Santa Monica is launching a program to move 100 people from its interim shelters into permanent homes, serving the dual benefit of freeing up more capacity to move unhoused individuals off of local streets.
The initiative is made possible thanks to funding allocated to the City from the federal government via President Biden’s American Rescue Plan. Santa Monica has received 100 emerging housing vouchers from the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), which can be utilized as permanent housing subsidies for individuals who have been in the shelter system for three or more months.
“Santa Monica Housing Authority was one of a handful, maybe a dozen or so public housing authorities in the county that received these vouchers from HUD,” said Maggie Willis, human services administrator. “We will use these federal resources to maximize what our local shelters can do, so by prioritizing people currently in our interim program, we’re able to free up those beds and move these people out into a positive outcome.”
Santa Monica has approximately 380 shelter beds across the City, but their capacity has been limited since the start of the pandemic due to health and safety concerns. According to Willis, currently almost every bed is occupied at any given time and there is a waiting list for unhoused individuals seeking to access local shelters.
While beds may still be available in other Los Angeles shelters through the County’s Coordinated Entry System, the opportunity to move 100 individuals out of Santa Monica’s shelters makes it easier to temporarily house people living on local streets as they do not need to be convinced to relocate a far distance.
The opportunity is also great for the individuals being paired with housing as their placements will be permanent as long as they remain in good standing with their landlord. Individuals utilizing the vouchers are responsible for paying 30 percent of their adjusted income towards rent, and if their current income is nothing they don’t have to pay anything off the bat.
While program participants must come from Santa Monica shelters, the City is looking throughout all of Los Angeles to identify suitable affordable units for them to move into.
Although the funding is already in place, moving 100 individuals into permanent housing is no simple task and the City is seeking the help of community members to make the program a success.
Willis said individuals can volunteer in three ways: by phone banking to help find potential landlords, by donating household goods for the new units, and by helping move donated items and furniture into the identified units.
“A lot of these folks are coming in from the shelters with literally the clothes on their back, they won’t have sheets and linen and cleaning supplies and shower curtains and pots and pans and dishes,” said Willis. “If the community can wrap their arms around folks and provide these things and then help them move in and get these apartments set up, people can move into something that is a home.”
Residents interested in helping out with the program can sign up to do so by filling out a volunteer survey at www.surveymonkey.com/r/100homes.
Clara@smdp.com
