Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared homelessness in the city as a "state of emergency." In a press conference held on her first day in office, the President stated that in view of the increase in homelessness, her government plan will seek to shelter the thousands of people living on the streets:
It is a humanitarian crisis that claims the lives of five people every day. We must build housing faster and we will, we must coordinate housing and services and we will. My emergency declaration unlocks tools and powers to ensure that we are using all possible resources on the scale necessary to save lives and restore our neighborhoods.
The latest survey conducted by the Los Angeles Department of Homeless Services revealed that there were 41,980 homeless people in the city, up 1.7% from 2020. The number of homeless in L.A. is 18 times higher than in New York City and 14 times higher than in Chicago.
Housing for 17,000 people
Bass presented a plan to provide housing for 17,000 people in his first year in office. She also said he would use "non-traditional" methods to curb the homeless crisis that has plagued L.A. for years:
There will be no delay on my watch. The Emergency Operations Center and effective homelessness strategy cannot be executed like any other city function. We will increase the scale and speed of the city's approach to homelessness by removing it from the traditional city hall way of doing things.
She also compared the homeless crisis to one of the worst natural disasters the county has ever experienced:
The death rate and mass displacement from the homeless crisis in Los Angeles exceeded those of our most tragic natural disasters such as the Northridge earthquake and Hurricane Harvey.
In addition, she noted that her plan includes identifying buildings throughout the city that could be used for housing, and renting out motel rooms to shelter homeless people. She also stressed that "drastically reducing street homelessness, ending street encampments, and leadingthe way on mental health and substance abuse treatment" will be her first goal.
