"More needs to be done by educating them and finding them jobs."
Oct. 1, 2014 Whitney Scott Bain

"With the loss of councilmembers Bobby Shriver and Richard Bloom, we have yet to see an elected [official] champion the homeless issue. With a regional population of chronically homeless around 50-60k or 10% of national population, we need to work with surrounding cities to end homelessness. Santa Monica does more than any other city, and is home to one of the most successful non- profits in the country (OPCC) in terms of recidivism, boasting a 35% higher success rate than the national average. It is important to realize that this is not just our problem, its everybody's problem and other cities need to step up."
Oct. 1, 2014 Nick Boles

"Santa Monica is a compassionate city with concerned, giving residents but... there's a limit. With all of our social programs we still have a substantial homeless population on our streets each night. The Veterans Administration needs to step up and do their share to help our efforts. Our City Attorney must also devise ordinances that do not encourage the chronic homeless to stay on our streets nightly."
Oct. 1, 2014 Phil Brock

"The City has over 20 years, often through trial and error, achieved a good balance of providing effective social services to get homeless people off the streets and into housing (particularly with the 'housing first' model), and enforcement of standards of behavior that must apply to everyone."
Oct. 1, 2014 Frank Gruber

"I personally experience a tremendous PTSD due to our homeless situation. Everywhere you look you see a person who has been cast out by society by their own behavior, such as drug addiction or alcoholism, or the fact that they've been beset by mental illness. This doesn't even begin to address the percentage of criminal element that exists amongst the homeless population. Homeless-on-citizen crime is increasing as a serious problem, as well as homeless-on-homeless crime. The criminal element of the homeless population looks upon our mentally ill homeless, or other homeless in general, as easy targets. Better enforcement and more support for our SMPD and SMFD should be encouraged to help with this issue."
Oct. 1, 2014 Terence Later

"In the past five years, despite the Great Recession, the number of homeless people suffering on Santa Monica streets has decreased by 20%. That is very significant progress.

No one small city can ever solve what is a regional and national disgrace, the result of decades of allowing social safety nets to fray and fail. Still, we cannot walk away from this issue. We have to put our heads and hearts toward solving it.

I’ve been active on homelessness since the 80s, and, with the adoption of our 2008 'Action Plan,' began shifting our efforts from temporary support towards ongoing, truly transformative change.

I helped move outdoor feeding programs indoors, where people are treated with dignity and connected with services, not just fed for a few hours. I championed the concept of 'housing first,' which actually saves us money in many ways, including by reducing emergency calls.

I will continue our concerted efforts to focus City services and resources on the most vulnerable homeless individuals, while encouraging all people without homes to make productive use of our offered services, become more stable, move into appropriate housing, and remain housed. Over time, our efforts have proven effective, humane, and socially sustainable."
Oct. 1, 2014 Kevin McKeown

"Homelessness remains an issue both for the community and for the homeless. Too many people are homeless in Santa Monica. Moving homeless off the street directly into accommodation and then clustering social and health services around them for intensive care is working in a variety of settings. It is our next step here. Homelessness is an amalgam of issues including mental health, despair, depression, poverty. Our job as a community is to break the cycle and massively intervene on behalf of the homeless. That will, in turn, lead to the acceptable social outcome favored by the community of less homeless on the street."
Oct. 1, 2014 Richard McKinnon

"The homeless population is not trained to get out of the cycle of homelessness. Instead they are infantilized and harassed by the city police and firefighters. Homelessness scare tourists, visitors and locals alike. because of the mental issues associated with homelessness. At the end of the day, they are PEOPLE like US, who might have issues, but they are still people. They are our brothers and sisters, they are in need and desperate for our compassion. We cannot sweep them under the rug. I want to work with the business community in finding the BEST solution for everyone. This is where community should come together in the private and not-for-profit sector."
Oct. 1, 2014 Zoë Muntaner

"The City has developed data-driven and innovative approaches to address its fair-share of the homeless population. Efforts including the Chronic Homeless Project and its Service Registry and Project Homecoming have resulted in permanent housing as well as reunification with family for previously homeless individuals. The City maintains a Homeless Management Information System to provide accurate measurement of the effectiveness of homeless programs."
Oct. 1, 2014 Pam O'Connor