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Santa Barbara City Council Makes Its Points on Homelessness
Santa Barbara’s struggle to deal with its homeless population was at the forefront Tuesday as the City Council talked through a 12-point plan it believes will help address the issue. The plan, approved unanimously, is the result of work done by a council subcommittee of members Iya Falcone, Dale Francisco and Helen Schneider, who have been gathering community feedback from a series of nine meetings since June.
Points of the plan include:
» Adoption of a city ordinance more restrictive on solicitation.
» Continue and expand intergovernmental cooperation to curb negative behavior.
» Continue to utilize Police Department deployment strategies to best meet the immediate demands of the community.
» Implement principles of a recovery zone for the Milpas area.
» Encourage coordination and cooperation of street outreach teams and the police department to work with those on the Top 100 open-container offender list.
» Acknowledge the need for more shelter beds for vulnerable populations.
» Consider using Community Development Block Grant and Redevelopment Agency funds for capital improvements in the lower Milpas Street area to mitigate the impact of homelessness.
» Recognize the need for additional detox beds and work with relevant agencies to help them with securing locations and funding for beds for homeless individuals with substance abuse issues.
» Continue and expand the Restorative Policing Program to work with homeless persons with mental illness.
» Work with service providers to secure funding for relocation funds and emergency hotel vouchers and programs to help reconnect people with their families.
» Develop a panhandling and alternate giving campaign.
» Continue looking for opportunities to assist with affordable housing projects, especially permanent supportive housing for homeless individuals.
The comprehensive plan would change policies already in place. For example, one aspect of the plan would identify 100 repeat offenders and charge them with misdemeanors instead of infractions, as is currently the case. Francisco said the idea would provide incentive to stop the cycle of offenses and that key locations — such as the 400, 500 and 600 blocks of State Street — would be targeted because of the number of repeat offenders there.
Curbing aggressive panhandling is also a goal.
“We’re not talking about someone sitting on a bench with a sign,” Francisco said. Bus stops, parking lots and within 25 feet of an ATM machine were several of the locations targeted to have soliciting reined in. Francisco noted the subcommittee had worked hard to preserve constitutional rights and he said people would still be allowed to “quietly solicit.”
Developing an alternate giving campaign for panhandlers was inspired by a Denver program that encourages residents to give money to a general fund to target homelessness instead of individual panhandlers.
The recovery zone around Milpas Street would require conditional-use permits, which would limit the type of alcohol and single-sale containers sold in the Milpas corridor area. Falcone said that these targeted approaches have worked well in cities like Los Angeles and Seattle.
John Buttny, project coordinator for the 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness, spoke during public comment, advocating the addition of a “drop-in center” where people could stay the night while getting on their feet.
“The people we’re dealing with, the chronically homeless, almost 50 percent are mentally ill,” he said. “They just need a place to go.”
Steve Cushman, president of the Santa Barbara Region Chamber of Commerce, said the council plan was comprehensive and well thought out.
“What truly touches me is that we’re probably all one catastrophic illness away from being homeless, and I think you’re treating people with as much dignity and concern as you can,” he said.
Michael Misheler, homeless for several years but who now lives at El Carrillo Apartments, came to the meeting with several homeless friends.
“I don’t think they want any poor here,” he said, adding that it’s not illegal to be homeless. “My dad used to say ‘In America, the only real crime is being poor.’ The longer I live, the more I see that that’s true,” he said.
Others had concerns that the plan didn’t go far enough. Businessman Mike Jordan, who participated in the subcommittee meetings, said more work had to be done with community members, adding that engaging the public will be critical to the plan’s success.
“I’ve also been continually dismayed at what I’ve heard today, the attitudes of entitlement,” Jordan said. “Those are very unmotivating and serve nothing to foster this effort with community members.”
Several members of the business community voiced concern about the effects of homelessness for visitors and business owners. Kathy Janega-Dykes, president of the Santa Barbara Conference & Visitors Bureau and Film Commission, said she supported the plan and panhandling enforcement, without which people felt “unsafe.”
Council discussion pointed to the need for the 12-point plan.
“Every time someone hands over money, it creates a demand for panhandling,” Councilman Grant House said.
“We as a community do have the responsibility for compassion,” said Councilman Das Williams, who added that panhandlers often will use money for drugs and alcohol, resulting in a kind of “slow suicide.” Williams said “compassion does not go along with handing them the gun to shoot themselves with.”
The council agreed that the subcommittee will meet in 60 days to discuss its progress and will return to the council in a year with a status report.
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
Comments
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» on 02.25.09 @ 01:25 AM
“What truly touches me is that we’re probably all one catastrophic illness away from being homeless, and I think you’re treating people with as much dignity and concern as you can,”
Never a truer word spoken. I am an educated man, I am articulate, I am fit, I am healthy. I am just recovering from the sharp end of PTSD. I served my country and saw things that almost broke me. As a result of this I almost lost everything as I could’nt function in normal situations.
I was lucky I had an amazing family support network but it could have so easily gone the other way.
There by the grace of god go I….
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» on 02.25.09 @ 02:28 AM
Mr. Cushman thinks that we’re all one catastrophic illness away from being homeless? Nice soundbite, but not grounded in reality. I guess the SBRCC bought some PR lessons.
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» on 02.25.09 @ 05:24 AM
Wow, that actually sounds like a pretty thorough and effective plan for combating homelessness. Way to go, city counsel. I especially like the idea for a central fund for people to donate money, instead of giving to individual panhandlers.
We’ll just have to see how much of this talk translates into action.
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» on 02.25.09 @ 05:26 AM
Helene Schneider was the Leadership Committee Co-Chair for the 160 page “Santa Barbara County-wide 10-Year Plan to End Chronic Homelessness”. I do not see any other city councilmembers involved in that major work.
As is typical for social issues, prevention and early intervention look like the best way to spend the community funds. Nice report.
Plan Chapters
Goal 1: Intervening in Chronic Homelessness Before it Repeats and in Homelessness
Before it Becomes Chronic
Goal 2: Reaching Out, Engaging, Serving, and Treating Chronically Homeless
People
Goal 3: Supportive Housing Ends Homelessness
Goal 4: Ending Chronic Homelessness by Increasing Incomes to Sustain Housing and
Reach Self-Sufficiency
Goal 5: Financing a Comprehensive System of Housing, Services and Treatment
Goal 6: Plan Administration, Coordination and Implementation
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» on 02.25.09 @ 07:22 AM
The idea of a “central fund” to collect contributions is absurd. Any money collected this way will be diverted to bureaucratic systems which will certainly take a good piece of the acation and then dole the remainder out in a diluted and “politically correct” manner.
Direct charity is a the most efficient way to provide help to the needy.
What is really going on here is an attempt to impose middle class values on others. We are to give only to the “deserving poor” which of course eliminates the dirty, ugly, cantankerous.
I for one will continue to give alms directly.
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» on 02.25.09 @ 07:37 AM
That Iya ego show on this item during the CouncIl meeting yesterday was pathetic. She read at great length, with great theatrical voice, the staff report and left a token part of the presentation to the other two councilmembers also on that committee.
So, so obvious.
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» on 02.25.09 @ 08:02 AM
Good… It’s about frickin’ time. I remember when I use to be able to walk a block on State Street without being asked for money. Now I get asked 4-5 times in about two blocks on my way to lunch. Unacceptable.
I live down by the beach and these scavengers commit daily property crimes against residents, violate the Santa Barbara Municipal Code as if it was their duty.
These bums make all kinds of tourists and visitors that are *actually supporting our local economy* feel uncomfortable, pestered, and frightened as they walk from their hotel to the train station, passing these filthy degenerates, drinking 40’s at 9 in the morning on the street, and sorting the recycling they’ve just stolen on the sidewalk outside the houses of residents who PAY to live in a beautiful city.
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» on 02.25.09 @ 08:29 AM
They also need to approve an ordinance making it a crime to possess shopping carts on city streets. It is a joke how many people use shopping carts along with their family members to transport their goods. The homeless also use shopping carts to “raid” the recycling bins in many neighborhoods. Many of these people have committed theft when they left the property of the shopping cart owners; those who are simply using the carts are in possession of stolen property when they nonchalantly stroll around with these carts.
I also would like to thank the City Council for building the new homeless half way house on 210 West Carrillo Street. Now every day driving to and from work I observe numerous homeless loitering, drinking alcohol, and wandering around between State Street and the 101 Freeway overpass, one of our city’s main corridors to the Downtown. I would not want my wife or daughter walking this stretch of road. Great thinking city council!
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» on 02.25.09 @ 11:22 AM
I should be a bum for a few days. That way i wouldn’t have to buy my own beer for a while. I can have people give me money(makes them feel good) and i get my beer for free. Thats a win win situation right there.
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» on 02.25.09 @ 01:00 PM
Good thinking there DBD! And you can sleep in the dirt and bushes by the railroad tracks, figure out where you are going to use the bathroom between the 7:00’s, and perhaps contract a good case of MHRSA while your’e at it. You will want to bring a good weapon, as a homeless murderer is still on the loose - but what are the odds there? Or perhaps you would find some enjoyment sleeping a few inches away from a smelly, snoring mental health case in a shelter room filled with 100 other people and showering near the toilets with them in the morning. Its good to be a “bum” right DBD?
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» on 02.25.09 @ 03:02 PM
I do appreciate the spirit of this action. However,
Be careful not to violate human rights!
Every human, no matter how repulsive they are, has the right to eat and sleep in public unless they are somehow violating other peoples human rights. Pan-handling is not illegal. Be careful how you define “aggressive panhandling”. Is it truly harassment? What defines harassment? The City of San Diego lost their misdemeanor ticketing program to prevent homeless people from sleeping and loitering on public property in Federal Court.
Before Santa Barbara starts ticketing people who often don’t show up to court, which creates court fines that can’t be paid, which leads to jail time and the wasting of the police’s and courts time, please contact the,
San Diego Coalition For The Homeless
4101 University Avenue
San Diego, California 92105
Office Phone: 619-281-1815 or 619-281-1543
Fax: 619-281-4561
This plan with good intentions could get real expensive, real fast. San Diego’s attorneys got it wrong and it cost their City big $$$ fighting in federal court and wasting police and court time as well.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20060415/news_1n15homeless.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/1220/p12s02-usju.html
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» on 02.25.09 @ 06:36 PM
I am sick to death of going to the 7-11 on Castillo Street and constantly being hassled for loose change. I am to the point where I am just ignoring them and not even acknowledging their existence. I am really sick and tired of them.
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» on 03.04.09 @ 08:54 AM
Let’s fix the homeless problem by giving out cute coupons for love and coffee. Free Starbucks is exactly what is needed to get homeless people to turn their lives around. Here is a better idea, stop giving handouts! You people posting here proudly flaunting how you will keep giving them your change, you are only perpetuating the problem.
New plan: give them city-sponsored jobs cleaning the trash off streets, planting trees, tending gardens, etc. In return, they can get housing and meals.
Give a man a buck, and he’ll buy a beer. Give a man a compassion coupon, and he’ll flick you off. Offer him a job (and no handouts), and he’ll decide whether or not to take pride in himself… or leave for more handouts.
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» on 03.04.09 @ 11:26 AM
Has the city made any effort to determine how many of the homeless are natives? I’ve had many conversations with homeless people, who invariably tell me that they’re from XYZ. (Not Santa Barbara.) They arrive here by bus, already homeless. No joke, these people have some kind of networking ability and, apparently, Santa Barbara isn’t a bad destination if you’re homeless.
I do notice the turnover; some homeless people move on to other locales while fresh bodies continue to arrive, staking out new panhandling stations. It’s one thing if we’re dealing with problems exclusively encountered by regional residents. But building more shelter beds will just increase the migration if we’re dealing with a mobile homeless population.
Regarding the news above of a ruling by the 9th circuit court of appeals: I don’t believe there’s much chance that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree with their analysis. The 9th circuit court of appeals is most assuredly the goofiest, most left-leaning-court in the federal appeals system.
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» on 03.05.09 @ 03:09 PM
As a general interest item to any one who might know: Does the VA West LA still cover Casa Esperanza and other homeless services venues? Who is the field rep/outreach worker these days?
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» on 03.18.09 @ 03:18 AM
I just moved from Santa Barbara because of harasament from the INFAMOUS FOUR HORSEMAN.I felt that my being homeless is a major crime in SB.So as to the proposed panhandling laws,I see this as a another way to give the SB police another tool to continue their WAR.Before you continue down this path you should look at cities like San louis obisbo,Eugene,OR,who have also gone down this WRONG path.As a result of this they ended up killing their downtown.Ask yourself when you arrest or runoff all the homeless WHO do you blame then?
GIVE YOUR MONEY TO THE PEOPLE a fund decreases the money for homeless by adding admin costs of the program.
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