Demand that Culver City center unhoused residents when contracting service providers

SUBJECT: Demand that Culver City center unhoused residents when contracting service providers

TO: councilmember.nazarian@lacity.ofreddy.puza@culvercity.org; bubba.fish@culvercity.org; yasmine-imani.mcmorrin@culvercity.org; dan.obrien@culvercity.org; albert.vera@culvercity.org

Dear Mayor Puza, Vice Mayor Fish, Council Member McMorrin, Council Member O’Brien, and Council Member Vera,

I am writing about Items C-3, C-4, and C-5 on the June 22 agenda, the contract renewals with Urban Alchemy and Exodus Recovery. I urge the Council to use this renewal as leverage to hold providers accountable, require transparency, and center the input of the people actually living in these facilities.

Since the Sepulveda Project Homekey site opened in 2023, residents have raised serious concerns about how Exodus Recovery runs it. They describe room checks every two hours, twenty-four hours a day, inappropriate room and body searches, lockouts lasting a day or more, inconsistent enforcement of rules, and abusive staff. Some of these accounts, including invasive searches and staff misconduct, were documented in a Knock LA article published this month. At the Urban Alchemy sites, the concerns include key-controlled rooms, a limit of two bags of possessions for people staying years, inconsistent rules, and little transparency about case management.

This is the opposite of what works. Housing First models get people into housing faster and keep them stably housed, and residents who receive consistent supportive services are more likely to pursue job training, address substance use, and stay healthy. Carceral conditions undermine all of that, and can be dangerous. Interim motels and recovery shelters should be a bridge to permanent supportive housing, not a revolving door.

Before renewing these contracts, I ask the Council to require providers to:

• Co-develop rules and agreements with residents rather than imposing carceral conditions, and drop practices like the every-two-hour room checks, curfews, and rigid bag limits
• Give residents paper copies of everything they sign, maintain secure records, and make those records accessible on request
• Deliver consistent wraparound care, including mental health services and harm reduction, with clear expectations about what residents will receive and when
• Establish a real grievance process that the provider does not control, so residents can raise problems without fear of retaliation
• Commit to de-escalation, set penalties for staff violations including abusive conduct, and end all body, bag, and room searches that violate residents’ bodily autonomy and privacy
• Hold regular listening sessions and other feedback channels so residents can speak to their experiences without retaliation
• Report regularly and transparently to the city and to their own clients, including written justification whenever a resident is exited

Culver City has an opportunity to set a standard here. Please make accountability, transparency, and resident input binding conditions of any renewal, and keep the city’s focus on getting people into permanent supportive housing.

Thank you for your work and your consideration.