LOS ANGELES () — When Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass took office two years ago, her first action was declaring a state of emergency on homelessness. Bass was crisscrossing the city this week, highlighting her office’s work on the issue.
“Thanks to executive directive number one, wait times for affordable housing permit approvals have been slashed by 75% and more than 25,000 affordable housing units throughout the city are being expedited,” said Bass at a Monday news conference.
There were roughly 45,000 unhoused people, according to the city’s point-in-time homeless count in January of 2024.
It is a 2% drop from 2023, but still higher than the roughly 42,000 people counted in 2022.
Monday’s news conference was at the site of the a first-of-its-kind affordable housing project under the mayor’s LA4LA initiative.
“This entire building would have likely been market-rate housing. Well, that’s unacceptable to me, unacceptable to the people you see standing up here with me,” said Bass. It’s a philanthropic, public-and-private housing project for nearly 60 formerly unhoused residents who participated in the city’s Inside Safe program.
“This is a testament of what can be done, the speed at which we can move if we continue to find ways to lock arms with one another,” said Prophet Walker, Treehouse CEO and co-founder.
According to data from the mayor’s office, over the last three years there’s been a 38% increase in the number of people placed into temporary or permanent shelter.
Among them is Denise, who is now in permanent housing. She thanked Bass at the news conference.
“I got a job with the Salvation Army as an intensive case manager,” she said, adding that she is also now working toward earning her bachelor’s degree.
Meanwhile, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) has also faced scrutiny over the last several years, including over lack of data on how the city and county are spending funds to address the issue and a recent audit that highlighted weaknesses in the agency’s fiscal operations.
Television,
