No Good Deed Goes Unpunished

“It would sadden and disturb me beyond words if we were to discover that the ACLU was encouraged to file this new lawsuit to put additional pressure on the city to find a location and to fund a permanent housing facility by supporters of the “housing first” model who believe that the best way to solve homelessness is to provide permanent housing for every homeless person. ”

Don’t be sad or disturbed, Michael. There is no conspiracy, and who knows who you might mean by this, but if you spent any time in the parking lot at the ASL during the day you would begin to understand the problem and the reason behind the lawsuit. It’s the wild west: no running water, no bathrooms, people living under tarps and umbrellas on pavement and using the city’s ASL as their home base. The ASL, while admirable for its many volunteers and brave on-site personnel, is a ‘solution’ that only goes partway. The City needs to immediately stop patting itself on the back for this because they know they are throwing good money after bad with a halfway answer and they know it full well. There’s the rub. While it’s true our community’s compassionate citizens do a great deal to help our homeless population, the City government makes sure it merely spends money to keep unsightly homeless people off its beaches and parks and does nothing to truly help people, even in the face of growing piles of data proving that the solution exists and is cost-effective. The CIty also knows the number of people they are willing to help is set too low, and again, this creates a problem when more people show up for a night at the ASL than there are mats on the floor to accommodate them. If turned away, they have to hit the road at 7 pm, too late to make it to Fullerton or another place they might be able to legally spend the night, only to get ticketed and harassed by the LBPD for trying to find a safe place to sleep in the town they call home.

It’s surprising that you were taken in by John Pietig’s lie that we need to provide free apartments to anyone who wanders through Laguna Beach. He knows full well that this is not what this lawsuit is about, but saying such an outright falsehood is an effective dog-whistle statement that deeply disturbs the landed gentry and gets people upset. ‘Light your torches and get your pitchforks, the homeless are tramping down the 133 to get their free apartments, paid for by you!’ This is classic Divisive Politics 101, and we all need to be smart enough to resist it. Homelessness is a burden on everyone – housed residents, store owners, tourists, and of course people who are homeless and their families and friends. Our community must work together to solve it, not hate on homeless people or the ACLU, which is in the business of standing up for people’s Constitutional rights. It does no good to disparage the ACLU – they are using legal means to call out the City on its inaction on the final of the 14 recommendations made by you and the Task Force. It is a data-supported FACT that it costs about 47% LESS to house and provide wraparound support services to the people you have seen day in and day out in Laguna Beach than it does to leave them on the street to use up expensive ER, police and fire services and to cycle them through the revolving door of jail. If we had supportive housing in Laguna Beach, we would still be able to accommodate the “drifters” in a smaller ASL-type unit (smaller because a huge percentage of the ‘frequent flyers’ of the ASL would be housed and their disabilities at last addressed).

Of course we are NOT talking about housing every Tom, Dick and Harry who meanders through Laguna; Pietig knows these plaintiffs and they aren’t “transients” passing through looking to take advantage. Resist the lie. Notice the common ground.

I encourage you to delve deeper into the issue and understand what’s behind it. If you drop by the ASL parking lot during the day you will instantly understand who and what we are talking about. In a wealthy community like Laguna, we can and must do better.

By the way, Laguna Beach is not the only Orange County city working on this (Costa Mesa, Anaheim, Midway City, San Clemente, Fullerton), so again, we aren’t the most special community of all, even though we tend to enjoy thinking of ourselves as such and make the most noise per capita on just about any issue.

Supportive housing is the only solution that works and the ACLU is using its clout to remind the City and its own task force that this is what was agreed to. Meanwhile people languish, become more ill – and yes, die – in the City’s parking lot as the CIty makes its case as to whether mentally ill people who have lived on our streets for years “deserve” to be given a roof, even though this would save the City money and help people get better. The more you know about the issue, the more feasible this solution truly is.

I applaud your continued support of Friendship Shelter. For the record, the non-profit was as surprised as anyone at this action by the ACLU. I would encourage you to take a fresh look at how this might really and truly permanently solve the burden of homelessness for everyone in Laguna Beach affected by it, including you and me. Let’s find the common ground here.

I agree with the original author’s sentiments. I would go further, and say the ACLU in this lawsuit, and the Friendship Shelter is trying to take advantage of the town.

The “Herman’s Hermit” rebuttal is nonsensical and sums up the typical responses to those that question the logic of expanding the ASL. You go to great pains to convince everyone that these are not transients, but homeless “residents.” I think you’re glossing over a key component to the definition of “homeless.” Or are you suggesting that these are all people that were born and raised in Laguna Beach, and subsequently became homeless? I think not, so the question becomes, ‘how does one graduate from transient to homeless resident?’ I suspect many will not see eye-to-eye on your answer, so it makes little sense to lambaste Pietig for supposedly blurring the distinction, and urging people to “resist the lie.”

If you truly want to find common ground with people that are highly skeptical of the motivations behind the Friendship Shelter and the ACLU on this issue, it would make sense to start comparing apples to apples. Laguna Beach spends $350,000/yr addressing the homeless–how does this compare on a per capita basis to other OC towns? Laguna Beach operates the only municipal year-round shelter in Orange County–shouldn’t other OC towns catch up before Laguna Beach is compelled to expand their facility?

From most people’s vantage point, the presence of the ASL has only attracted additional homeless people to Laguna Beach. The supporters will swear up and down that is not the case, but anyone that has lived in town can clearly see the connection. None of the supporters ever want to discuss an effective way to actually discourage homeless migration to town, since they are so focused on expansion.

As Herman’s Hermit stated, “In a wealthy community like Laguna, we can and must do better.” –looks like they found a good mark…

Here are some facts that might help you, Common Ground:
– Laguna Beach spends $350,000 a year, which is stupid, given the outcome. It could spend far less (47% less, the average reported cost savings across the nation so far), stay clear of lawsuits, and let the professionals at Friendship Shelter handle it, as they offered to do last year, and which the City said no to. That’s what invited the lawsuit which – one more time – was not initiated by or endorsed by the non-profit. Believe what you want but that’s the truth. They aren’t behind it – but they obviously aren’t the only ones who have noticed that the city is reneging on what it promised in 2008 by adopting the 14 recommendations. (January 2008 City Council meeting)

– I would like to see your data that made you conclude that homeless people come here because of the ASL. Can you please do a survey of say, 20 homeless people and ask them whether they were drawn to Laguna by the ASL – with its luxurious 3-inch foam mats 4 inches apart on the linoleum floor – or by the same things you enjoy about Laguna – the beaches, the beauty, the pretty village atmosphere? Are certain people less entitled to enjoy these things than you are?
– Please note that the original supportive housing concept put forth by the nonprofit Friendship Shelter was not an expansion of the ASL. In fact, the ASL component of the proposal was to be smaller by at least 10 “beds” (mats on floor) because a large percentage of the people you see there day after day, night after night, would have a place to shower and sleep and recover from whatever demons drive them. They would not longer be homeless. There is a world of difference between a shelter and a 24/7 site that gives disabled people a home, helps them get well, and saves public money.
– Again, we are NOT talking about housing every Tom, Dick and Harry who meanders through Laguna; Pietig knows this, and he and the LBPD know these five plaintiffs. They aren’t “transients” passing through town looking to take advantage. I can’t answer you about the curriculum required to graduate from transit to homeless resident, but you’d be surprised at how many of the folks you see at the ASL grew up here (that’s a fact) or have lived here for years.

I urge you again to resist the fear-mongering and look deeper. If someone shows up at the ASL and hangs out, they aren’t going to get a free apartment. The operator of the ASL, Friendship Shelter, has good staffers who do their best in the face of a frankly depressing, nearly impossible task. They deserve to be allowed to advance to the next step, which was the City’s promise in 2008 when City Council adopted the 14 recommendations, enthusiastically and unanimously. Like anything worthwhile, implementation is the hard part. No one said it would be easy. But if the ACLU has to step in and remind the city of its promises, it gets the city’s attention and forces it to quit prevaricating in the topic.

If you drop by the ASL parking lot during the day, if you have eyes to see, ears to hear and a nose to smell, you will get it. This wild west situation that impacts the adjacent Laguna Food Pantry isn’t a solution, and boasting that you spend $350,000 a year to do THAT is an unequivocal embarrassment. A multi-unit site in Laguna Beach that houses and supports people for the long haul would be many things: humane, economical, meaningful, compassionate, truly not very noticeable once built, and, eventually, a point of pride at the way our community solves its problems. The money would be seen to through a substantially lower commitment from the city, and a savvy operator’s (assuming it would be Friendship Shelter’s) ability to draw private donations, grants, and ample available federal funds. Volunteers would come out, as they always do, to help make it work. It can work. It will help our community on every level, and yes, it’s scary if you don’t have a workable plan, but that’s not the case.

Homelessness is a burden on us all, and if we stop allowing ourselves to be divided by red tape, fear and falsehoods, we can creatively devise a money- and life-saving solution. Honestly, common ground may be easier to find than you think.

“the beaches, the beauty, the pretty village atmosphere? Are certain people less entitled to enjoy these things than you are?”

Perhaps this sums up our philosophical differences–I never assumed I was ‘entitled’ to any of this. I just figured I had to earn it.

And good for you, CG. You must be a very, very special person. Let’s deal with what is, rather than what you want things to be, which sounds like it would be free of those unsightly homeless people. Good luck with that, unless you’re ready to build a moat with a drawbridge and charge admission, Oh, better not give you any ideas. But here’s one I do wish you’d take: there’s always Newport Beach for a high earner like you.