Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness and activated the city’s Emergency Operations Center in her first act in office.
Bass was sworn in during a ceremony at city hall on Sunday attended by Vice President Kamala Harris. Bass, a senator before winning a tight race against billionaire developer Rick Caruso, was on President Biden’s short list to be VP.
“My mandate is to move Los Angeles in a new direction, with an urgent and strategic approach to solving our city’s toughest challenges and creating a brighter future for every Angeleno,” Bass said at a press conference Monday. “Today, on my first day in office, we hit the ground running, with a sea change in how the city tackles homelessness.”
The mayor said the directive, which took effect immediately, is a response to the severity of the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
The housing crisis and homelessness have been at center stage in California politics and policy in recent years. The state and many big cities have approved and sold billions of dollars of bonds to fund affordable and supportive housing.
Results of those investments aren’t inherently visible at street level.
The 2020 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count estimated that there are more than 41,000 homeless people in the city, according to a report L.A. Controller Ron Galperin released in February. According to the 2020 count, the city of Los Angeles’ homeless population rose 14.2% from the previous year.
Her directive also outlines the severity of the problem.
It notes that “at any given time approximately 41,980 people are experiencing homelessness citywide; and the number of unhoused people in the city has increased dramatically in recent years, nearly doubling in the past decade, with the number of unhoused families increasing by 238% since 2007.”
While the city holds 9.6% of the state’s population, it has”25% of the state’s unsheltered population. And while the city comprises “1.2% of the U.S. population, it has 7.2% of the nation’s population of people experiencing homelessness.”
The number of unsheltered Los Angeles residents, as a percentage of its population, is about 18 times higher than New York City and 14 times higher than Chicago, according to Bass’ directive.
The order gives Bass the power to eliminate regulations that slow or prevent housing construction; to expedite contracts that prioritize bringing unhoused Angelenos inside; and to allow the city to acquire rooms, properties and land for housing for Angelenos in need. Bass also plans to issue further executive directives to advance the reforms.
The emergency declaration sunsets in six months but could be renewed. The setting of a specific time frame allows for actions to be taken to make permanent necessary structural changes, according to the declaration.
It also directs all city departments and agencies to compile and deliver to the mayor specific information about available resources and outline what support the city should request from the county, state and federal government.