Kent Steele, 50, shelters Tuesday afternoon from the rain east of the Cabrillo Bathhouse. Three people known to be transients were found dead in Santa Barbara within a 24-hour period over the weekend.

STEVE MALONE/NEWS-PRESS

A homeless man, who did not want to have his picture taken, claims this structure under the Milpas bridge is his home. He shared it with a man who is now deceased.

Kenny 900, as he calls himself, says he has been camping in Santa Barbara for three years. Living outside on the South Coast, he says, "is as easy as it gets."

Advocates Demand Action to Help Homeless: supervisors may have to redirect funds.

Nora K. Wallace, SBNP writer

January 27, 2010 6:49 AM

Angered and frustrated by the increasing number of deaths of homeless people this year, social services advocates and volunteers on Tuesday demanded the Board of Supervisors work harder to find ways to fund warming centers and shelters.

"We are very concerned about protecting the lives of homeless now," said Paul Gertman of Social Venture Partners in Santa Barbara. "This is a public health crisis. Only the county, city and state governments have the legal means and physical assets to act to prevent avoidable deaths. We look forward to seeking ways we can help with this critical problem. We hope you will address it as a priority need."

Third District Supervisor Doreen Farr said during Tuesday's Board of Supervisors meeting in Santa Maria she would come back to the board next week with two items, including creating a task force to evaluate violence against homeless people. As co-chairperson of the South Coast Homeless Advisory Committee, Ms. Farr also will have the county look at its protocols involving homeless people and update regulations about when warming shelters might be opened.

"This is a really important issue to me," she said. "I am working with various departments to find some source of funding to help provide some supplies to the indigent."

Nancy Edmundson, director of administration for the Unitarian Society in Santa Barbara, said her organization has opened a warming center "for those who are desperately and tragically underserved" by other resources.

The society, she said, is pleased to step up and help in emergency situations but is "unequipped to sustain support. We do not have the resources to adequately meet the needs of people deserving of humane shelters."

The society, she said, has two heated, carpeted classrooms that are open from 6 p.m. to 7 a.m. There is room for 25 people, but the society is turning away people and others sleep under overhangs of its building.

"This is inadequate," Ms. Edmundson said. "It is embarrassing and I look forward to hearing of your support."

The voice of Mike Foley, executive director of the Casa Esperanza Homeless Center, quavered when he spoke. He told of the 18 homeless people who died in 2008 and the 28 who died in 2009.

"The first person to die in 2010 was a man named Freedom," he said. "He froze to death on State Street. There have been four more deaths, including three in a 24-year period this weekend."

As he left his home in Lompoc on Tuesday, he said he had to scrape ice from the windshield of his car, and that he saw homeless men drenched in the rain in both Lompoc and Santa Maria.

"This isn't just about the South Coast," he said. "It will come north. There are no street outreach workers for homeless in Lompoc, for those homeless in Santa Maria. We need to solve this problem today, not tomorrow. Now, not later."

Santa Barbara publisher Sara Miller McCune begged the county to dig into its pockets to deal with the situation of shelters for homeless people.

"It is your duty," she said. "It is your responsibility. It is a part of your job and an important part. If you don't do it, you become murderers. Those of you I know personally would not want to be labeled that way, would not fail to do your responsibility. I am not just begging you. I am demanding of you that you deal with your responsibility and do it quickly. Now is too late already."

Emily Allen, of the Consumer Advocacy Coalition, spoke of a proposed Homeless Bill of Rights, which includes tenets such as having the right not to be murdered; not to be physically assaulted; not to be raped; to have medical care, shelter and food; the right not to be demonized and the right to be treated with respect.

"We're asking individuals, organizations and local governments to sign onto this document," she said. "We're asking for your leadership and decisive action."

Second District Supervisor Janet Wolf, the board chairwoman, said there is more the county can do.

"The deaths are obviously tragic," she said. "There is not one person who would say that's acceptable. In the county we've also been delving into this issue and funds have been allocated to shelters... When people say we are not doing anything; we are. We are spending money. We are providing funding to nonprofit partners. Obviously we are not reaching everyone."

When the board revisits the issue next week, Ms. Wolf said perhaps the county needs to consider redirecting funds and that a broader discussion must take place to address the issue.