SOUNDING OFF: Invest in homeless a little, receive a lot

While many communities are mired in negative, divisive and costly efforts to deny, bury, or ship out the homeless, Laguna Beach and its City Council came together Jan. 22 and took an important first step in addressing the situation head on. The action reflected the intelligent, caring and pragmatic qualities that distinguish our community and make us proud to be among its citizens.

The Homeless Task Force, initiated by businessman and Councilman Kelly Boyd, chaired by Ed Sauls of the Resource Center, inspired and informed by Father Colin Henderson of Friendship Shelter, Don Black and other thoughtful, engaged citizens, rose to a formidable challenge. They shed light rather than heat on the myriad concerns associated with Laguna Beach’s chronically homeless population of roughly 50, part of a national travesty. They researched, reasoned, listened and thoughtfully considered disparate points of view. They presented the council with a report and an integrated, coherent set of recommendations. And, after a public hearing, the council approved the task force recommendations and directed that plans be reviewed in six months. Implementation of some of the recommendations is already underway.

In a political era characterized increasingly by polarization, Laguna Beach took a different path and set a fine example. Now we must get on with the even bigger business of turning recommendations into reality for our community “” and as a model for other communities.

At Friendship Shelter, we have for 20 years provided a temporary home and a rigorous program for homeless adults who are highly motivated to return to self-sufficient, fully productive lives. While the Task Force, like the Laguna Relief and Resource Center, focused on the chronically homeless who live on the beaches and streets of Laguna Beach, we are all equally concerned with finding appropriate solutions for all people who find themselves homeless, and we work together toward that goal.

In these 20 years, we at Friendship Shelter have learned a few things.

Unacceptable public conduct cannot be accepted from anyone.

Homelessness can happen to anyone (yes, you or me) “” it just takes a “perfect storm” of events, usually combined with some poor decisions. In a country without universal healthcare and with inadequate low-income housing, that perfect storm is especially charged.

Housing must come first, combined with supportive services. Someone who uses every ounce of her energy trying to stay warm and dry outdoors at night, finding something to eat, staving off the demons of mental illness without medicine and therapy, responding to misdemeanor summonses, and struggling to replace a confiscated ID (without which almost nothing is possible), has no shred of energy, time, or emotional resources left to get a job, to repair relationships, or to change anything.

Miracles happen at Friendship Shelter every day. It all starts with a clean, warm bed, a hot meal, some expectations, and some guidance. Our residents do all the hard work for themselves “” but we make it possible for them to do so. And in the process, together we save the taxpayers untold sums in the court and penal systems, and we create new employees and patrons of businesses in the county “” and new taxpayers. The investment is really very small relative to the return in both human and economic terms, which is huge.

Laguna Beach has a golden opportunity to be a leader in addressing the community issue of homelessness. What will be required of the citizens of Laguna Beach will be exactly what we require of our Friendship Shelter residents. Keep sight of the goal, commit to a comprehensive plan to get there, take a series of manageable steps within that plan, and keep at it with discipline and determination. Together we can do this.

[Please visit www.naeh.org and www.nlchp.org to learn more about homelessness in the U.S., and www.friendshipshelter.org to learn more about us and for the full text of the Laguna Beach Task Force on Homelessness report.]

CAROL RHOADS is executive director of Friendship Shelter, Inc.