L.A. voters approved more money to fight homelessness. Now they want to see results.
The Los Angeles City Council approved an additional $8.5 million in funding for Homeless Services and Housing within the homeless crisis.
“I think it’s really huge,” said Mayor Eric Garcetti, when the council unanimously voted the increase.
The funds will go into a new program called “Reduce, Rebuild, Restore,” which is part of Mayor Garcetti’s “Big Solution” for homelessness that emphasizes permanent solutions on the ground in communities and housing programs around the country.
“It’s a game-changer for really getting people off the streets and into housing,” Councilman Mitchell England said. “Achieving permanence and stability in housing is what we want to end homelessness, and this is going to give us the housing capacity that we need to end homelessness.”
But the funding comes at a time when the city is in the middle of a homelessness crisis, as Los Angeles County continues to deal with record numbers of homeless. The city has only about half the number of homeless it did a year ago, according to Garcetti, and homelessness is much higher in the city’s southern and western sections.
The federal government, which provides the majority of funding for homelessness prevention and treatment programs, has decided to cut its funding next year by about 6 percent, and while there is money set aside for that, much will have to be spent by local officials.
Some experts say the new funding is welcome, but others are concerned that the city is doing too much, too fast.
“I don’t think they’re going to live up to their end of the bargain,” said Dr. Thomas J. Stokol, a professor of psychiatry at UCLA. “They should really focus on what they’re supposed to do and say, ‘Where are the more permanent solutions we need to do as a city?'”
The new funding is part of the Reduce, Rebuild, Restore program, which has been in place for the past five years and requires the city to put into place a permanent homeless housing complex that is at least four stories high, has solar panels, and has more than the current number of housing units per person per unit of housing.
For the new funds, the city will have to find a permanent location, build it, and then get the developer to give the city a loan using half of the funding.
