HOMELESS UPDATE: Redondo to hire mental health clinician
by Garth Meyer Redondo Beach Housing Navigator Lila Omurra called L.A. County in February requesting a mental health clinician come out to evaluate a homeless man near city hall. She took the first available appointment seven weeks later. Omurra then left a series of notes on her client’s makeshift tent by the bike racks in front of the library, reminding him of the April 24 date. He showed up, Omurra was there, “but (the county clinician) was a no-show.” She got a call the next day, with an apology and offer to reschedule. “These individuals will never walk into a clinic on their own,” Omurra said. “They will not succeed in our pallet shelter.” Last week, the Redondo Beach city council voted 5-0 to fund a mental health clinician, a year after partially funding it and trying to enlist other beach cities to share the position. Last spring, a mental health clinician was the top request by City Attorney Mike Webb and the Enhanced Response to Homelessness team, in city budget talks. “In essence, it’s been a lost year,” Webb said, referring to the May 2022 earmark that funded one-third of a clinician, with the hope that Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach would cover the other…
Read this story on easyreadernews.com