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Forum Tackles Topic of Homelessness-Mental Health Link
About two hundred people crowded into the Santa Barbara Central Library’s Faulkner Gallery on Friday night as a handful of panelists discussed the relationship between homelessness and mental health.
As participants packed into the standing room-only gallery, panelists from Santa Barbara, San Diego and Kern County were all present to talk about the issues that Santa Barbara County and the state face with the homeless.
The community has experienced a rash of homeless deaths just this year — 27 as of earlier this week. Panelists were first asked what could be done to prevent another death in the community.
Mike Foley, executive director of Casa Esperanza, said that many county agencies don’t keep a count of the deaths.
“If you called the coroner’s office, they wouldn’t know,” said Foley, who added that the only reason an accurate number was known was that social worker Ken Williams keeps a tally as he works with the homeless daily.
“We know that housing first works,” Foley said. “When we decide we’re going to do housing first, the number of deaths will drop.”
He said the community would have to decide what it would tolerate.
“One death is one death too many,” said another panelist, 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf. She said she discovered one caseworker at Casa Esperanza can have as many as 150 people assigned to their caseload, a number far too great to be effective.
Wolf also said she called the Sheriff’s Department and obtained information on 20 of the deaths, whose causes ranged from overdose to accidents to natural causes — and some still undetermined. She said she’d like to see more research done on the deaths and presented to decision makers.
Another question was asked involving veterans and what should be done to support military personnel returning from the front lines in Afghanistan and Iraq.
Wolf said there were more than 32,000 veterans in Santa Barbara County, and, while not all of them have mental health issues, many have needs that are unaddressed.
“It’s disgraceful to me that we cannot find them the care we need,” she said, calling it a “moral imperative.”
Shannon Jones, director of the Consumer Advocacy Coalition’s branch in Kern County, said she’d like to see more support groups that are specific to common issues faced by returning vets.
Patrice Maniaci, co-founder of NAMI Front Line, a group dedicated to veterans’ mental health, agreed and said that the support groups NAMI has establishd have been a huge help for veterans’ families, who often come forward about mental health issues before service members will.
By incorporating families into the support groups, Maniaci said, “we’ve saved numerous families from divorce.”
The panelists were also asked about their thoughts on “magnet theory,” the presumption that if services and housing are provided for the homeless, more will migrate from outside communities.
“That myth is ridiculous,” said panelist Paul Cummings, 2009 NAMI Consumer of the Year. “It’s a great investment to invest in people.”
Foley said there are serious homeless problems across the country and that the entire Pacific Coast struggles with the issue, not just Santa Barbara.
CAC executive director Roger Thompson said Santa Barbara County spends $36 million per year on the homeless population, and that half of that amount went to serving just under 1,000 chronically homeless residents.
But the large amount spent doesn’t mean the county is providing the homeless with $36 million in services, Foley said. He suggested much more could be saved by actually housing people.
In reality, most of those expenses go toward paying the costs of “reacting to homelessness,” said Foley, and include things like trips to the emergency room.
When faced with what to do about the problem, nearly all stressed the importance of education and volunteerism. People wanting to get involved are also encouraged to sign up for CAC and donate money and time.
And as badly needed as financial donations are to the cause, Maniaci said, “what’s really worth it is your time and becoming aware of mental illness.”
— Noozhawk staff writer Lara Cooper can be reached at .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address).
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» on 12.05.09 @ 07:54 AM
Many of the homeless people do not want or choose to be in a shelter or program. They choose to be homeless with all the consequences. Those that want to be in a program should be contacted by those agencies or the police and place in a shelter that meets their needs. The issue is that we cannot force a homeless person to be in a program or even stay in a program and they voluntarily return to the street creating the problem we know have. The word gets out among the homeless population that Santa Barbara is safe and we create the large homeless population we know have.
» on 12.05.09 @ 09:19 AM
The military needs to step up and take responsibility for the lives they’ve used and destroyed. Lois Capps are you listening. Federal legislation. Also the State could sue the federal government for the funds. Even if they don’t win the law suit the press would have a field day shaming the stupid politicians who start wars.
» on 12.05.09 @ 09:37 AM
I did not attend this panel discussion but have been engaged for more than a decade in this issue. First of all, deaths happen and there should be an acknowledgement (a) that there will be the normal rate of death among the homeless population and (b) there will be an increased rate due to additional risk factors, most of which are beyond the control of the community. Ken, doing a good thing in his work, is NOT qualified to be the source of data about homeless death. He is an advocate and an idealogue (not a bad thing) and therefore not impartial enough to provide the facts about who died when of what cause.
On the larger issue of the connection between mental illness and homelessness, let’s stay on the basics: The loss of family order and the safety net it provides is at the root of our chaos. Without an emphasis on nuclear family—and an old-world commitment to extended family being responsible for one another—there is just too much that cannot be done. Our society needs GOD, FAMILY and SELFLESSNESS (any two of these!!) to deal with our sad human condition; not government agencies, more social programs, studies or reports.
» on 12.05.09 @ 01:27 PM
I do not believe there is an example anywhere in this country where a community took care of its homeless population in a dignified, respectful, compassion manner that was a magnet for new homeless attracted from other parts of the country. If there is an example, please post and I’ll stand corrected.
There may be a small segment of the homeless that choose to live outdoors, but more practically it is a logical statement that a person might make when there is not a good alternative and the path to recovery and getting back into the housed and working society seems impossible. Offer a better opportunity and very few will choose the harsh life of being homeless.
Regarding governments and social services. I don’t think any of the three commenters thus far attended the meeting. The talk was about hope and opportunity and solutions.
If private industry did such a thing they would. If insurance companies provided job training and housing they would. They don’t. Thankfully someone in our history of government thought of its people.
Question, after social security was created by FDR did the following decades - economically - in the United States improve or decline?
A panelist mentioned a place where the public does take care of its own with no government assistance, I looked it up, and here it is:
Geel, Belgium: A Model of “Community Recovery”
Jul 23, 2009 ... Many sought such treatment by making their way to Geel, Belgium, ... In the United States, as we strive to implement mental health programs ... faculty.samford.edu/~jlgoldst/
I believe this would be something TrailHead’s is referring to, and their family would open their homes to help. It has been done in Geel, and I am sure we can accommodate the homeless here. We don’t need to invent Geel’s voluntary community culture, rather we just need to do it.
After all, this is Santa Barbara, a community with pride and intelligence.
After all there is no guarantee we won’t be one of those homeless in the future. I’ll bet none of the the afflicted ever planned to be homeless.
» on 12.05.09 @ 01:41 PM
Glad we solved that problem. Next.
» on 12.05.09 @ 08:30 PM
If the 36 million dollar price of helping 1000 homeless a year is correct…...then we are seeing complete and utter failure on the part of all involved. I am hoping that the number is completely wrong..because it amounts to more than 300,000 per person. Between the costs of the prisons and the homeless…it makes me wonder why anyone works…...I would love to see an audit of that 36 million…..seems like something very wrong is going on. And a lot of people are making bank off our homeless population.
» on 12.06.09 @ 08:09 AM
“Education and volunteerism”? Yes, certainly. But how about having those folks living on the public streets and by-ways also be volunteers? How about some trash pickup, instead of trash littering, for instance? It’s an oxymoron to say required volunteerism, but, really, they, the apparently homeless, would get much more sympathy if they were part of the solution(s) as well as being part of the problems.
The rest of us, those of us living here, housed one way or another, often struggling to be housed, are urged over and over again by well-paid public employees: volunteer to help your neighbor. Well, volunteerism starts at the top and continues through the bottom…..
» on 12.06.09 @ 08:27 AM
$36,000,000 is not being spent to HELP the homeless, $36,000,000 is being spent to manage the homeless via ambulance trips, ER visits, jailing, courts, sheltering and food. If our system moved towards housing first, rather than managing the homeless and tolerating homelessness, millions of dollars and people would be saved. The fact is that over 3,000 homeless people access shelter services every year in Santa Barbara County. Another 2,000-3,000 do not access shelter care. The majority of these people are addicts, and the real reason most of them do not access shelter care is because they cannot go 10-12 hours without access to their addictive substance - the excuses not to access shelter care are just that - excuses that addicts use to feed the insidious scourge of addiction. At the same time, many will not enter shelter care because human beings were designed to sleep 36 inches away from each other in groups of 200 - many cannot cope with that. That is why we so desperately need the housing first model in Santa Barbara County.
» on 12.06.09 @ 09:38 AM
Tracy 314, The number is WAAAAAY wrong. It is too low…the real costs are much higher. If you ask Mike Brown, the county administrator (he actually runs the county)what his internal audit revealed about the cost of homelessness, mental health and the basket of issues that go along with it—law enforcement, health care services, probation department, etc—he’ll tell you the cost to our county is gigantic. As a proportion of the entire budget it is shocking.
Money will not solve this problem. Ever. Nor will “being an intelligent and caring community.” Take a look at a non-public money funded recovery program that has been happening (and succeeding) for generations right here in our town—The Rescue Mission. Yes, it is faith based, openly committed to its Christ-called agenda to seek justice, help the poor and release the captives (from their addictions). Not so politically correct these days…but full of compassion. It works, too.
» on 12.06.09 @ 11:58 AM
“...if you ask Mike Brown” prefaces your remarks, then “..openly committed to Christ” concludes your remarks….....sounds like remnants of Mike Brown’s declarations about his views of “islam” or his views of the “secular university”.......no, instead of asking Mike brown about the cost of homelessness—let’s ask him about the costs of his failed leadership, tyrannical outbursts, etc. That’s where the public’s dollars have truly been sacrificed over the past dozen or so years that his reign has dominated.
» on 12.06.09 @ 07:10 PM
Wikipedia is not Encyclopedia Britannica but it is useful as in intro to many subjects, such as homelessness:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homelessness_in_the_United_States
It is not just in our county:
http://www.endhomelessness.org/files/2490_file_Geography_of_Homelessness_Part_2.pdf
Read info from organizations like “Alliance to End Homelessness”
http://www.endhomelessness.org/
Most importantly, we have tremendous knowledge here. Read up on Mike Foley, take him up on his offer to tour Casa Esperanza, listen to what he says ... he is amazing, and he is right here in Santa Barbara:
http://www.independent.com/news/2008/feb/07/can-mike-foley-house-santa-barbaras-homeless/
http://casa-esperanza.org/ (805) 884.8481
Mike’s passion and community support is what we need, and he is already here!
For more Santa Barbara related media Casa Esperanza has a link:
http://casa-esperanza.org/cm/Media.html
We can do it!
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