Santa Monica Sues County on Aid to Mentally Ill

The City of Santa Monica has filed suit seeking a court order requiring Los Angeles County to improve its services to the mentally ill.

An estimated 35,000 to 50,000 chronically mentally ill people, many of them indigent, are not receiving the kind of treatment services the county is obligated to provide, the city said in the suit filed earlier in the week.

The legal action, the first such suit by a municipality against the county, was filed in part in response to Santa Monica’s persistent problem with vagrants. The complaint said county officials frequently blame space shortages in turning away mental health referrals or discharging chronically ill patients before they are ready.