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CITY OF H lJ TI
City Council Interoffice CommunicationrH
To: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members
From: Billy O'Connell, City Council Member
Date: March 27, 2017
Subject: CITY COUNCIL MEMBER ITEM FOR THE APRIL 3, 2017, CITY
COUNCIL MEETING — CONSIDER ESTABLISHING A CITY
COUNCIL AD HOC COMMITTEE ON HOMELESSNESS.
STATEMENT OF ISSUE:
In March 2015, the City Council established a seven (7) member Homeless Task
Force to make recommendations to the City Council regarding how to address
homelessness within the City. Over the ensuing year, the task force established six (6)
sub -committees with the goal of reviewing best practices in the areas of policing,
housing, coordination of services, economic self-sufficiency, and health services, and
developing specific next action steps for the City Council's review and consideration.
The Homeless Task Force presented its findings to the City Council at a study
session on March 21, 2016, and offered solutions in each of the categories the sub-
committees studied and evaluated. While some progress has been made on
implementing the short-term recommendations contained in the report,no
subsequent Council discussion or action was taken on the task force's o t h e r
recommendations. As such, to ensure a comprehensive plan is developed, a
prioritization for implementation of Task Force recommendations needs to be made.
Despite an informative presentation on homeless outreach efforts made by the
Police Department and Office of Business Development at the Council's February
21, 2017, study session, the City lacks a comprehensive strategy or plan that
define specific goals, objectives, action steps, milestones and implementation costs.
It is imperative that the City Council give city management direction on how to proceed.
RECOMMENDED ACTION:
Mayor to establish a City Council Ad Hoc Committee to work with key stakeholders to
formulate a homelessness workplan based upon the recommendations of the
Homeless Task Force for the Council's further review and action.
Xc: Fred Wilson, City Manager
Ken Domer, Assistant City Manager
Robin Estanislau, City Clerk
Kellee Fritzal, Deputy Director, Business Development
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The Six Fallacies of Homelessness
By Ralph Bauer, April 3, 2017
Number One:
"We will never provide housing#or the homeless in Huntington Beach."
Answer: This is of itself an unrealistic comment. The homeless are homeless because there are
no homes available to them. Without homes for the homeless, the problems will never be
solved.
A reasonable proposal is to put a housing program for veterans on the five -acre county -owned
transfer station, as was recently done in Midway City. The County is currently looking for county
owned sites and American Family Housing would again get involved. One fundraiser indicated
that she can raise $50,000 as seed money for such a project.
Number Two:
"If we built facilities and have a homeless program we will just attract more homeless, so we
should just do nothing."
Answer: The County has been divided into three regions, each of which can address
homelessness as a group of cities. If Huntington Beach will lead, the others will follow. Further
it has been shown that the homeless are territorial and tend not to move.
Number Three:
"We are humanitarian and give them food and clothing."
Answer: What is being done in that regard is noteworthy and a good first step; however, just
food and clothing tends to sustain homelessness. Without counseling, housing, medical help
and job opportunities, the homeless problem will never be solved. An improved coordination
effort of resource organizations can provide substantial help in addressing homelessness.
Number Four:
"Many homeless just don't want help."
Answer: Whether they accept help or not, depends upon how they are asked and who asks
them. In many cases they turn down help because they are trying to retain their self-respect.
They know there is no housing and they may be threatened with arrest. Lloyd Pendleton, of
Utah, has headed a program which has reduced hard core homeless who did not want help
from 1,932 people to 178. Mr. Pendleton is available as a consultant and there is private money
for transportation to and housing in Huntington Beach if the city will pay his consulting fee.
Number Five:
'IF we harass them and threaten them with arrest, they will go away."
Answer: Homelessness is not a crime. It is illegal to arrest the homeless as vagrants or on other
similar charges. The homeless may tend toward offenses like petty theft, public defecation and
urination, and prostitution. These are all illegal, but are consequences of homelessness. Arrest
has not stopped homelessness. Even if they are incarcerated high recidivism means they will be
back. Further, actions like arrest invite lawsuits which cost money to defend. According to a
report on the homeless, there have been 125 arrests in Huntington Beach in connection with
the homeless program. Further, it is alleged by some that the new prosecutor in Huntington
Beach will have the charge to prosecute the homeless. Doing this will not solve the problem,
since it does not address the causes of homelessness.
Number Six:
"We just can't afford to spend city money on the homeless."
Answer: A number of credible studies have shown that providing housing is cheaper than the
overheaded costs of non -housed homeless. Further, a properly constituted volunteer
organization can raise money to address homelessness. An outside organization like Coast -to
Coast does not know the city and cannot raise the funds needed.
CLOSING COMMENTS
To help Huntington Beach solve the homelessness problem in a realistic fashion we would urge
the City Council to support Councilmember O'Connell's proposal.