County Mental Health Cuts a Self-Sabotaging Strategy

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Lily is my canary in the coal mine. When she visits me in tears at Santa Barbara City Hall, I know our social safety net has unraveled a little. Lily (not her real name) has a case manager at the county’s mental health division and a Section 8 voucher for housing from the city’s Housing Authority. She is battling in court over child visitation rights. She writes poetry, and while we chat she digs into her bags to show me photos from happier days.

Lily and I haven’t talked in a while, which usually means her life is running smoothly. I’m concerned, however, that the combination of a slowing U.S. economy, a $6 billion state deficit, and Santa Barbara County’s recently proposed cuts in adult mental health services mean I will see her again soon.

The county proposes to cut mental health services for as many as 800 people who currently receive them, in order to bridge its $8.4 million budget gap. At the same time, it proposes to withdraw 60 percent of the funding it allocates to community-based organizations (CBOs) that serve the mentally ill and homeless.

If the county purges 800 people from its mental health system, where will they go for services — to the CBOs? How will the CBOs be able to handle larger caseloads if their contracts are cut by 60 percent?

What would happen if these cuts require CBOs to shut their doors?

We have significant holes in our social safety net as is, even without these looming cuts. Casa Esperanza Homeless Shelter reports that, from last December through February, 17 percent more people were in residence compared to the year before. Female residents increased by 13 percent, people with disabilities by 12 percent, and people requiring substance abuse assistance by 16.5 percent.

The number of homeless people who died on our streets during this period increased to nine people, compared to four last year.

Fifty-eight percent of people staying at Casa Esperanza this winter lived in the Santa Barbara area immediately prior to becoming homeless. These are our neighbors we’re talking about, not just a transient population.

When our social safety net unravels, it can trigger a vicious cycle of events.

Some of those who slip through are severely mentally ill, have substance abuse problems, or both. Losing supportive services can render them homeless and land them on the streets — often downtown, on the Milpas Street corridor, or at the waterfront, where patronage at businesses and hotels may decline. Fewer business and hotel sales mean less of the tax revenue upon which the city relies for public safety and crisis prevention programs. We see an increase in the number of people requiring help, while losing the revenue we need to provide them with critical services.

Further, when businesses and hotels turn to the police for assistance with people cast onto the streets, it spreads our force thin. Fewer officers are available for general patrol.

The City of Santa Barbara relies on collaboration with the county, the courts, the Housing Authority, and many CBOs. We do our best: Every year the city’s Redevelopment Agency spends millions of dollars on affordable housing projects, and so far in 2008 we have granted, via our Human Services Committee, $863,000 to such CBOs as the Mental Health Association, Casa Esperanza Homeless Shelter, and Family Services Agency. We can’t provide the social safety net alone, however. The city lacks jurisdiction over many key areas, such as who receives housing vouchers or the number of detox beds (just 12 on the South Coast) and psychiatric beds (only 16 countywide). Without full participation by all partners, the whole system is in jeopardy.

Governments should not balance their budgets on the backs of those with the fewest resources. Public dollars should be spent on programs and services that prevent harmful and expensive crises. What makes more sense: sending someone to the overcrowded jail for $86 per night, to a private healthcare facility for $800 per night, to the emergency room for $1,600 per night, or providing affordable housing with supportive services onsite for $28 per night?

To be successful, we need to strengthen partnerships between government, CBOs, and the business community. We need to increase the resources allocated to such programs as the permanent supportive housing at El Carrillo and the Mental Health Association’s housing project, which is under construction. We need to expand such programs as restorative policing, through which police officers spend more time on patrol and leave street outreach and case management to others agencies.

I don’t want to see Lily coming to City Hall in tears because “the system” has failed her. Keeping her life and the lives of others in comparable situations running smoothly requires political will and continuing commitment from government at all levels. We cannot afford to do otherwise — not in our budgets, not for the well being of those affected, and not in our role as providers of public health and safety.

Homelessness and mental illness affect us all. As one community member recently said during public comment at a City Council meeting, that canary in the coal mine has a bad cough.

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