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The City of
Santa Monica recognizes that homelessness is a complex and troubling
issue.
Our vision
is to transform Santa Monica to a place where our effective action and
compassion end the impact of homelessness on our community. Learn more:
About
Homelessness in Santa Monica
The Community Responds: Action Plan & Initiatives
How Can I Get Involved?
Frequently Asked Questions
How We Collect Data
Links and Resources
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
Vulnerability Index Skid Row, Los Angeles
In December 2007, Common Ground worked with LA City and LA
County to create a by-name list (registry) of the people sleeping on the
streets of Skid Row who were at the greatest risk of dying through the
use of our Vulnerability Index Survey.
As a result over 50 people were housed!
Click here to visit the project's Facebook group.
Click here to visit the webpage of LA County Supervisor Zev
Yaroslavsky and learn more.
The Costs of Homelessness
People who are homeless often use a variety of costly public
systems. National data illustrates the ways in which homelessness can be
costly.
Click here to learn more.
Year-End Wrap-Up: By the Numbers
• 30% reduction in homeless-related calls to Paramedics (2006 to
2008)
• 8% reduction in homelessness (2007 to 2009)
• Drop of 13% in residents’ perception of the seriousness of
homelessness in Santa Monica (2007 to 2009)
• 15 presentations, conversations and learning opportunities with faith,
neighborhood, civic, student, academic and hospitality groups (FY08-09)
• 4 City Departments/Divisions (Rent Control, Police, Fire and
Facilities staff) trained to respond to the needs of homeless
individuals (FY08-09)
Service Registry Update

Elizabeth, a 68 year-old woman who was homeless in Santa Monica for over
10 years, is one of the people on the Service Registry. Last winter
Elizabeth was surveyed and found to be vulnerable and likely to die on
our streets unless she was housed. Six months ago, OPCC Daybreak staff
helped Elizabeth move into her own apartment in Santa Monica. Today
she’s living on her own, part of a micro-enterprise art project, is an
active member of a senior center and stays connected to the strong
Daybreak community.
Nationally, identifying people who are vulnerable, using intensive
interdisciplinary teams and doing “whatever it takes” to get people into
housing is considered a best practice. Since 2004 when the Chronic
Homeless Project launched, the City of Santa Monica and partners have
been using this model and other approaches to help people exit
homelessness.
Additional vulnerable homeless individuals have been added
to the Service Registry, bringing the total number of people on the
Registry to 391. The new individuals were identified by service
providers, the Santa Monica Police Department and the Santa Monica Fire
Department as having been homeless for long periods of time and frequent
users of local resources.
Click here for their outcomes.
Reducing Homelessness:
Innovations and Results
Report to the Santa Monica City Council
April 14, 2009
Innovations,
collaborations and the dedication of an interdisciplinary team have lead
to dramatic results.
Click here to download a copy of the presentation.
Updated
Action Plan to Address Homelessness Approved
In March 2009 the Santa
Monica City Council approved an update to the Action Plan to Address
Homelessness in Santa Monica.
Click here to download the plan.
This page was
last modified on
03/05/2010 |