S A N TA M O N I C A
REFLECTING THE CONCERNS OF THE COMMUNITY smmirror.com
May 13 – May 19, 2022 Volume CXL, Issue 144
INSIDE
COLUMN FROM SANTA MONICA MAYOR HIMMELRICH: WE WALK THE TALK
PAGE 6
Santa Monica Releases 2022 Homeless Count Results Number of unsheltered individuals increases 1 percent in first count since 2020 By Dolores Quintana anD saM CatanZaro The City of Santa Monica has released the results of its 2022 homeless count, which took place on February 22. This was the first count the City has conducted since the pandemic began. According to the results when the count took place there were 807 people experiencing homelessness, a decrease of 11 percent from the 907 individuals counted in January 2020. In a statement, the City said this decrease is primarily due to local shelter capacity being significantly reduced to comply with COVID-19 public health guidance. The number of unsheltered homeless people in Santa Monica stayed nearly consistent with 2020, increasing 1 percent to 608 in 2022. People living in vehicles, tents, and makeshift shelters increased from 99 to 135 (36 percent) compared to the 2020 count results, and the number of people experiencing homelessness in the Downtown area was up from 214 to 246 (14 percent). “The impacts of homelessness are felt
Photo: Sam Catanzaro
by everyone on our streets every day, and this public health crisis remains a top priority,” said Santa Monica City Manager David White. “Housing is limited and too expensive, resources to address behavioral and mental health and substance abuse issues are in short supply, and we are surrounded by the City of Los Angeles on three sides, where the concentration of people
experiencing homelessness is substantial. With these challenges, we must continue to urgently deploy a comprehensive strategy that includes providing connections to services and available housing, prevention, enforcement, increasing the supply of affordable housing, legislative advocacy and regional solutions, and addressing the mental and behavioral health needs of those
experiencing homelessness.” The City, in a statement, pointed to bottlenecks in local and regional housing supply as a challenge facing officials combatting homelessness. “Bottlenecks in City and County homelessness services do exist due to the tremendous need for expanded permanent
Homeless, see page 5
Santa Monica High School Among Top-900 Schools in Country SAMOHI ranked 829 out of over 18,000 total schools By saM CatanZaro
Santa Monica High School is among the top 900 schools in the country, according to a recent report. On May 6, the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District announced that U.S. News and World Report ranked Malibu and Santa Monica high schools in the top six percent out of nearly 18,000 public schools in the nation and in the top 180 schools in California. Malibu High School ranked 176 in the state and Santa Monica High School ranked 108. U.S. News rankings are determined by college readiness scores, based on demographics, state test scores and college prep exams. U.S. News released its 2022 Best High Schools list this week ranking Malibu High 1,170 and Samohi, 829.
“This recognition by a highly respected publication illustrates that our stellar teachers, staff and leaders are truly supporting and preparing our students for college and career,” SMMUSD Superintendent Dr. Ben Drati said. “We congratulate each school site team and our students for their hard work, dedication and forward-thinking.” To create the rankings, U.S. News focused on six factors: college readiness, reading and math proficiency, reading and math performance, underserved student performance, college curriculum breadth and graduation rates. The data used is from the 2019-20 academic school year, which covers the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, where distance learning was implemented in March 2020 for the remainder of the school year. In 2021, (reflecting the 2018-19 year) Malibu ranked 146 in the state and 999 in the country and Samohi ranked 98 in the state and 708 in the nation. Olympic High School is not included in this ranking, however, has been previously awarded the prestigious Model Continuation High School award in California.
Photo: Sam Catanzaro