By Sofia Williams
Managing Editor
Hermosa Beach announced on Jan. 30 that it has received a $1 million federal grant to provide
services to the homeless. The city aims to use these funds to increase the employment of
social workers in response to homelessness. With the use of the “Mobile Crisis Response
Program” that will be employed in Hermosa Beach, police should be replaced with social
workers in responses to non-emergency situations involving homeless people.
The grant issued to Hermosa Beach is part of a larger federal funding plan that distributed
$22.6 million to the 36th Congressional District, which encompasses the western coast of
California from Rancho Palos Verdes to West Hollywood. According to a statement from City
Manager Suja Lowenthal, Hermosa plans to use its portion of the grant to implement a “Mobile
Crisis Response Pilot Program” that would employ a homeless response team that addresses
non-emergency situations involving homeless individuals.
The new response team will partner with Harbor Interfaith Services, a non-profit based in San
Pedro that aims to provide support to homeless populations in the South Bay. According to
Lowenthal, the precedent for homeless services has been police response, but policing the
homeless population does not effectively address mental health issues, and it diverts police
officers from their primary duties. It is imperative that homeless individuals be provided with
proper mental health support and resources to improve their situation rather than intimidation
and violence by police officers; the involvement of law enforcement officers criminalizes and
dehumanizes homeless people.
According to NBC, 24% of murders in Los Angeles in 2022 were perpetrated against victims
who were perceived to be homeless. The use of law enforcement officials to respond to
non-emergency situations involving homeless individuals may frighten those involved or cause
them to believe that they are in the wrong, possibly leading to evasion of police officers. The
implementation of the “Mobile Crisis Response Pilot Program” would better ensure that
homeless individuals are provided with vital resources and protection against violence.
While hiring additional social workers and public health officials to support the program may
pose additional costs when the program is first put into place, the employment of social services
workers instead of police officers poses a benefit to the city’s financial stability in the long run.
According to Forbes, the Crisis Assistance Helping out on the Streets (CAHOOTS) Program in
Eugene, Oregon has been in service since 1989 and pairs social workers and medics to
respond to non-emergency situations involving homelessness, substance abuse, and mental
health. The program has saved the city $22.5 million annually in medical and public safety
costs. Out of approximately 17,700 calls that CAHOOTS responded to in 2019, police backup
was requested only 311 times.
The recently proposed plan for Hermosa Beach’s “Mobile Crisis Response Pilot Program” will
be more effective if the city is committed to replacing police officers with social workers who are
better equipped to respond to issues concerning mental health. According to the American
Psychological Association, mental illnesses are twice as common among homeless individuals
as they are in the general population. The implementation of the city’s new program, in addition
to this year’s $1 million budget, will more adequately provide help to Hermosa Beach’s
homeless population.
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