LA extends emergency declaration on homelessness as Bass seeks more funding
LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles has extended the emergency declaration for the homelessness crisis as Mayor Karen Bass tries to secure more state funding to combat the issue.
The L.A. City Council on Tuesday voted unanimously to extend the declaration, but some council members also asked for more frequent updates on the progress of Bass' Inside Safe program.
The council requested bi-weekly reports as part of its initial $50 million to fund the program, intended to bring people in from encampments, but those reports have not occurred.
On Tuesday, Chief Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo said Inside Safe resulted in 1,205 placements and a collective 15 encampment operations in Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 15. In addition, the city hosted 11 housing fairs.
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Szabo noted Inside Safe provided approximately 22,437 hotel-room nights and utilized 25 hotels resulting in an expenditure estimated at $12.8 million. Of that funding, $2.8 million was spent on hotels, $6.4 million was spent to extend the contract between the city and the L.A. Grand Hotel to provide interim housing and $3.2 million went to service providers at the Grand Hotel.
"Based on the work that's been done since April 28, the homeless emergency account will incur $34 million of obligation," Szabo said.
By June 30, the city is projected to expend approximately $44 million overall, he added. That's out of the $50 million budget set aside for the program.
The city council is scheduled to vote Thursday on the budget for the next fiscal year beginning July 1, which includes another $250 million for Inside Safe.
There's also long-term planning underway to combat the homeless issue. Bass' team is looking into city-owned land that can be used for future development. The mayor says her staff is reviewing more than 3,000 land parcels as possible building sites for new affordable housing.
She says she was to make the development of city-owned land faster, cheaper and more streamlined.
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Meanwhile, Mayor Bass was scheduled to travel to Sacramento Wednesday to join mayors of the other 12 biggest cities in the state for meetings with Gov. Gavin Newsom. The coalition of mayors recently sent a letter to Newsom asking for more homeless funding.
In the letter, the coalition stated the homeless crisis continues to be its No. 1 priority, and that the need to address homelessness should be reflected through the state's budget.
"For this reason, we respectfully request -- as our top budget priority -- continuing and sustaining HHAP (Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention) funding with direct allocations for big cities, with a minimum allocation of $2 billion per year in FY 23-24, 24-25 and 25-26 for a total of $6 billion," the letter read.
As Newsom's administration and legislators develop policy to address homelessness, the coalition proposed the following framework to aid in that effort, including flexibility in the use of state funding; permanent funding; focused goals; release HHAP bonus funding; prioritize increased bed capacity; quicker disbursement of funding; land use waivers; stabilize annual allocations; and lastly, focus funding where need is greatest.
City News Service contributed to this report.
