The City of Santa Monica was recently selected as one of 10 communities nationwide to receive a federal grant to help combat long-term homelessness. 

Officials from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) will present the grant to city leaders on Tuesday, September 13, 2005, at the beginning of the City Council meeting, 6:45 p.m., in the Council Chamber at Santa Monica City Hall, 1685 Main St.

The federal agency announced that Santa Monica will receive over $700,000 for rental subsidies and other costs over two years to provide permanent housing with supportive services to house 30 persons who are chronically homeless and addicted to alcohol. The focus of the grant is Santa Monica’s long-term homeless individuals who are living on the streets and who are addicted to alcohol.  These individuals tend to have the highest utilization of public resources and services such as police, paramedics and hospital emergency rooms. 

The federal grant will provide the rental costs, and the City and homeless providers will provide a match for the supportive services needed to get them into housing and keep them off the streets.  The City of Santa Monica and its partner agencies--CLARE Foundation, OPCC, New Directions, St. Joseph’s Center, Step Up on Second, Venice Family Clinic, LA County Department of Mental Health, local hospitals and others--will provide supportive services during a six-month period of stabilization before placing individuals in permanent housing and will continue the services after they are housed.   

The approach to service delivery will be an expansion of the City’s Chronic Homeless Program, which began in July 2004.  This model uses a multi-disciplinary team to strategically assess the needs of chronically homeless individuals and focus resources on interventions.   

To date, the chronic pilot project has served 25 individuals, who have had an average time of homelessness of 12 years.  Of these individuals, 10 are now permanently housed; 3 are in temporary housing with placements pending; 1 is on the street with placement pending; 8 are homeless and in the process of engagement; 2 are in jail or in the hospital; and 1 passed away. 

The other communities selected for the grant were Chicago, Chattanooga, Contra Costa County, Denver, Jacksonville, New York, San Francisco, San Jose, and Santa Cruz.

The grant was supported by several community organizations and civic leaders, including:

• The Honorable Henry A. Waxman, Member of Congress, 30th District

• The Honorable Bernard J. Kamins, Judge, Superior Court

• CLARE Foundation

• Chrysalis

• Common Ground – Westside HIV Community Center

• Hand to Hand

• Los Angeles County Department of Mental Health

• Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority

• New Directions, Inc.

• OPCC

• St. Joseph Center

• St. John's Health Center

• Santa Monica – UCLA Medical Center

• Side by Side

• Step Up on Second

• Venice Family Clinic