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About
the Human Services Division
The Human
Services Division, of the Community and Cultural Services Department develops
and implements
social service policies and programs
that address the needs of community members of all ages. Staff works
collaboratively with the business community and
non-profit and educational
institutions to build strong partnerships, and manages a $7.7 million
Community Development grants program
funding 27 local non-profit organizations that provide services
to low-income
community members, including
young children and families, older youth, people who are
homeless or have a
disability,
and
older adults. The Division provides park-based educational, fitness
and cultural programs in the Pico neighborhood at
Virginia Avenue Park and through the
Police Activities League, as well as low-cost
school-based
childcare and enrichment programs. The Division also provides staff
support to seven
Commissions and Advisory Boards.
The City of Santa Monica has adopted the FY
2010-15 Consolidated Plan & FY 2010-11 Action Plan
FY
2010-15 Consolidated Plan - The goal of the Consolidated Plan is to identify
community needs, establish housing and community development strategies, and
create a set of objectives to guide Federal funding decisions over the next five
years (FY 2010-15). The Consolidated Plan was built upon recent City planning
efforts such as the Draft Land Use Circulation Element (LUCE) (2009), the
2008-14 Housing Element, the Action Plan to Address Homelessness in Santa Monica
(2009), and the Housing Authority Annual Plan for FY 2009-10 and Five-Year Plan
for FY 2009-14.
FY
2010-11 Action Plan - Each year, the City submits a One-Year Action Plan to
the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) that serves as a
status report to the Five-Year Consolidated Plan and details activities to be
funded with CDBG and HOME funds in the coming year.
Key Findings of
the 2010 Santa Monica Homeless Count
This year, the
City of Santa Monica opted to begin conducting a city-wide Homeless Count on an
annual basis. This commitment goes above and beyond the federal and regional
requirements to conduct bi-annual homeless counts. The community responded with
equal enthusiasm and dedication, with over 160 community members turning out to
walk and drive every street, park, alley and underpass to enumerate homeless
individuals in the City over the course of one evening.
Employing
the improved methodology implemented in the 2009 Homeless Count, we are able to
more accurately compare results to 2009 and provide the most complete count
findings to date. The data will serve as a benchmark from which further
reductions in homelessness will be tracked and the success of local efforts to
reduce homelessness evaluated. Last year, the 2009 Count showed an overall
reduction of 8% city-wide as compared to 2007. This year’s results are based on
a one-year comparison between 2009 and 2010.
Results:
The 2010 Santa Monica Homeless Count showed a significant reduction in the
number of homeless individuals living in Santa Monica.
· The overall homeless population
declined 18.9% from 2009
o 2007 total =
999
o 2009 total =
915 (8% reduction over 2007)
o 2010 total =
742 (18.9% reduction over 2009 / 25% reduction over 2007)
· The point-in-time homeless count is
742
o This includes
a point-in-time street homeless population of 264, a shelter and institutions
population of 423 individuals, and 55 cars/encampments.
o 71% were
single individuals, while 29% were members of families.
· There was a 68% reduction in the
number of identified encampments and a 59% reduction in the number of people
identified living in cars as compared to 2009.
This reduction is
consistent with findings in urban areas across the county over the past several
years, which is acknowledged to be due to changes in federal priorities, better
data collection methods, and expanded access to affordable housing for homeless
and at-risk households. The City understands that this visual point-in-time
count is useful in telling us “what” is happening in our city, but alone, it
cannot fully reveal “why”. This local reduction can be attributed to a number of
factors, including the city’s implementation of the Action Plan to Address
Homelessness, better collaboration and coordination of services, new housing
subsidies and rental assistance programs, and innovative programs such as the
Homeless Community Court and Project Homecoming. Over the next six months, the
City will do additional analysis of this data, comparing it with data from our
service providers and regional partners to try to establish if this is truly a
sustainable trend.
Methodology:
On January 27, 2010, over 160 community volunteers were divided into 70 small
teams, each of which was assigned a specific geographic area of the city.
Together, volunteers covered every street and alley in Santa Monica, a total of
226 linear miles. Volunteers were instructed to tally every homeless individual
they encountered as well as every car, RV, tent or box in which someone appeared
to be living. Homeless individuals in shelters, jails, motels, and hospitals
were simultaneously counted by staff at each facility in the city. This method
of visual enumeration is one that is accepted by the U.S. Department of Housing
and Urban Development, and is used by many other communities across the country,
including Los Angeles County. While larger jurisdictions employ a mix of a
visual count in selected census tracts combined with a statistical projection of
homelessness in un-counted tracts, the City has chosen to do a full visual count
of all 19 census tracts within the city boundaries.
Click here
for the
presentation and
map
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