Home for the Homeless

For years, Santa Monica has been regarded as the bastion of liberalism in Southern California, a city as known for its big heart and progressive politics as for its spectacular location on the sea.

But last fall the city council took steps that broke with this image when it passed two ordinances cracking down on the city’s homeless.

The first of the ordinances allows for businesses in one of the sunny metropolis’ main shopping areas to post signs prohibiting the homeless from sleeping in their doorways overnight. The second requires volunteers who hand out free food almost every day to the homeless in the city’s parks to obtain a health permit, as well as an events permit if they serve more than 150 people.

These twin measures have left some local residents wondering if the People’s Republic of Santa Monica, as it has long been called, is becoming Beverly Hills by the Sea.

As has happened recently in other parts of California, it was the business community in large part that persuaded the city council to do something about the approximately one thousand homeless people in Santa Monica.

The merchants complain that the homeless intimidate people, make a mess of their property and otherwise keep tourists away. Many Santa Monica residents are also frustrated, listing the homeless as their number one concern in city surveys for the last four years.

According to Ann Sneddon, a long time Santa Monica resident who is manager of the gift shop at Ye Olde Kingshead Pub and Restaurant, “If you asked the average Santa Monican on the street about the homeless they would just say, we’re fed up.”

But the volunteers who run the now threatened food lines believe they are providing a vital emergency service to the city which does not have enough resources to help all of the homeless.

“They should be applauding us rather than criminalizing us,” argues Moira La Mountain, a volunteer for Helping Other People Eat which serves a hot meal two days a week in a city park.

For many homeless, these meal lines are an essential source of food.

Volunteers who run the food programs are worried that it will be difficult to get the permits and have filed a lawsuit against the city to stop the ordinances from going into effect. They contend that a change in the status quo could lead some of the homeless to become so desperate as to resort to aggressive panhandling and even stealing to get food.

Members of the City Council insist Santa Monica is still liberal and compassionate by most standards. The City contributes more than two million dollars to programs for the homeless, far more per person, officials says, than neighboring cities.

According to Councilwoman Pam O’Connor, who brought the issue to the council’s attention, “If every city did their fair share, made that commitment, then I think there would be some inroads met and Santa Monica wouldn’t be paying the price for doing the right thing. We get all the burdens. We get the impacts.”

For more information about the community services offered by Helping Other People Eat, please contact (310) 399-7020. To learn more about the City of Santa Monica’s assistance programs for homeless and low-income residents, please visit their Human Services division.