City Hall Moves to Close SaMoShel - Residents Fear the Mentally Ill Homeless Will Be Shifted Into Neighborhoods

SANTA MONICA - SaMoShel, the city's longtime 60-bed congregate shelter sitting at a bus depot near the freeway and well away from most housing, is headed for decommissioning.

Staff want to replace the dormitory-style facility with a city-controlled "Housing Focused System of Care" that emphasizes non-congregate rooms in motels and other scattered sites. The idea, they say, is greater local control from intake to permanent housing instead of depending on Los Angeles County.

The plan was on the July 28 Council agenda. Mayor Caroline Torosis, Mayor Pro Tem Zwick, and Councilmember Raskin pushed colleagues to guarantee that SaMoShel's bed capacity will not disappear until real replacements are locked in. They also floated keeping the Palm Motel in play and steering future sites away from the Pico Neighborhood.

Residents see a different picture. SaMoShel's current spot next to the bus yard and freeway has kept the most disruptive problems at arm's length from homes. Many do not want facilities serving the mentally ill homeless relocated into residential streets - especially near their own homes.

City officials call the shift progress. Neighborhoods are watching closely to see whether "non-congregate" simply means the same population moved a few blocks closer to front doors.