In Tuesday’s meeting, Council voted unanimously to support California Proposition 1 at the request of Councilmembers Caroline Torosis, Jesse Zwick and Mayor Gleam Davis.
According to the item’s accompanying notes, the extreme housing shortage coupled with the exorbitant cost of living throughout the State of California has led to the prevailing crisis of homelessness and housing insecurity.
"California State Proposition 1 will transform our state’s mental health system. This landmark proposition will reallocate billions of dollars to Californians with the most severe mental health needs, including those living in encampments and those with the highest problems with addiction and substance use," it says.
"Proposition 1 is going to be on the March 5th 2024 California primary ballot and this is important for a variety of reasons. This is formally known as Treatment not Tents and it’s going to be the largest infrastructure overhaul for the mental health services system in the state of California in decades," Torosis said, adding, "Quite frankly, we know that the system that we have designed is not working for us across the state and we know that we don’t have enough resources to combat our growing homelessness and behavioral health crisis."
"This proposition will reallocate billions of dollars to Californians with the most severe mental health needs, including those living in encampments with addiction and substance abuse disorders. And it’s all told, set to create over 11,000 new housing beds in various different settings. It would be a $6.38 billion bond and provide additional expanded service for tens of thousands of Californians," said Torosis.
"I don’t think it’s reasonable for the City of Santa Monica to solve this crisis alone. We sure didn’t get here alone. And I absolutely think it’s incumbent upon us to urge our elected officials and our constituents to support this important overhaul to the rental health services act," she said.
Davis added, "Supporting this proposition would be very much in line with our stated budgetary priorities of a clean and safe Santa Monica, as well as addressing the ongoing issue of homelessness. So I think this is something that we already have recognized as something we need to do and having the state recognize that it needs to commit more resources will be very helpful."
Councilmember Oscar de la Torre rounded off the quorum’s comments by adding a very personal note, "I have a younger brother who was diagnosed with a paranoid schizophrenia and he has unfortunately been through the criminal justice system and every time that he went to jail, he came out worse. And now, fortunately, he’s in a hospital, getting treatment and we’re seeing some progress. So I present the importance of having a different approach and I think this funding will expand those types of services that are sorely needed in our society. So I urge everybody to support this."
The motion to support the proposition and direct the City Manager to issue a press release, together with letters of support from the City to the Governor, Senator Ben Allen and Assemblymember Rick Zbur, was made by de la Torre, seconded by Councilmember Phil Brock and passed unanimously 6-0 as Mayor Pro Tempore Lana Negrete was absent for the entirety of the meeting.
