Members of the Los Angeles City Council declared homelessness in the city an emergency and said they would dedicate $100 million to fixing the crisis.
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National experts on homelessness say Los Angeles has had a severe and persistent problem with people living on the streets rather than in shelters – the official estimate is 26,000.
A graphic map published by the Los Angeles Times in June – and drawn from statistics provided by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority – revealed people living in cars and tents in such fashionable areas as Brentwood and the wealthiest sections of the San Fernando Valley.
Garcetti called LA’s homeless population a problem that’s been pushed “from neighborhood to neighborhood” and “bureaucracy to bureaucracy” for far too long.
“A substantial infusion of resources is the only way to deal with the emergency we face”, said Councilman Marqueece Harris-Dawson, co-chair of the Homeless and Poverty Committee.
It might be used to increase the provision of homeless shelters, use public facilities such as schools and parks as emergency housing and facilitate the construction of affordable housing, officials suggested.
“The key for us is to try to come up with money to be spent taking people off the street, and that we really haven’t invested in”, Council President Herb Wesson told the LATimes. Under another of Garcetti’s proposals, storage and access centers in the city would provide restrooms, showers, laundry and storage space. “And do the math here – it doesn’t amount to much at all”. For instance, LA’s special housing task force, assembled to tackle homelessness, is only building a fraction of the homes it needs, thanks in part to sky-high real estate prices. The result? A chronic homelessness problem that is virtually gone.
Garcetti past year pledged to end the problem of homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015.
The motion described the homelessness crisis as “unprecedented and growing”. The mayor wants an additional $100 million in funding for permanent housing and a homeless foundation.
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Earlier this year, the Los Angeles City Council approved an ordinance that lets the police confiscate property and makes it easier for them to clear sidewalks of homeless encampments. Garcetti also announced today that the city will spend an additional $13 million to expand homeless services and housing. Unfortunately, that is just a small percentage of the city’s homeless population.
