Wells said a homeless person has 20 days to stay at the shelter at which time they are offered job placement aid and or medical health care. The problem, however, arises when a mentally ill homeless person receives treatment and then lapses back into his or her illness by discontinuing their medication and then wishes to return to the shelter. What often happens is they'll take some medication that will level them out, but the medication has side effects. The mental health issues are why they become homeless. Schwartz said that residents who are against more services for the homeless in Santa Monica don't know or realize that the city is actually low on transitional housing for the homeless.
People are against more services because they see people in food lines.
The city is not funding the food lines. City services are not bringing more homeless people. I don't feel we are overloading the system with services. They could add more shelters like this. Feinstein said the letter will be sent to California state representatives in Congress, the Senate and the president.