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Homeless Call Downtown Home |
By Jorge Casuso
November 26 -- The Downtown area continues to claim the
highest concentration of homeless in Santa Monica, with nearly 100
more people counted on the streets and in shelters this year than
in 2005.
About one third of the homeless counted (376) on a January night
in Santa Monica lived on the streets or in shelters in the census
tract bordered by Wilshire, Pico and Lincoln boulevards down to
the water’s edge, according to the 2007 Greater Los Angeles
Homeless Count.
That represented an increase of 91 individuals from the 285 counted
in the Downtown area – including the beach and in the bluffs
– over the course of one night two years ago.
The census, conducted by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority
(LAHSA), projected that another 152 homeless individuals lived around
the Downtown, bringing the total number to 528, based in part on
telephone interviews with property owners.
City officials are trying to determine why the numbers increased
in the Downtown area over the past two years, said Stacey Rowe,
a human services administrator with the City who handles homeless
issues.
“They’re better at counting,” Rowe said of the
census workers. “This was certainly a better organized census
this year, and it was the second time around.”
Since the count was taken more than nine months ago, the City has
boosted its efforts to reach out to Downtown’s homeless population,
Rowe said.
“This happened at the end of January,” she said. “Since
then, we’ve expanded and concentrated some of our outreach
efforts on the (Third Street) Promenade.”
The increase in Downtown’s homeless population defies a general
drop in the number of individuals who live in Santa Monica without
a home – 1,506 this year, down from 1,991 in 2005, or a 25
percent drop.
Of those, the numbers living on the streets, as opposed to shelters
and other temporary housing, was 661, down from 949 two years ago,
or a 30 percent drop.
“Obviously, if the numbers went up (Downtown), they were down
somewhere else,” Rowe said. “It’s nice to see
things trending in the direction the community wants them to go.”
City officials credited the citywide drop to a shift in focus from
providing temporary services to finding housing for the “chronic
homeless,” those who have lived on the streets the longest.
“We have continued to expand and refine the focus on the chronic
street population,” said Julie Rusk, who is in charge of homeless
services for the City. “I think some of the improvements we’ve
made hopefully have decreased that number.”
According to the latest census, the homeless continued to gather
in large numbers in the Downtown area, where there are plenty of
workers and visitors to panhandle, multiple parks where they can
tuck themselves in between bushes and a number of agencies that
provide shelter and services, City officials said.
In the Downtown area, the number of homeless living on the streets
increased from 223 two years ago to 266 this year, while those staying
in shelters nearly doubled from 62 to 110, according to the census.
Despite the increase Downtown, Santa Monica’s count reflected
a countywide decrease in the nation’s largest homeless population
– from 88,345 in 2005 to 73,000 homeless this year, a 17 percent
decline.
Almost half were chronic homeless, meaning they suffer from at least
one disability and have lived on the streets for an extended period.
The federally required biannual study found that on a given night
in the Los Angeles Continuum of Care service area a total of 68,608
people are homeless.
Of those, 57,166 people (83 percent) live on the street and 11,442
people (17 percent) live in either emergency shelters or transitional
housing facilities, according to County officials.
In addition, the study estimates that during the course of a year,
an estimated 152,261 people are homeless in the county.
“While the numbers are lower, Los Angeles remains the ‘homeless
capital’ of the nation,” said Rebecca Isaacs, LAHSA’s
executive director. “The situation is still extremely serious.
“Clearly, a great deal of work remains to be done to reduce
and end homelessness in our County,” Isaacs said.
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