Peter Blake’s “Letter to Our Community” mischaracterizes Friendship Shelter in substance and spirit. Peter says he will “keep an eye” on Friendship Shelter. As a supporter and board member, I have kept an eye on Friendship Shelter for 10+ years.
What I have seen in that time is effectiveness in responding to the needs of our community. When the city opened the ASL, I was at the board meeting as we considered whether to agree to operate it. I remember listening to a long debate and raising my own voice to remind everyone that while we did not ask for this, our community needed us, and we had a responsibility to be sure that the shelter was successful. Today, that shelter has helped more than 100 people move out of homelessness. The original group of about 40 local homeless has been reduced to fewer than 15.
Friendship Shelter hasn’t done this by housing people in Laguna Beach. I helped try to establish
permanent supportive housing in Laguna Canyon, but when we lost that fight, our staff found another way. Today, 87 formerly homeless people live in Friendship Shelter housing, including sites in San Clemente and Dana Point, and apartments throughout southern Orange County. Ninety-four percent have stayed in their housing. Housing these people costs half of what it costs to leave them on the streets.
Peter’s characterization of our supporters as “progressive elites and misguided socialites” is mean-spirited and inaccurate. I’m a typical Friendship Shelter supporter: I’ve lived in Laguna Beach and San Clemente since the ‘70s. I own and operate a business. I’m active in our community. I saw homeless people in our downtown when I moved here 45 years ago; I see homeless people here today.
I agree with Peter Blake on one thing regarding homelessness: I don’t want homeless people in Laguna Beach either. I want them housed. That’s why I support Friendship Shelter. They’re working to understand each homeless person’s situation and to find appropriate housing. In the fight to end homelessness, I’ll put my faith in an organization with 30 years of experience and an ongoing willingness to learn, change and improve.
I’d like to think Friendship Shelter’s three decades of work speaks for itself, so that unfounded criticisms can’t hurt its reputation. I wanted to speak out, to simply emphasize that when Friendship Shelter houses homeless people, homelessness is reduced. That’s equally smart and compassionate.
Marshall Ininns, Laguna Beach
