), to appropriate funds as approved by Council on
December 18, 2018 (Attachment Q) for the management of the Airport Arts Studios
program, and to eliminate a transfer of funds from the Gas Tax Fund to the General
Fund as expenditures are now made directly from the Gas Tax Fund. In FY 2020-21,
the changes primarily reflect ongoing costs for adjustments made in FY 2019-20.
Staff recommends that Council adopt the changes to the FY 2019-20 Proposed Budget,
and approve changes to the FY 2020-21 Proposed Budget Plan. With these changes,
the budget remains balanced. Changes are itemized in Attachment D.
Council Discretionary Funds
Each year, Council allocates discretionary funds to assist the community in special
projects or support important but otherwise unfunded priorities.
Traditionally, Council has supported community partners like the Business Improvement
Districts, Santa Monica traditions like the Fourth of July Parade, one-time programs,
and local students through science or music grants that allow Santa Monica youth to
participate in special events. Projects and programs supported by Council discretionary
funds for the past three years are detailed in Attachment R.
Allocation of the funds may occur along with Budget Adoption or throughout the year.
Including unprogrammed FY 2018-19 discretionary funds and FY 2019-20 discretionary
funds, and netting out the $150,000 that Council directed to be allocated to the Reed
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Park Ambassador pilot program, the Council has access to $431,786 in discretionary
funds in FY 2019-20.
Fees/Fines/Rates
As part of the adoption of the FY 2019-21 Budget, staff is presenting three fee/fine/rate
related resolutions to Council for adoption. The master fee resolution (Attachment E)
contains user fees and rates charged by the City. Per previous Co uncil actions, most
City user fees will increase by 4.2% on July 1, 2019, reflecting the projected FY 2019-20
increase in total City compensation, which includes salary, healthcare, retirement, and
workers’ compensation costs. During the June 5, 2019 budget study session, staff
presented several new fees and modifications to existing fees, minor changes are
proposed to other portions of the City’s master fee and master fine schedules as well as
some revisions to the Cemetery fees to align with market rates and the following new
Cemetery fee:
• $191.10 - Scattering at Sea (unwitnessed) fee - service provided by Woodlawn
to families that wish to have a loved one scattered at sea and are not going to
attend or witness the scattering.
In addition, during the budget study session, Council directed staff to consider providing
an option that would keep the Homework Club fee at $55 per month, rather than the
proposed $550 annual fee. The Homework Club fee had been an annual fee with no
monthly payment option until FY 2018-19 when the City piloted a monthly fee for the
Homework Club program with the intent of offering families more flexibility for enrollment
within CREST’s menu of program options. However, the monthly registration format
created an unforeseen administrative burden for families, who were now required to
register and pay each month for a program that is used continuously throughout the
school year, and for staff, who were required to spend more time administering
registration and collecting fees each month. Staff believes that the most effective way to
administer the fee is through an annual registration, given there are options for
vulnerable families who cannot afford the full one-time fee. Eligible families will
continue to have access to the City’s Financial Assistance (FA) program; qualifying
families can pay as little as $55 per year. Additionally, any non-FA families who cannot
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afford the full fee at one time will be able to request a payment plan option. Annual
registration will eliminate challenges with collection and processing of monthly fees and
retain more consistent participation, as well as provide families with the ease of a one -
time registration fee.
Furthermore, a master fine resolution (Attachment F) is being presented that includes a ll
fines assessed by the City in one resolution. This includes new sidewalk vending fines
to align with Senate Bill 946 and revised taxicab fines to align with the municipal code.
Any revenue impact from all changes is included in the proposed FY 2019 -21 Budget.
Finally, a comprehensive parking rate resolution (Attachment G) includes parking rate
increases that are within the administrative authority of the City Manager at the Pier,
adjacent Central Zone Beach lots, on-street parking meters and Main Street parking
lots. Revenues in the Pier Fund and Beach Fund reflect parking rate changes intended
to rebalance rates with respect to neighboring lots and, in the case of the Pier, generate
revenues for the proposed Pier Business Improvement District (BID). Current parking
rates on and adjacent to the Pier are lower than parking rates at other piers in the
region. Additionally, the current parking rate on the Pier is lower than the adjacent
Beach lots. An increase to the parking rates at the Pier and adjacent Be ach lots, with
the Pier parking rate as the highest rate, would address parking availability, traffic
congestion and customer frustration issues.
The charts below show the current and revised parking rates.
Pier Deck parking lot
Summer (April 1 – October 31)
Monday through Sunday *
Duration Current Proposed
0 to 1 hour $ 3.00 $ 3.75
1 to 2 hours $ 6.00 $ 7.50
2 to 3 hours $ 9.00 $ 11.25
3 to 4 hours $ 12.00 $ 15.00
4 to 5 hours $ 15.00 $ 18.00
Daily Max. $ 15.00 $ 18.00
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Winter (November 1 – March 31)
Weekday * Weekend *
Duration Current Proposed Current Proposed
0 to 1 hour $ 2.00 $ 2.50 $ 3.00 $ 3.50
1 to 2 hours $ 4.00 $ 5.00 $ 6.00 $ 7.00
2 to 3 hours $ 6.00 $ 7.50 $ 9.00 $ 10.50
3 to 4 hours $ 8.00 $ 10.00 $ 12.00 $ 14.00
4 to 5 hours $ 10.00 $ 12.00 $ 12.00 $ 15.00
Daily Max. $ 10.00 $ 12.00 $ 12.00 $ 15.00
* Pier Deck parking lot rates include Parking Facility Tax
Beach parking lots
Central Beach * South Beach * North Beach *
Current Proposed Current Proposed Current Proposed
Summer Weekday $14.00 $15.00 $10.00
No
change
$10.00
No
change
Summer Weekend $14.00 $15.00 $12.00 $12.00
Winter Weekday $7.00 No
change
$7.00 $7.00
Winter Weekend $10.00 $10.00 $10.00
Short-Term $1.00/hr $1.00/hr NA
* Beach lot parking rates include Parking Facility Tax
The rate increase maintains the pricing policy that keeps prices higher in lots closest to
the Pier and lower in the lots to the north and south, as a way to spread demand to
match parking supply. Monthly and annual permit fees, as well as event rental rates, will
be reviewed at a future time.
The budgeted revenue impact of the Pier rate increase is partially offset by reduced
parking associated with planned capital improvement projects. The proposed rate
increase to the Pier Fund is expected to generate an additional $0.1 million annually.
This increase is added to the Proposed Budget as part of the final changes shown in
Attachment D. Parking revenues at the Beach as budgeted reflect an increase of
approximately $0.2 million. Staff is taking a conservative approach, reviewing usage
patterns and effects of using rates to rebalance parking demand and congestion at the
beach lots. Necessary adjustments will be proposed during mid-year.
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The table below shows parking rate increases to on -street parking meters and Main
Street lots. The revenue impacts of these changes are anticipated to total $1.97 million
beginning in FY 2019-20. The anticipated impact of the rate increases on revenues is
included in the proposed FY 2019-21 Budget.
On-Street parking meters
Current Proposed
Downtown Zone $2.00/hr $2.50/hr
Beach Zone $2.00/hr $2.50/hr
All Other – Citywide Zone $1.00/hr $1.25/hr
Main Street parking lots
Current * Proposed *
Lots 9, 10, 11, and 26 $1.00/hr $1.25/hr
Monthly Permits $65/month $80/month
* Main Street parking lot rates include Parking Facility Tax
Also included in the Parking Resolution are the extension of two programs, the issuance
of parking permits and validations to the Judicial Council of California and Los Angeles
County Superior Court through June 30, 2020 in return for monthly payments; and
discounted parking validations for employees working in the Downtown area as defined
in Section 10.8 of the Resolution, through June 30, 2021. Staff will reassess the
discounted employee parking within the next two fiscal years and will return to Council
with a recommendation before the adoption of the FY 2021 -22 Budget.
Personnel Changes
The FY 2019-21 Proposed Biennial Budget includes a reduction of 28 FTE vacant
positions (8.5 FTE in the General Fund and 19.5 FTE in other funds) in FY 2019-20,
and an additional net reduction of 3.9 FTE (decrease of 4.2 FTE in the General Fund
and an increase of 0.3 FTE in other funds) in FY 2020-21.
As part of the budget process, proposed employee classif ication and compensation
changes were reviewed by the Human Resources Department. The resulting
classification and salary changes and position list are presented in Attachments H and I.
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Budget Resolutions
Adopting the resolutions in Attachments A, B, C wo uld:
1. Adopt the FY 2019-20 and approve the FY 2020-21 budget revenues at the
account level, with operating expenditure appropriations for the Salaries and
Wages and Supplies and Expenses (including Capital Outlay) major expenditure
categories within a fund for each department, and capital improvement program
budget within a fund;
2. Authorize staff to roll over appropriations for multi-year operating grants not
completed at the end of the fiscal year, unspent donations dedicated to
programs, and the encumbrances for goods and services contracted for by
FY 2018-19 year-end but not delivered or provided until FY 2019-20;
3. Authorize staff to roll over appropriations for the General Fund and all other
Non-General Fund unencumbered balances and unexpended encumbrances for
the FY 2018-19 capital improvement program budget.
These resolutions also confirm that the City will continue to use expenditure control
budgeting for its General Fund Departments. Expenditure control budgeting was added
to the City’s Fiscal Policy in FY 2013-14 to incentivize staff to save money during the
year, avoiding the “use it or lose it” approach common to many agencies. Initially,
departments were able to retain one-third of their total year end savings for one-time
needs. The policy has since been amended to allow departments to retain one-third of
non-salary savings. Using these funds over the years, departments have been able to
fund innovative projects, including a recent pilot to digitize the request for proposal
process, or to meet urgent needs. In FY 2018-19, Council adopted a revision to the
expenditure control policy that would eliminate the policy beginning in FY 2019 -20.
Staff is recommending that the policy, and flexible funding that accompanies it, be
retained to facilitate initiatives that encourage innovation and efficiencies.
Gann Appropriations Limit
State law places limits on the amount of Santa Monica’s General Fund appropriations
that can be made without voter approval based on a growth factor calculated on
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changes in Los Angeles County’s population and either State per capita personal
income growth or the growth in non-residential assessed valuation. This restriction was
placed in effect in November 1979 with the approval of Proposition 4, commonly known
as the (Paul) Gann Initiative. The City’s Gann Appropriations Limit, based on growth in
non-residential assessed valuation multiplied by the annual percentage population
change for the City in FY 2019-20 is $2,323,025,579.
A comparison of the City’s FY 2019-20 Gann Appropriations Limit as set forth in the
City’s Proposed FY 2019-20 Budget follows:
Proposed Gann Limit-related Spending for FY 2019-20
Gann Limit $2,323,025,579
Appropriations Subject to Limitation 273,440,190
Net (Over) Under $2,049,585,389
FY 2019-20 appropriations subject to limitation are $2,049,585,389 less than the City’s
Gann Appropriations Limit. A resolution to establish the City’s FY 2019-20 Gann
Appropriations Limit is included in Attachment J.
SB-1 Gas Tax Revenues
In April 2017, SB 1, formally known as the Road Repair and Accountability Act of 2017,
was signed into law. SB 1 establishes the Road Maintenance and Rehabilitation
Account (RMRA) to address deferred maintenance on the State highway and local
street and road systems. Current fund estimates provided by the League of California
Cities indicate that the City of Santa Monica will be eligible to receive approximately
$1.5 million in FY 2019-20, in addition to the City’s existing annual gas tax revenues of
approximately $2.3 million.
Staff recommends using the FY 2019-20 SB 1 estimated allocation of $1.5 million for
the capital improvement projects per the attached resolution (Attachment K).
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Human Services Grants Program (HSGP) and Organizational Support Program (OSP)
for Santa Monica’s Arts and Culture Non-Profits
On January 22, 2019, Council approved staff’s recommendation to renew HSGP
funding for two years, contingent upon available funding, and to postpone the next grant
cycle to begin FY 2021-22. The FY 2019-20 Proposed Budget includes funds to grantee
organizations at the FY 2018-19 funding levels, with no cost of living adjustment.
Attachment L lists the individual grantee agreements approved for funding through the
Human Services Grants Program and the grant amounts for the FY 20 19-20 Budget.
The proposed Organizational Support Program (OSP) Grants for Arts and Culture
Nonprofits for FY 2019-21 (Attachment M) identifies each cultural nonprofit organization
proposed for funding. The total recommended funding level for FY 2019 -21 is $401,887
for 20 organizations. Since the release of the draft document for Council’s June 5, 2019
study session, the proposed funding recommendations have not changed.
Once approved, funding will be available beginning July 1, 2019, continuing through
June 30, 2021. Contracts will be executed with each organization approved for funding.
City staff will work closely with organizations to promote quality services, monitor
contract compliance, and provide technical assistance and advice to each agency on
program, administrative, and fiscal matters.
Acceptance of Federal Continuum of Care (CoC) Renewal Grants
The Continuum of Care (CoC) Program is a Federally-funded competitive grant program
that provides a housing subsidy (supportive housing) to homeless, disabled households.
The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) awarded a Continuum
of Care (CoC) grant for FY 2019-20 in the amount of $3,640,550. Staff is requesting
authorization to accept the grant funds from HUD.
Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
The Proposed Budget as revised is $712.9 million in FY 2019-20 and $756.4 million in
FY 2020-21. This Adoption of the Proposed Budget as amended by Attachment D
would formally adopt the first year and approve the second year of the City’s
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FY 2019-21 Biennial Budget, including the second year of the FY 2018 -20 Capital
Improvement Program Budget.
Prepared By: Susan Lai, Budget Manager
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Budget Resolution (City Council)
B. Budget Resolution (Housing Authority)
C. Budget Resolution (Parking Authority)
D. FY 2019-21 Final Changes Budget Adjustments
E. Fees Resolution
F. Fines Resolution
G. Parking Resolution
H. Salary Resolution
I. Position Change Summary
J. Gann Appropriations Limit Resolution
K. Resolution for RMRA FY19-20
L. FY 2019-20 HSGP Grantee Funding
M. FY 2019-20 OSP Grants
N. April 30, 2019 staff report (web link)
O. June 5, 2019 staff report (web link)
P. Code Enforcement Case Types 2019
Q. December 18, 2018 staff report (web link)
R. Council Discretionary Funds
S. Written Comments
T. PowerPoint Presentation
City Council
Report
City Council Meeting: March 26, 2019
Agenda Item: 8.A
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To: Mayor and City Council
From: Katie Lichtig, Assistant City Manager, City Manager's Office
Subject: Annual Report on Homelessness
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the City Council:
1) Review and comment on the Four-Pillar strategy and activities in the report, and
direct staff to proceed with the next steps;
2) Direct staff to proceed with feasibility analysis of possible sites for the replacement of
SAMOSHEL and associated community engagement process and return to Council with
recommendations;
3) Authorize budget changes as outlined in the Financial Impacts and Budget Actions
section of this report.
Executive Summary
Homelessness has been a challenge in Santa Monica for decades. As the numbers of
people experiencing homelessness throughout Los Angeles County has dramatically
increased in recent years, the City Council in 2015 focused on Santa Monica taking
regional leadership on this shared crisis.
Much has been accomplished, yet the latest numbers indicate that community public
health, wellbeing and safety concerns remain unresolved. Despite progress in matching
people experiencing homelessness to services and permanent supportive housing in
Santa Monica and elsewhere in the County, there has also been an unprecedented
increase in the number of housed residents at risk of becoming homeless.
In Santa Monica, results of 2019’s annual point-in-time Homeless Count tabulated by
staff confirm that the City has made great strides in addressing homelessness in key
geographic areas through its targeted interventions, while the overall number of people
experiencing homelessness is holding steady citywide.
While we are committed to reducing the number of people experiencing homelessness
in Santa Monica, we cannot end homelessness within our City borders alone. The City
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must continue its role as a regional leader and seek a collaborative and innovative
approach to finding short and long-term solutions that build capacity within neighboring
communities, while serving the urgent needs of the most vulnerable living among us in
Santa Monica and enhancing health and safety for all in our community. Specifically
staff recommends a refreshed four-pillar approach that includes:
1. Preventing housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless and increas ing
affordable housing opportunities.
2. Addressing the behavioral health needs of vulnerable residents.
3. Maintaining equitable access to safe, fun, and healthy open spaces.
4. Strengthening regional capacity to address homelessness.
Background
Santa Monica has a robust history of designing innovative and comprehensive
homelessness services based on the needs of the current population. Previous reports
to Council outline this rich history and lay the foundation for our current homelessness
services delivery system. Please see attachment A
City Council set taking a leadership role in regional efforts to address homelessness as
one of its five strategic goals in August 2015. This led to the creation of a Homeless
Strategic Goal Action Team that included several piloted initiatives by staff to document
and respond to public concerns of a growing unsheltered homeless population. These
initiatives were seeded with $1.4M in one-time general fund surplus dollars in November
2017 and reallocated departmental budget funding. A progress report on these
initiatives, many of which have become promising practices that inform this report, can
be found in, Update on Pilot Initiatives to Address Homelessness (Attachment B).
In January 2019, City Council voted to once again affirm its commitment to reducing
homelessness within the City limits. Based on results from the “SaMo Says: Community
Priorities Survey,” Council selected “Reduce Homelessness” as one of the six City
Framework priorities for the FY2019-21 Biennial Budget cycle. See Attachment C for
the survey results and summary of the Council discussion.
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Staff propose to define the “Reduce Homelessness” framework outcome through a four-
pillar approach outlined in this report, along with recommended next steps for
consideration during the FY2019-21 Biennial Budget cycle.
As progress is being made, staff recognize public health and safety concerns expressed
by residents and visitors related to homelessness in Santa Monica. It is important to
reiterate that homelessness is not a crime, yet the presence of people meeting basic
needs in open spaces can contribute to a public perception of discomfort that often
leads to a sense of not feeling safe. At the same time, there is a percentage of people
experiencing homelessness who do commit crimes, as in general population, and
homeless people themselves are often victims of crime at a higher rate than the non -
homeless population. The City has and enforces strict anti-camping and other laws to
regulate the use of public spaces to ensure safe, equitable access for all. Yet, as the
proportion of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness increases compared to
those seeking shelter, a countywide trend for which Santa Monica is no longer immune,
the City must continue to respond with enhanced strategies to mitigate the impact of
street homelessness. City Council held a study session on Public Safety in Parks and
Beaches on March 5th and provided several items of specific direction for next steps
(Attachment D). In 2018, the City doubled down on its homelessness outreach through
expansion of place-based strategies that increased situational awareness of who is
experiencing homelessness, what their needs are, and with whom city staff can
coordinate to (re)connect them to services. A place-based approach, compared to the
City’s historic “people” approach, created a pathway for nontraditional departments such
as Library, Big Blue Bus and Public Works to join the conversation, increased data
collection of incidents and engagements, and increased inter-departmental
communication to more rapidly deploy proactive outreach services to mitigate rising
concerns. The success of these efforts are reflected in the 2019 Homeless Count
results.
The 2019 Homeless Count results indicate that the unsheltered count of people experiencing
homelessness in Downtown Santa Monica area decreased by 19%, suggesting that the City’s
investment in a geographic-focused multi-disciplinary street team and additional efforts by
SMPD’s Homeless Liaison Program are making an impact. This is significant as we look
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forward to prioritizing what programs are working effectively to move the needle on
homelessness.
Overall, homelessness held largely steady in the city. The increase of 3% in the overall total
count from 2018 to 2019 is essentially within the margin of error since the annual one night
count is subject to variation by daily weather conditions and other day-to-day fluctuations. The
total count of people experiencing homelessness increased from 957 to 985 between 2018
and 2019. The total number of unsheltered people experiencing homelessness increased by
1% (646 to 654) mainly due to an increase in vehicle homelessness. The total number of
sheltered people experiencing homelessness increased by 6% (311 to 331), as the number of
people in local hospitals more than tripled from 8 to 27, possibly resulting from the
implementation of a new state law (SB1152) that requires stricter discharge planning. The City
has begun conversations with local hospitals to better understand this in crease. Staff will report
back to Council a more thorough analysis of these results after June when the Los Angeles
Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) releases the countywide results. See Attachment E for a
year-over-year comparison.
Discussion
The City of Santa Monica has a longstanding commitment to reducing homelessness
within its jurisdiction and is an innovator of intervention models that have become
regional and national best-practices. The City continues this tradition, leveraging data,
mobile and web-based technologies, and the principles of performance management to
more effectively prioritize and evaluate strategies to put resources where they are
needed most. The City is starting 2019 with renewed energy and refined focus on its
strategy to address homelessness within our borders through a comprehensive street -
outreach approach while staying steadfast in our call-to-action of neighboring
communities to increase homelessness resources within their jurisdictions. Reducing
Homelessness as a Framework priority for the upcoming bi-annual budget process
fosters momentum across the organization and memorializes that homelessness is an
organizational-wide responsibility for which every department can contribute talent,
expertise, and resources.
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The Homeless Action Team (a cross-departmental work team) proposes to define
“reducing homelessness” inclusively, and not through a crisis-oriented lens, to achieve
balance between immediate and longer-term strategies so that we mitigate current
concerns while driving toward the roots of the issue so that our solutions do not simply
accommodate and move people around, but eventually impact the number of new
people falling into homelessness. To capture this balance, guide the organization’s
comprehensive homelessness strategy for the next two years, and lay a foundation for
quantifiable outcome metrics, the Homeless Action Team presents a four-pillar approach
for Council’s consideration and adoption. This approach is introduced here, with each
pillar associated to a Framework outcome as indicated:
1. Prevent housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless and increase
affordable housing opportunities. Protect low-income residents who are currently
housed in Santa Monica from losing housing and continue to dedicate Housing Trust
Fund dollars to develop and rehabilitate affordable and supportive housing for special
needs populations. [Economic Opportunity]
2. Address the behavioral health needs of vulnerable residents. Increase equitable
access to comprehensive behavioral health services for persons experiencing
unsheltered homelessness and living with untreated mental health and addiction, often
displaying anti-social behaviors in open spaces. [Health]
3. Maintain equitable access to safe, fun, and healthy open spaces. Ensure public
spaces are safe, healthy, and accessible to everyone through improvements to
infrastructure, ongoing maintenance, activation, outreach and engagement, and
enforcement. [Place and Planet]
4. Strengthen regional capacity to address homelessness . Santa Monica must
restore regional equilibrium by increasing services, homelessness facilities, and housing
opportunities in neighboring communities across the Westside through the development
of a regional strategy in efforts to truly move the needle on th is crisis. [Governance]
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Implementation of the Four-Pillar Strategy
The four-pillar approached was developed based on data presented by departments over the
past year, recommendations from the Santa Monica Homelessness Steering Committee (an
all-volunteer homeless stakeholders group), and an analysis of regional trends.
Each pillar is presented below with 1) a description of the pillar and why it is significant to
Santa Monica, 2) “Promising Practices” that have emerged since implementing the Homeless
Goal Action Plan, and 3) “Next Steps” that staff recommend for Council direction.
Pillar One: Prevent housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless.
Within the City, there are over 12,000 households at-risk of homelessness identified as those
whom earn less than $50,000 per year and pay over 30% of their income on rent. Currently,
there is no evidence-based predictive analysis to identify who within this population will
actually fall into homelessness. However, a recent Zillow report shows that if the average
rental affordability worsens in the L.A. region by just 2%, meaning a renter must spend 51%
compared to 49% of their income on rent, an additional 4,227 people will fall into
homelessness. New homeless households are inevitable under current trends without
intervention.
Santa Monica has invested in homelessness prevention for several decades through a
commitment to renter protections and services for those facing eviction through partnership
with the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles and St. Joseph Center. The Consumer
Protection Division within the City Attorney’s Office helps tenants and property owners
understand their rights and responsibilities under the law. The division also brings enforcement
actions to enforce housing laws, successfully protecting residents from unlawful discrimination
in seeking housing and unlawful harassment and evictions once housed.
In 2017, the City also piloted the Preserving Our Diversity (POD) program, an initiative that
provides financial assistance using as a basic needs formula to low-income seniors residing in
rent-controlled apartments. Additionally, the City voted to assess a quarter cent sales tax and
dedicated it to affordable housing. The funds were matched with former redevelopment loan
repayments to generate $15M annually for new affordable housing Development. Almost $4M
per year is dedicated to special needs populations including homeless and formerly homeless
households.
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One of the lesser-known prevention efforts revolves around first responders, primarily
firefighters and paramedics with SMFD. Santa Monica Fire Department employees are
uniquely positioned to provide insight into the hidden population of housed residents
who are acutely vulnerable to losing their apartments in our current economy. Both
SMFD and SMPD train their first responders to identify risk factors for homelessness
and provide outreach tools and contact information for service providers who may be
able to help retain housing.
Promising Practices
Preserving Our Diversity (POD) Pilot Program. In 2018, the City piloted the POD Program
to help low-income rent burdened seniors retain their housing through a cash -based program
based on need. This program is emerging as a regional prevention model for older adults.
Between 2017 and 2018 in L.A. County, the number of people 62 and older experiencing
homelessness increased by 21%. As a response to the increase, staff is coming to Council
with a request to expand the POD program and authorize funding from the Affordable Housing
Trust Fund. A funding request for staff time is also being submitted as part of the FY 2019-21
biennial budget process.
Farmer’s Market Food Security Programs. The Santa Monica Farmers Market
(SMFM) participates in three food assistance programs: Cal-Fresh/EBT, Women, Infant
and Children (WIC), and Market Match. Market Match is a grant -funded farmers market
incentive program that is available only at the Pico market at Virginia Avenue Park and
administered by Hunger Action LA, a local non-profit. In total, $79,067 of produce was
sold through these programs, creating healthy food choices to low-income households
to reduce hunger and help save limited disposable income.
Planning and Community Development Tenant Protections. The City’s Planning
and Community Development Department manages two tenant protection programs:
temporary tenant relocation assistance and tenant protections during construction. In
January 2017, the City hired a full-time Neighborhood Preservation Coordinator to help
manage both programs. Since then, the Department has also implemented new tools
and procedures to efficiently respond to tenant concerns related to the habitability of
their homes and track the number of cases where tenants’ homes are rendered
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uninhabitable. The data collected will be used to as sess trends and help inform future
policies and procedures. In 2017, the Department deemed 244 units as uninhabitable;
however, the figure decreased to 162 in 2018. Nearly half of all units deemed
uninhabitable in 2018 were cited for having no heat.
Next Steps:
Continue to promote the City’s Homeless Prevention services and expand affordable
and supportive housing opportunities for households at risk of becoming homeless.
Continue to improve demographic data collection at SMFM events to inform additi onal
prevention interventions.
Leverage SMFD’s unique role in the community to connect housed vulnerable
populations with the right resources to prevent homelessness and expand data
collection of these incidents.
Expand the capacity of the POD program to include additional participants.
Pillar Two: Address the behavioral health needs of vulnerable residents
Regionally, 30% of people experiencing homelessness self -report also living with
mental illness, another 25% self-report addiction disorders, and 10% self-report co-
occurring disorders. Homelessness, particularly unsheltered homelessness,
exacerbates these illnesses by weakening recovery support systems, including creating
barriers to accessing stabilizing medication. When untreated, these diseases lead to
anti-social behaviors that negatively impact quality of life for the person and raise public
health and safety concerns in the greater community. Locally, untreated mental illness
and increased methamphetamine usage create the greatest challenge to the successful
implementation of our homelessness strategies. The City has responded through
coordination and professionalization of local outreach efforts.
According to David Downing, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Agency, Los
Angeles Field Division, “while opioid abuse is becoming a national crisis, meth is a
bigger problem in Los Angeles.” The Santa Monica Police Department has documented
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a decrease in inebriates and significant increase in methamphetamine users over the
past five-years. Since 2014, public intoxication decreased 43%, while persons in
possession of methamphetamine increased by 152% across all populations. People
experiencing homelessness represented 69% of possession of methamphetamine
dispositions in 2018.
Likewise, the number of people living with untreated mental illness, induced by
methamphetamine and other illegal drugs in some cases, has also increased. Santa
Monica Police Department reports processing two 5150 Welfare and Institutions Code
involuntary psychiatric holds on average per day and a 94% increase in voluntary and
involuntary mental health transports since 2014. Fifty-nine percent of these transports
were made to hospitals and intake facilities on the West side, including the two local
hospitals (Providence Saint John's Health Center and UCLA Medical Center, Santa
Monica), and Exodus Recovery’s Psych Urgent Care in Culver City. However, the
remaining 41% of transports are made by police officers in patrol vehicles to locations
outside of the area such as Harbor-UCLA Medical Center in Carson, Exodus Recovery
at the Martin Luther King Medical Center, Exodus Recovery Eastside, and the VA
Hospital. Each of these transports represents a significant drain on patrol resources
due to long travel and wait times.
In 2018, SMFD reported a 77% increase in the number of patients experiencing
homelessness evaluated and treated by paramedics (see chart below). This percentage
represents 30% of all SMFD responses. Of the 30%, 13%, or 119 people had a mental
health complaint and 165, or 18%, people had an alcohol related complaint. Under
current State policy, SMFD can only transport these individuals to a designated medical
facility (i.e., one of the two local emergency rooms or Ronald Reagan Hospital for
serious trauma) where these patients must then wait for an additional transport to a
designated mental health facility. These circumstance create a strain within the health
care community and delay access to appropriate treatment.
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Per the state Welfare and Institutions Code, Article 1, section 5150, SMPD is able to
transport those in need of emergency psychiatric treatment to hospitals and designated
alternative care destination facilities. To provide more trauma-informed transports for
persons in crisis, SMPD contracted with McCormick Ambulance in late 2018 to provide
non-emergency ambulance transport. At the direction of police staff, McCormick can
transport individuals suffering from mental illness with no acute medical issues directly
to any regional intake centers without overburdening our local emergency rooms or
patrol resources.
In 2018, the City increased the clinical capacity of local outreach teams by launching the
new C3 Homeless Outreach Multidisciplinary Team, expanding the case management
slots for the Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST), and strengthening the
coordination with the Department of Mental Health (DMH) clinicians embedded within
SMPD. An “as-needed” social worker position was also approved by Human Resources
in 2018 and is expected to be filled by spring 2019.
Promising Practices
Expansion of the Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST): Funded in part
by Supervisor Kuehl, the HMST Team provides ongoing case management services to
high utilizers of local emergency medical and police systems. Since its launch in 2016,
this team has placed 25 people into interim housing and 16 into permanent housing. In
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2018, the team managed a caseload of 20 people and had 1,331 engagements with this
highly vulnerable cohort.
Department of Mental Health Clinicians: One of the most effective inter-agency
collaborations has been the partnership between L.A. County’s Department of Mental
Health and SMPD. Two full-time clinicians are assigned to SMPD and deployed in the
field with partner officers. One clinician is primarily with a patrol officer responding to
radio calls for mental health evaluations in the community at large. The second clinician
is devoted entirely to the HLP Team for evaluations of street residents, both in the field
and jail. Given the high comorbidity of mental illness and the homeless population,
having these resources in the field has improved response times for assisting those in
crisis and created a more efficient pipeline for sharing information between case
managers, service providers, and first responders.
Pilot Jail-In-Reach Program: Santa Monica Police Department initiated a pilot jail-in-
reach program in late 2018 to connect arrestees with housing, service providers, and
behavioral healthcare. Using the county-funded Whole Person Care program and St.
Joseph’s Center resources, outreach workers are invited into the jail to engage
individuals prior to their release from the City jail. Initial data indicates that the likelihood
of arrestees will follow through with obtaining services is increased when the initial
intake process is done prior to release. Still in a pilot phase, however, SMPD would like
to pursue a similar program using drug counselors to perform similar in-reach with
methamphetamine users.
Implementing new care coordinating technology: In 2017, the City partnered with
Akido Labs, a subsidiary of USC’s D-Health Lab, and the Milken Institute to develop
Project Connect. This is a mobile application that seeks to provide near -real-time
communication between first responders (SMPD and SMFD) and homeless case
managers to strengthen coordination of care. The pilot was launched on February 19,
2019 for a 13-week trial. The project team will reconvene at the end of the pilot to
determine the app’s effectiveness in changing staff behavior in the field through
increased communication and coordination of care.
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Animal Support Services: The City’s Animal Services Shelter temporarily shelters
companion animals of people experiencing homelessness who must be temporarily
hospitalized due to physical or behavioral health crisis. The shelter has also supported
animals for owners transitioning into housing and employment opportunities. Costs for
these services are currently absorbed by the department, however there is prospect for
private philanthropy to help expand this service.
The Santa Monica Fire Department’s Community Response Unit (CRU): Launched
in January 2019, the goal of the CRU is to create innovative ways to engage and assist
Santa Monica’s most vulnerable populations. These include people experiencing
homelessness, vulnerable housed adults, people with mental illness, people with
substance use disorder, and high utilizers of public safety services. Effective response
for these vulnerable individuals requires SMFD to act outside of its normal emergency
model. Achieving this goal will improve the safety, health, and wellbeing of these
populations and improve the availability of our fire engines and rescue ambulances. The
CRU will focus on four areas to achieve results: Response, Education, Outreach, and
Prevention.
Alternative Behavioral Health Care Facilities: The emergence of alternative
behavioral health care facilities across the region show promising practice in increasing
access to care for persons in mental health and addiction crisis. As the City strengthens
is response to behavioral health crisis, staff recommend conducting a feasibility study
on the local need for such as facility within Santa Monica to relieve the strain on local
emergency departments, time away from patrol for SMPD officers, and to keep people
closer to their safety-net of friends, family, and social service advocates as they recover.
At the same time, the City will continue to support a change in state law to allow SMFD
to transport to such facilities so should one come online in Santa Monica in the future,
SMFD will be able to transport patients.
Next Steps
Commit ongoing funding to the city’s multidisciplinary teams including C3 and
HMST. Staff will return to Council with a funding request during the FY2019-21
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Biennial Budget Process to sustain and enhance these efforts.
Advocate for a change in state policy to authorize SMFD to transport non -
medical emergencies to alternative care facilities such as the Exodus Recovery
Psych Urgent Care Center in Culver City.
Continue funding for SMPD’s pilot with McCormick Ambulance to transport
persons with special needs to appropriate alternative care centers. This request
will be made as a part of the biennial budget process.
Direct staff to explore feasibility options for developing a coordinated behavioral
health response, including assessing the need to create a community-based
behavioral health center in Santa Monica. Staff will be submitting a budget
proposal under the Reduce Homelessness priority for a behavioral health
consultant to conduct this feasibility study.
Outreach to the local hospitals and other key stakeholders to create a community
ad-hoc behavioral health working group to strengthen communication,
coordination of services, leverage financial resources, and advocate for
legislative changes.
Work with the City Attorney’s Office to develop a mechanism for the City to
receive private funding to support the purchase of or receive as a gift, a
therapeutic van to provide field-based mental health triage and crisis stabilization
services by October 2019. This van would be operated by the current
multidisciplinary teams in partnership with LA County Department of Mental
Health and SMFD.
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Partner with Friends of the Animal Shelter to secure private funding to expand
support to pet owners experiencing homelessness who need temporary board
and care for their companion animals.
Report back on the results of SMFD’s CRU 6-month pilots with SMFD’s
recommendations on its next steps. SMFD will request ongoing funding for this
program as part of the biennial budget process.
Expand the Akido Project Connect App users to additional City departments and
homeless service providers.
Pillar Three: Maintain equitable access to safe, fun, and healthy open spaces
With over 600 unsheltered individuals spending some portion of their time on the
streets, conflicts over open space usage are frequent, requiring unique skills and
approaches to intervene and discern anti-social behaviors from respite and recreational
behaviors permissible by all users.
In 2018, the City doubled down on its street outreach and engagement activities to
address anti-social behaviors in public spaces. Specifically, Public Works, Library,
Human Services, Big Blue Bus, and nonprofit partners worked with SMPD to collaborate
on strategies to mitigate anti-social behaviors in key public spaces and create additional
“no-wrong-door” opportunities for service connections. These efforts leveraged ongoing
collaborative models such as the HLP Team’s partnership with West Coast Care (WCC)
to provide outreach on the beach and in Tongva and Palisades Parks, offering referrals
to shelter and other resources, emergency clothing, bus tokens and other support. A
primary focus is Project Homecoming through which WCC reconnects those
experiencing homelessness with family. Through these efforts, resources are deployed
to key spaces where people experiencing homelessness gather to increase
opportunities for service connection and mitigate the impact of homelessness on the
wellbeing of the community. The City’s practices are in alignment with LAHSA’s
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“Guiding Principles and Practices for local response to Unsheltered Homelessness,”
recommended best-practices for municipal engagement adopted by the LAHSA
Commission on February 28, 2019.
Promising Practices
Open space promising practices arose out of Council’s one-time funding and were
described in detail in the March 13th Info item to Council. Therefore, they are listed here
only by name and abbreviated description.
Launching of the C3 Multidisciplinary Outreach Team. Provides mobile health
and clinical interventions and linkages to homeless services and housing to
people experiencing homelessness in the Downtown Santa Monica area
including Palisades, Tongva, and Reed Parks.
Homeless Outreach Services at the Library. An Outreach Specialist staffed by
The People Concern provides onsite outreach services including weekly office
hours and special events to engage people experiencing homelessness in
nontraditional ways to increase engagement. This service will soon be enhanced
with the hiring of an as-needed social worker position by spring 2019.
Expansion of the Library Service Officers. The additional LSO hires allowed
the department to educate and enforce the new guidelines among all patrons to
maintain a safe, inclusive and learning environment. LSOs work closely with
SMPD’s HLP Team and onsite Outreach Specialist to connect people to
homeless, Veteran, and mental health services.
Incident Tracking on Big Blue Bus. In 2018, Big Blue Bus upgraded its incident
tracker to better capture homelessness related data in response to growing
concerns expressed by staff and riders. Big Blue Bus found that only 20% of all
reported incidents were homeless related and the number of incidents that
occurred out of over one million riders, were miniscule.
Expansion of the Homeless Liaison Program (HLP) Team. In January of
2018, the HLP team expanded from six to eight full-time officers, along with a
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Department of Mental Health Clinician and a sergeant. In the summer of 2018,
HLP went from five to seven-day-per-week coverage.
Relocated street feeding operation indoors. In late 2018, Food Not Bombs
partnered with Salvation Army to transition their street feeding program from the
3rd Street Promenade to an indoor, sit-down setting. West Coast Care provides
onsite outreach services including referrals to Winter Shelter, Project
Homecoming, and intake at St. Joseph’s Homeless Services Center. The inside
meal is hosted every Thursday, averaging 100 participants each week.
Next Steps
Continue funding for multidisciplinary teams. Continue funding to the C3
team to expand the current contract and explore additional funding to create a
new C3 team possibly focused on the beach. This request will be made as part of
the biennial budget process.
Expand the number of HLP Team Officers. The HLP Team is scheduled to
grow to ten officers in the first quarter of 2019.
Continue services at the Library. The Library is targeting to fill the as-needed
social worker position by April 2019 and secure ongoing funding for the additional
LSOs and as-needed social worker position. This request will be made as a part
of the biennial budget process. More consistent services and availability of
resources will allow the Library to more directly serve some of our most
vulnerable visitors through outreach, referrals, and case management.
Increase Beach Outreach Coordination. Strengthen relationship between West
Coast Care and businesses along Ocean Walk to increase engagement and
homeless service connection.
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Pillar Four: Strengthen regional capacity to address homelessness
The regional landscape has shifted significantly since Council first prioritized taking a
leadership role in regional efforts to address homelessness as a strategic goal in 2015.
Voters in the City of Los Angeles approved Proposition HHH in November 2016, a 10 -
year housing bond dedicated to building up to 10,000 new units of affordable housing,
supportive housing, and homeless facilities. The County of Los Angeles voters
approved Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax that is anticipated to generate at least
$355 million a year until 2027, to provide supportive services and leverage housing
opportunities across the County’s 88 cities through a supply rental subsidies, landlord
incentives, and housing retention supportive services. In 2018, approximately $1B was
allocated to addressing homelessness in the L.A. County region through local, state,
and federal funding placing 24,998 people into interim housing, 20,446 into permanent
housing, and preventing 6,026 from falling into homelessness. Approximately 1,500 new
units of interim housing and nearly 3,000 new units of permanent supportive and
affordable housing have come online or in development since 2017.
This extraordinary collaboration between LA City and LA County has incentivized other
jurisdictions including the “Big 11” large cities in California and the State to join the
conversation and invest additional resources and ideas to address the growing
homelessness crisis. The State allocated $500M in one-time surplus funding to form
and implement the Homeless Emergency Assistance Program (HEAP). Governor Gavin
Newsom’s 2019-20 Budget proposal unveiled in January 2019 includes $1.3B in one-
time general fund dollars to support an aggressive new approach to spur housing
development to address the state’s affordability crisis and promote economic growth.
Santa Monica has been a direct recipient of these efforts through the expanded
investment in the regional Coordinated Entry System (CES). The CES aligns the Single
Adult, Family, and Youth Systems into a seamless, collaborative, county-wide platform
for housing and service delivery to homeless households. St. Joseph Center leads the
region-wide Coordinated Entry System collaborative for L.A. County’s Service Planning
Area 5 (which encompasses Santa Monica and the Westside) for both Individuals and
for Families. The collaborative encourages cities, L.A. County, and service providers to
leverage their shared resources to end homelessness, improve coordination among
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participating agencies, and increase the number of homeless people who obtain
housing. In 2018, 725 people engaged in Santa Monica were entered into the
countywide CES.
In February 2018, the City received a $70,000 grant from United Way and the County
Homeless Initiative to develop a flexible training curriculum to deepen the public’s
understanding of the regional homelessness crisis from the perspective of outreach
workers and persons with lived experience, and to educate on best practices for
engagement to multiply the City’s efforts. The first training videos have been produced
and posted to the City’s YouTube channel. A robust communications campaign will
engage a broad range of stakeholders—such as residents, landlords, businesses, and
charitable organizations—and will allow core modules to be shared with neighboring
communities. These grant funds have been fully expended.
By 2023, the City should also begin to experience relief as new homeless facilities and
housing opportunities supported by Proposition HHH and Measure H begin to come
online. These include an additional 200+ interim housing beds in Venice, Brentwood
(VA Campus), and Westwood (West L.A. Armory) and over 400 new units of supportive
housing by 2024. The City of Malibu has also opened a new homeless service center to
better coordinate referrals to local services. Safe Parking L.A. opened a new site in the
parking lot of West L.A. City Hall. The potential of these expanded services and the
potential housing pipeline should be integrated into the City’s homelessness strategy
moving forward.
The Senior Advisor and the Council Office & Legislative Affairs Liaison will continue to
work with public partners at all levels of government and the Westside Cities Council of
Governments (WSCCOG) to ensure the Westside receives its fair-share of new funding.
Currently the City is working with WSCCOG to develop a needs assessment to better
understand the homelessness housing and services gap in SPA 5 required to effectively
move the needle on local homelessness. Countywide, 24,000 people are in the
Coordinate Entry System waiting to be matched to a housing unit. However there are
only 9,600 available permanent housing opportunities and 8,649 interim housing
opportunities to meet this demand. A better understanding of the local gap will enable
the City and WSCCOG members to better advocate for private, state, and federal
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resources for local providers so that they can meet the growing demand created
through increased outreach and engagement services.
The expansion of interim housing capacity in neighboring communities creates an
opportunity for the City to reimagine the Santa Monica Shelter (SAMOS HEL) to better
meet local needs. Built under a 1994 emergency ordinance, the current facility is a
sprung-tent structure that was originally built as a temporary facility to meet the regional
homeless needs. Since 1994, the needs of residents placed in SAM OSHEL have
become more complex requiring new design, smaller client-staff ratios, and flexibility to
accommodate personal belongings, companion animals, and more. The reimagined
SAMOSHEL would not be another emergency shelter, but a new facility that refle cts the
needs of the City and, today’s homeless population. Ideally, the reimagined
SAMOSHEL would house an interim housing program with specialized capacity to
support set-aside beds for first responders and outreach teams, and integrated new
supportive housing residences. Initial first steps to the reimagined process include
developing a community participation strategy to shape a new program model and
assist exploring potential new sites. Replacing SAMOSHEL with a new permanent
facility reflecting best practices is realistically a 3-5 year process. Staff recommends
that the current facility needs of SAMOSHEL be addressed to extend the lifespan of the
temporary housing for approximately five years while the City undergoes the process to
design based on best practices, community input, and users.
Promising Practices
We Are Santa Monica: We Are Santa Monica is a community engagement campaign
dedicated to joining neighbors, local nonprofits, businesses, and local organizations to
create a stronger community for all. We see the needs of all the people in our city and
inviting our community to learn more about the work happening across Santa Monica
and invite them to get involved. This has been a successful vehicle to inform
constituents about the City’s homelessness efforts that lead to engagement
opportunities with local homeless service providers.
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Homelessness Steering Committee: The Homelessness Steering Committee is an
all-volunteer effort led by civic leaders Bill Parent, Chair of the Santa Monica Social
Services Commission, John Maceri, Executive Director of The People Concern, and
Kathleen Rawson, CEO of Downtown Santa Monica, Inc. The Steering Committee
meets with the community quarterly and accomplishes its work through four
subcommittees including: Advocacy, Public Safety, Volunteerism, and Open Spaces. In
2019, the Committee will streamline its activities to more strongly focus on advocacy
and volunteerism.
Westside Cities Council of Government (WSCCOG): The WSCCOG is a vehicle
through which the City champions regional solutions and problem -solving in tandem
with the leadership of neighboring communities. The Senior Advisor represents the
WSCCOG on the Regional Homeless Advisory Committee- a regional body of 58 cross-
sector stakeholders. In 2018 the Homelessness Committee conducted an asset map of
all current homeless programs and facilities. This report is being refined. Once complete
it will provide a foundation for a Westside Cities Homelessness Strategic Plan that will
include a housing and services needs assessment.
State and Federal Policy Agenda: City staff worked closely with the City’s state and
federal lobbyists to advocate for funding and policies to ease the burden of
homelessness in Santa Monica. In 2019, staff will advance a formal policy agenda to
engage diverse stakeholders in championing legislation that furthers Council’s policy
priority of reducing homelessness.
Increased Inter-Regional Collaboration: In 2018, the City of Santa Monica increased its
presence in inter-regional conversations with the City of Los Angeles and the County of Los
Angeles to shape emerging policies such as best-practice street-engagement strategies for
cities, 2019-20 priorities for Measure H Funding Allocation, review and feedback on LAHSA’s
HEAP Funding Spending Plan, and the passage of interim housing facilities standard. In 2019,
the three entities will work closely to support citing of new homeless programs in neighboring
communities outside of Santa Monica and to ensure that local nonprofits have ad equate new
resources to build capacity to meet growing demand created by expansion of homelessness
services (i.e. staffing, adequate program space, staff training).
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Next Steps
Advocate for a Westside Homelessness Strategic Planning Process: Work through
the WSCCOG’s Homelessness Committee to create Westside Cities Homelessness
Strategic Plan that includes a housing and services needs assessment,
recommendations on where to site new housing developments, and estimated costs.
Reimagine SAMOSHEL. Staff seek direction from Council to have staff look at a
variety of sites for the future replacement of SAMOSHEL and develop a
community engagement plan to involve the community with agreement to return
to Council with recommendations.
Develop of a transparent state and federal policy agenda. In collaboration with the
Homelessness Steering Committee, the City will develop the policy agenda by the end
of March and work with the Office of Communications to distribute to the community
with a call-to-action.
Explore the creation of community foundation to support innovation. Work with
the City Attorney’s Office to explore options to streamline receipt of private funding to
support homeless innovation projects and regional efforts.
Launch the Online Homelessness Training Curriculum: The initial modules are
completed. The City will develop a strategy to release and distribute the first in the
series by spring 2019.
Continue the We Are Santa Monica efforts: Continue publicizing the City’s collective
homelessness strategy and progress through the We Are Santa Monica platform.
Continue support and encouragement for the Homeless Steering Committee: Staff
will continue to provide administrative and logistical support to the Steering Committee.
Conclusion
In 2018, the City strengthened its historic approach to addressing homelessness
through increasing its capacity by leveraging additional departmental expertise and
resources; while at the same time increasing collaboration with regional partners. While
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the numbers slightly increased in the 2019 Annual Homeless Count, the numbers
decreased or remained stable in areas where there were targeted interventions.
Through doubling down on outreach efforts, staff made over 34,520 contacts with
people experiencing homelessness, connecting to housing and supportive services
when resources were available.
The City of Santa Monica is at an exciting juncture to explore how it can increase
protection for housed Santa Monicans at risk of homelessness; continue to identify and
engage persons experiencing behavioral health crisis; smartly deploy outreach
resources to open spaces based on data to improve well-being for all; and how to
support the expansion of regional capacity as new interim and permanent housing
resources come online in neighboring communities.
Over the coming year, staff would like to report back to Council on a quarterly basis
through updates of individual departmental progress and collective impact. Staff will
coordinate through the City Manager’s Office on this effort.
Financial Impacts & Budget Actions:
On August 8, 2017 Council authorized the City Manager to modify agreement #10291
with OPCC for operation of the Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team (HMST),
resulting in a 3 year amended agreement with a total amount not-to-exceed $1.65
million, consisting of $1.05 million in City general funds and up to $600,000 in grant
funding from LA County Board of Supervisors District 3 (SD3) (Attachment F). In that
same staff report, Council authorized the City Manager to accept a grant award in the
amount of $300,000 from SD3 for HMST, and to accept all grant renewals. As of the
date of this report, a total of $1.35 million has been disbursed to OPCC. On January 31,
2019, the City and the County executed an amendment to renew the SD3 grant for one
additional year and for an additional amount of $300,000, making available the full not -
to-exceed amount of $1.65 million. The renewal requires the following FY2018 -19
budget changes:
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FY2018-19 Grant Budget Changes
Establish Revenue Budget Appropriate Funds
Account
Number(s)
Amount Account
Number(s)
Amount
20400001.40547
0
$ 300,000 20400001.55593
0
$ 300,000
If the Supervisor’s grant is renewed and awarded for future periods, budget changes will
be included in subsequent year budgets, contingent on Council budget approval.
Prepared By: Alisa Orduna, Senior Advisor to the City Manager on
Homelessness
Approved
Forwarded to Council
Attachments:
A. Homeless_Spring_2017_FINAL
B. Update on Pilot Initiatives to Address Homelessness
C. Framework Priorities Report
D. Rec and Park Staff report
E. Homeless Count One Sheet final
F. HMST Staff Report
G. Written Comments
H. Powerpoint Presentation
1
Vernice Hankins
From:oz <zurawska@yahoo.com>
Sent:Tuesday, September 10, 2019 9:14 AM
To:councilmtgitems
Cc:Rick Cole; Setareh Yavari; Margaret Willis; Terry O’Day; Gleam Davis; Ana Maria Jara; Greg Morena;
Kevin McKeown Fwd; Ted Winterer; Sue Himmelrich; Bill Parent; Elaine Barringer; Eric Stoff; Winifred
Wechsler; Nancy Coleman; Derek Devermont; Brian Stedge-Stroud; Cindy Akin
Subject:OPCC HMST agenda item 3-I at 9/10/19 City Council meeting
Hello,
This is my written public comment regarding agenda item 3‐I, particularly in regards to the funding for OPCC HMST.
Question 1: what particular goals/benchmarks does the City have for OPCC providing the outreach?
Is spending the average of $48,000 per one permanently housed individual a success? This number has been recently
reported by The Santa Monica Daily Press, as has this:
“Since the program’s launch in 2016, a team of eight specialists and a part‐time program director have worked with 37
people with serious medical, substance abuse, mental health and behavioral challenges, transitioning 25 into interim
housing and 19 ultimately into permanent housing.”
Are the above numbers a success that warrants more taxpayer dollars to be disbursed?
Question 2: what accountability mechanism will the City be employing towards OPCC if it is a well known fact that the
the City has not in the past monitored the provider’s performance, even though such monitoring is required by the
Human Services Grant Agreement the City has with OPCC?
What happened to the idea of fiscal accountability and the fiduciary duty the City has to the taxpayers?
Since when is repeated disbursement of large amounts of taxpayer dollars with no accountability or oversight allowed in
modern government? Especially when such disbursement is continued by the City despite ongoing serious complaints by
OPCC’s client whistleblowers?
I think especially in light of the recent abysmal LAHSA audit results, it is necessary to remind the Council that on January
22, 2019 City Manager Rick Cole dissuaded the Council from commissioning an audit of OPCC by stating that if LAHSA is
not doing anything about OPCC’s well known performance problems then the City shouldn’t either.
Now it turns out LAHSA itself is in serious trouble... because of an audit of its outreach efforts.
Item 3-I
09/10/19
1 of 3 Item 3-I
09/10/19
2
Below are a few interesting excerpts from a Los Angeles Times article about the recent LAHSA audit:
“Galperin said the audit, which began last year, took months to complete “partly because getting accurate and
consistent numbers from LAHSA has been a challenge.”
The authority, according to the audit, “lacks a rigorous performance review process for its outreach activities. Moreover,
data‐driven decisions about the deployment of resources are not made because the information is neither timely nor
accurate.”
LAHSA provided the controller’s office with four different versions of its outreach numbers, each one significantly
different, Galperin said. A chart in the audit showed the percentage of homeless people placed into shelters dropping
from 64% in the first version to 19% in the last.
(...)
The audit also faulted a report by the authority that it placed 21,000 people into permanent housing last year. Not only
did the number include placements made by other agencies, such as the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, it included
duplicates by counting individuals or families that fell in and out of homelessness during the year, the audit said.
The report also faulted LAHSA’s participation in cleanups of homeless encampments by the city’s Bureau of Sanitation
for contributing to its failings with outreach. The authority estimated that cleanups accounted for 67% of its outreach
time in the city.
(...)
The audit sharply criticized the goals set by the city in its contract with LAHSA.
The goal that 25% of homeless people with a substance abuse disorder would be connected to appropriate treatment
“supplies no indication about what the 25% target represents,” it said. “Even if LAHSA had met its 25% target, only 167
… would have received substance abuse treatment,” it said.
(...)
Galperin said the city and authority should recast goals that are understandable and specify the number of people
expected to receive assistance, rather than using a percentage. LAHSA also should adopt a data‐driven outreach system
modeled after the CompSTAT policing model used by police departments across the country, including the LAPD.”
Source: https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2019‐08‐27/homeless‐audit‐lahsa‐outreach‐performance
The fact that the City repeatedly ignores feedback from OPCC client whistleblowers shows discriminatory treatment of
those citizens. The whistleblowers have been requesting that their voices and input be heard in order to improve the
City’s homeless services, to no avail. The whistleblowers have been requesting a citizens’ oversight committee to
monitor the questionable homeless services provider’s performance for a couple years now.
Item 3-I
09/10/19
2 of 3 Item 3-I
09/10/19
3
It turns out that the City of Los Angeles might be more progressive on this issue than Santa Monica.
Below are some highlights from a Santa Monica Daily Press piece on on Councilmember Bonin’s recent proposal:
“In an effort to improve City efforts to combat the homelessness crisis, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin has
proposed the creation of a new advisory commission, composed entirely of people who are or have been homeless in
Los Angeles.
The commission, modeled after city advisory commissions on disability issues, children’s Native American issues, and
transgender issues, would provide expert and real‐world experience to improve policy‐making, program development,
and budgeting decisions.
“We set ourselves up for failure if we do not take into account the experience of people who have been homeless,” said
Bonin. “Programs that sound good on paper or in a City Council meeting may not work given the complexities of being
without housing. We need to be listening to the people who can tell us if the programs taxpayers are paying for are
working as intended.”
I would hope the City Council and staff ponder the above paragraph.
Source: https://www.smdp.com/bonin‐proposes‐new‐commission‐composed‐of‐people‐who‐are‐or‐have‐been‐
homeless/179540
Regards,
Olga Zurawska
Item 3-I
09/10/19
3 of 3 Item 3-I
09/10/19
1
Vernice Hankins
From:zinajosephs@aol.com
Sent:Tuesday, September 10, 2019 11:54 AM
To:councilmtgitems; Gleam Davis; Greg Morena; Sue Himmelrich; Ana Maria Jara; Councilmember Kevin
McKeown; Ted Winterer; Terry O’Day; Rick Cole; Katie E. Lichtig; Anuj Gupta
Cc:zinajosephs@aol.com
Subject:City Council 9-10-19 agenda item 3-I – Contracts for Homeless Street-Based Services
City Council 9-10-19 agenda item 3-I – Contracts for Homeless Street-Based Services
Dear Council members,
I recently became aware that a 68-year-old woman, Ophelia Sweeney, the widow of a U.S. Army vet, who had been
living on the street near Samoshel and trying unsuccessfully to get housing through OPCC since 2010, ended up
in the hospital, perhaps due to heat-stroke. OPCC cannot confirm that she’s now in the Samoshel Respite Bed section,
but they have confirmed that she’s still alive.
However, I don’t know what’s happened to Ophelia’s little dogs, who have kept her company all of these years, while
OPCC failed to find housing for her. And what will happen to the tickets Ophelia received from the SMPD for sleeping on
the sidewalk?
How is it that the OPCC’s Homeless Multidisciplinary Street Team couldn’t help someone who had been sleeping
on the sidewalk near Samoshel for nearly 10 years?
And why would the city give OPCC another $1.2 million, given this type of performance?
Santa Monica Daily Press:
“Since the program’s launch in 2016, a team of eight specialists and a part-time program director have worked with 37
people with serious medical, substance abuse, mental health and behavioral challenges, transitioning 25 into interim
housing and 19 ultimately into permanent housing.”
Three years, $1.6 million of city money spent, 8 specialists, and a part-time program director, to find permanent
housing for 19 people?
Santa Monica Daily Press:
“In an effort to improve City efforts to combat the homelessness crisis, Los Angeles Councilmember Mike Bonin has
proposed the creation of a new advisory commission, composed entirely of people who are or have been homeless in Los
Angeles.
The commission, modeled after city advisory commissions on disability issues, children’s Native American issues, and
transgender issues, would provide expert and real-world experience to improve policy-making, program development, and
budgeting decisions.
2
“We set ourselves up for failure if we do not take into account the experience of people who have been homeless,” said
Bonin. “Programs that sound good on paper or in a City Council meeting may not work given the complexities of being
without housing. We need to be listening to the people who can tell us if the programs taxpayers are paying for are
working as intended.”
Where is Santa Monica’s Commission, composed of people who are or have been homeless?
Respectfully,
Zina Josephs
REFERENCE:
Modified Agreement
No. 10291 (CCS)
&
Amended Agreement
No. 10593 (CCS)