Almost four hundred years ago, Thomas Hobbes argued that the social contract meant trading freedom for security. That the State of Nature is a war against all. The sovereign must protect us, if we are to not endlessly kill and plunder one another.
This theory, admittedly not fully articulated here, always bothered me. I wanted to believe that humanity was more courageous, more rooted in morality than corporal fear.
But throughout history we see that Hobbes was often right. When violence strikes, people are often happy to jettison their moral beliefs in exchange for safety, security and predictability.
When I look at Santa Monica and the current "Homeless Emergency" I see acts that threaten our otherwise moral path — violent attacks perpetrated by homeless residents, that threaten to unravel our humanitarian agenda.
We spend millions on assisting our homeless residents — money that could well be spent elsewhere — inherently suggesting the conflict in diverting money away from libraries and parks and giving it to aid the people who make those spaces unsafe?
We have chosen time and time again to continue to be a bastion of humanitarian support. But for how much longer when we feel physically, financially and psychologically threatened by a population that arguably has the least investment in our city or its future?
When the pendulum swings, it often swings too far.
Please don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying we shouldn’t be helping the unhoused in Santa Monica. In fact, I’m arguing the opposite, that it is our duty to help them, but that if we can’t find a solution to the current safety issues, it will become very difficult to justify continuing to support homeless outreach and aid.
So, if we care about the unhoused, we must find solutions and we must find them quickly.
For context, here are a few recent disturbing episodes in our city:
• In March a homeless man smacked six-year-old child in the face, knocking them to the ground. The child was peacefully walking on Main Street after getting an ice cream. Then a few days later, the same man smacked another child in Venice.
• In May a homeless man was arrested for stabbing two German tourists in an "unprovoked incident".
• Also in May, another homeless man was "yelling incoherently", when unprovoked he approached and pushed a 73-year-old woman to the ground.
• And finally, a few weeks ago, a homeless man grabbed a jogging woman on the beach path by her ponytail and attempted to drag her to the nearby restroom.
What does a city do? The homeless have rights — as they should. But how does one faithfully and morally insure that small children aren’t indiscriminately smacked in the face or a young woman who wants to jog on the beach isn’t terrifyingly attacked in what was believed to be an attempted sexual assault?
The answer for now, is that I don’t have one.
I have reached out to the SMPD as well as Heather Averick, the Director of Housing and Human Services for Santa Monica, in hopes that they can shed light on what’s going on? I’m told we will be meeting soon, so hopefully they will be able to offer some clarity.
In the meantime, here are a few ideas — for which I hope experts can vet.
From my perspective, we need more initial avenues of contact with our homeless population as they enter our city, so that those who pose a danger to themselves and others are more quickly identified and helped before they’re able to cause harm.
One idea is to station outreach folks at areas where the LA Metro terminates: The Expo line stations near the promenade and SMC… The stops of the 33 and 720 bus lines near the promenade and other services. The areas around the beach where homeless enter from Venice… Let’s meet them and offer services, directing them to help immediately.
Another, more controversial and complicated idea is to copy what New York City has done. In 2015 they started HOME-STAT (Homeless Outreach & Mobile Engagement Street Action Teams), which is a city-wide case management and outreach program.
NYC’s HOME-STAT surveys high concentration areas and coordinates with 311 to create by-name relationships with individuals and ultimately a citywide case management system to track them.
Santa Monica has outreach, but as far as I know it does not have a uniform case management system that works in tandem with LA County.
It could also assist Street Medicine practitioners and social workers in tracking individuals needs and helping them to attain the services that would most benefit them. This might help create real accountability for homeless people who use our city’s services and track each services’ effectiveness over time.
I don’t want to live in a Hobbesian Society, but I don’t want to live in fear either. Courage quickly becomes foolishness when you allow a clear danger to grow and exist unabated.
There must be clear effective action if we are to keep our moral compass. Let’s see what SMPD and Ms. Averick say…
Miles Warner is a Santa Monica parent and resident.
