The City of Los Angeles declared a state of emergency because of the homeless problem Tuesday. Los Angeles officials will ask U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a lower-court ruling preventing the destruction and random seizures of belongings that homeless people leave temporarily unatteneded on public sidewalks.
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Garcetti a year ago pledged to end the problem of homelessness among veterans by the end of 2015.
Alice Callaghan, a longtime advocate for the homeless on Skid Row, said the proposed funding would not be almost enough to stop the loss of affordable housing, especially in rapidly gentrifying areas of downtown and on the city’s west side. But then, homelessness has been alarmingly pervasive in Los Angeles for decades, despite a series of initiatives by mayors and council members to bring it under control. Garcetti recently issued a proposal to devote almost $13 million toward short-term housing initiatives paid for with projected excess funds. New housing shouldn’t be relegated just to skid row or Venice.
He said these and other initial steps could “give us the momentum needed to make real progress over the coming year”. “This city has pushed this problem from neighbourhood to neighbourhood for too long, from bureaucracy to bureaucracy”.
“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’s a humanitarian crisis and a moral shame”.
Some city lawmakers have suggested easing restrictions on churches and nonprofits to open their doors to people who require shelter, and to speed up the building of affordable houses, according to the LATimes.
Homelessness is declining nationwide, but the picture remains mixed, with some states and cities dramatically bucking that trend.
Homelessness has spiked in Los Angeles, with an estimated 26,000 living on the streets.
However, the announcement Tuesday follows City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana’s April report on homelessness in the city, which said that Los Angeles spends more than $100 million a year on the problem already.
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He praised the plan but cautioned that the supportive services, including mental health care and substance abuse care, also need to be addressed. According to the Dallas Morning News, a homeless person who cycles through the prison system and emergency health services on average costs the county about ,000 a year.
