Three Agencies and Footwork Yielded Faulkner’s Housing

It is always nice to see some person improve their quality of life, and that the Common Ground (CG) "Top 100" Vulnerability Index list may have utility.

However, CG is now trying to dissolve the South Coast Homeless Advisory Committees (SCHAC) in favor of itself, merged with Bringing Our Community Home (BOCH). The net result is that the independent perspective of the SCHAC would be lost and officialdom would exercise even more power than now over the direction of policy.

In a democracy, advisory committees of all kind provide an essential independent voice and independent oversight. Dissolving the Advisory Committees would hand yet more power to incumbent politicians and dilute citizen input..

Merging BOCH and CG is not bad,but has nothing to do with the SCHAC. The false premise seems to be that the Board of Supervisors is only willing to participate in one outside entity on any given issue.Thus, the merger is conceived to be something that requires dissolving the Advisory Committee.

If anything, creation of a new entity top heavy with professional career bureaucrats amplifies the need for an independent advisory committee system.

It would be better to let CG and BOCH merge, but leave the SCHAC intact. CG, based in NYC, should do its thing rather than go around trying to vandalize hard won victories, such as the formation of the SCHAC. CG's local affiliate is part of a private evangelical fundamentalist operation which is out of synch with the moderation of the vast majority of voters.

The SCHAC has a unique viewpoint on very sensitive topics such as jail operations. Very few entities public or private have this kind of perspective.

All that would be thrown to the wind and lost under the arrogant proposal being pushed by CG insiders, and those who would suffer most would be the most vulnerable people who do not land housing through CG's program.

It is particularly problematic that the questionable CG strategy adopted by BOCH - prioritizing the VI list over every other priority - would become the hegemonic priority of the new entity which is being proposed.

At present, the CG/VI strategy must compete in the marketplace of ideas. Under the questionable consolidation proposal which is being hatched in private, that unproven, controversial strategy would quietly become the official politically correct line, and all of the process that went into creating BOCH and the HAC's would be thrown under the bus.

For further info on why CG should not be permitted to promote itself at the expense of the existing Advisory Committees, read the Grand Jury's recently issued report on "frequent fliers" in the jail system. The Jury makes clear that Common Ground, the new kid on the block, is unproven and narrowly focused; for CG to now wipe out the useful and seasoned Advisory Committee should be quashed in the inception.

Full disclosure: This commentator is a member of the Advisory Committee in the capacity of Advocate.