A new five-year plan to tackle homelessness is coming to Santa Monica.
On Tuesday evening, the city council received and discussed a Homelessness Strategic Plan (HSP) (Agenda, Item 11a) deemed necessary through a 2023 homelessness study conducted by Moss Adams LLP. The city then contracted with consulting firm BerryDunn to develop the HSP built on the city’s Four Pillars Framework to address homelessness, which are:
- Prevention
Goal: Help prevent housed Santa Monicans from becoming homeless through responsive service provision and increasing diverse housing supply so every resident can afford to remain in Santa Monica.
- Intervention
Goal: Minimize the length and severity of homelessness and its impacts on the community by providing effective supportive services.
- Coordination
Goal: Collaborate with key partners in the region and advocate for policies at the local, state, and federal levels to advance strategic goals and help ensure equitable allocation of services and resources. 11 of 24
- Communication
Goal: Coordinate communication to clearly convey the City’s homelessness response and outcomes and promote community input.
Statewide, 40% of the homeless population lives in L.A. County. And the statistics on housing affordability in Santa Monica are troubling. Seventy percent of city resident are renters, and according to a city staff report, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) says, “More than 20.5% of all city renter households are severely housing cost burdened, meaning these households spend more than 50% or more of their income on rent and utilities.” Moreover, “32% of Santa Monica renters are ‘housing at-risk’ as they make less than 80% of the area median income (AMI) [$84,560 per household] and spend more than 30% of their income on housing.” It’s no coincidence that non-payment of rent is the leading cause of evictions for Santa Monica renters.
Two years ago, the Moss Adams study identified 19 recommendations at various priority levels included in the HSP, and the city has made progress on many of them despite budget constraints.
At the heart of the HSP are the Renter Protection Program through a Right to Counsel initiative (RTC) which would provide more households legal representation when facing eviction, and a new Flexible Financial Assistance (FFA) program which would provide payment assistance for some Santa Monicans unable to pay their rent. Eligibility for the RTC and/or FFA would be based on three factors:
- Must be a Santa Monica resident
- Whose household income is at or below 80% AMI [$84,560]
- “Prioritization based on vulnerability factors such as minor children in the home, age, length of tenancy, and disability status”
The current RTC program has a staff of two. The HSP would expand that staff to seven and would enable the city to serve up to 200 additional families. The new FFA program is intended to assist at-risk renters to remain housed and head off a three-day notice to pay or an unlawful detainer filed against them, or to help renters settle a case if they are already receiving RTC services.
There would be three categories of financial assistance in the proposed FFA program:
- “Immediate one-time assistance up to a maximum of $5,000 per household, per year, that are at-risk of losing housing due to a financial emergency.
- Ongoing monthly assistance, totaling no more than $10,000 per household, annually, to help the household maintain housing.
- Up to $20,000 in eviction-prevention financial assistance for households involved in a legal dispute with a renter attempting to evict them (known as an “unlawful detainer,” or “UD”) that are receiving legal services from the RTC program to support tenants in maintaining their housing or, for those who lose their case, support relocation expenses.”
Staff anticipates that the city will be able to help approximately 582 families with the funding provided by the three kinds of financial assistance. Funding of up to $8 million annually would come from Measure GS (a transfer tax passed by voters in 2022 to fund homelessness and other initiatives) funds and not affect the city’s General Fund. Seven million is available from year one GS funds and another million from a one-time grant from the state Prohousing Incentive Program. According to the staff report, city staff “recommend allocating $2 Million of the combined funds to the expanded RTC, and $6 Million to FFA. Appropriations will be incorporated into the FY 2025-27 Biennial Budget.”
The five-year time frame of the plan will allow staff to assess performance and adjust to any changing needs among residents.
Also on Tuesday night’s agenda was a proposed reorganization of the city’s Human Services Division. The Housing and Human Services Department (HHS) arose out of the Moss Adams recommendations. HHS is proposing three new positions in a separate Homeless Prevention and Intervention (HPI) unit outside of HHS that will “allow for more focused management and oversight of homelessness intervention and prevention efforts and allow for more focus in the Human Services Division on advancing services that support youth and families.”
After city staff presented the HSP, department reorganization, and proposed an extension of the Declaration of a Homeless Emergency to the end of 2026, Mayor Pro Tem Caroline Torosis inquired how capable the city would be to provide a right to counsel to everyone who needs it. Torosis cited that the number of unlawful detainer cases is more than 400 per year, but the new funding only proposes to help up to 200 families. Staff responded that after the FFA program gets up and running, they anticipate the assistance will stave off many eviction or UD notice requiring legal protection.
Councilmember Dan Hall was complimentary of staff for “nesting” a strong set of performance metrics within the proposed programs to hold the city accountable for carrying out the RTC, FFA, and meeting other goals. He also proposed that staff increase the priority level of building a rental registry of available units in the city, saying “I do think it has high importance because with that data, we can unlock so many more initiatives to protect our renters in the community and hold bad actor landlords accountable.”
Torosis added, “I want to be clear – this is just the beginning. We have to be intentional and unrelenting in our commitment to keeping people housed.” She also called the expansion of the Right to Counsel program “a no brainer.” She agreed with Hall that the rental registry be prioritized.
Councilmember Natalya Zernitskaya, attending remotely, expressed an aspiration to expand the Right to Counsel program to moderate income levels at some point, recognizing the expense of legal representation.
The tenets of the expanded Renter Protection Program, staff reorganization, and extended emergency declaration on homelessness passed 6-0. Mayor Lana Negrete was absent.
