City Council
MEETING DATE: 7/22/2015
TITLE:
Title
Homelessness Update
End
FROM:
George Crum, Chief of Police
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Provide direction to Staff on homelessness issues in our city and the establishment of a Homeless Liaison Officer Program in Cathedral City.
Body
BACKGROUND:
Homelessness is an on-going problem that continues to grow throughout the Coachella Valley. According to the 2015 Point-In-Time Homeless Count, Riverside County has over 2,467 homeless individuals, Cathedral City has 38 and Palm Springs has 118. Homelessness has a severe negative impact on the community and the homeless person itself. The average chronically homeless person costs the public over $2,800 per month and the average chronically homeless alcoholic costs the public over $4,000 per month. 37% of the homeless suffer from severe mental illness. 56% of the homeless have been addicted to drugs or alcohol in the past 12 months and 76% have been addicted to drugs or alcohol their entire lifetime.
Traditionally Police Departments have believed that homelessness was not their problem to resolve and that Social Services and Mental Health Agencies should address the issue. As a short term solution for a very complex problem, police departments arrested the homeless, however, it has been determined that it is too costly for police departments to address the homelessness issue in this manner.
Cities and Counties have implemented programs to aid in finding long term solutions to the homelessness problems in Southern California. Palm Springs Police Department and Indio Police Department both have established the position of "Quality of Life Officers". Orange County and Los Angeles County have several agencies that implemented successful Homeless Liaison Officer programs. San Bernardino County implemented the project HOPE (Homeless Outreach and Proactive Enforcement) model. All programs have proven to be successful because ...
Click here for full text