Los Angeles to Spend Nearly $1 Billion to Address Homelessness

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is considering nearly $1 billion worth of budget to curb homelessness in the coming fiscal year.

The spending proposal is set to be discussed during his State of the City address on Monday, Los Angeles Times reported. The said budget would be spent on improving the construction of homes for the homeless.

The Los Angeles mayor plans to propose $791 million in the upcoming budget year for initiatives to help homeless residents and increase cleanups around shelters and expand programs aimed at keeping the homeless housed.

"We are putting our money where our heart is to bring our neighbors indoors," Garcetti said as reported by CBS News.

Another $160 million of unspent money from the last fiscal year will also be included in the budget. The mayor also reportedly intends to use nearly $100 million from President Joe Biden's rescue package for homelessness programs.

The Los Angeles mayor also proposed a program to give public money to struggling households, known as guaranteed basic income.

Garcetti noted that $24 million in taxpayers' money would be utilized to provide $1,000 a month to 2,000 households for a year with "no questions asked."

Homelessness in Los Angeles

The pandemic has heightened the urgency to address the homeless crisis in the state. Also, the City Hall faces huge criticism for its inability to restrain the rising rates of homelessness in the city despite spending a huge share of its budget addressing homelessness, according to an Associated Press report.

The city was spending around $10 million to address homelessness when Eric Garcetti was elected the mayor in 2013.

"We know the key to ending homelessness is homes. Let's rent them. Let's buy them. Let's build them brand new," the mayor said.

Eric Garcetti noted that the issue of homelessness would remain a concern without major national policy shifts, which include ramping up the mental health care system, and the right to housing.

Right to housing would provide a housing entitlement as the same as how the federal government gives Medicaid and food stamps for those in need.

Mike Arnold welcomed the proposal and called it great news. However, he expressed concern about the budget. Arnold is the president and CEO of the Midnight Mission. The organization provides beds, meals, and drug rehabilitation services on Skid Row.

Arnold noted that he hoped the budget would help improve the slow rollout of a 2016 bond measure approved by voters, which seeks to create 10,000 housing units over a decade.

"And we also need affordable housing for low-income people who are mostly self-sustaining, who need just a leg up," said Arnold, adding that is how the system should work out.

John Maceri, CEO of The People Concern, welcomed the additional funds but added that "we have a long way to go." The People of Concern is one of Los Angeles' largest housing and social services agencies focusing on the homeless.

Maceri noted that the city needs to cut red tape to increase financing and housing construction as well as funding services for the homeless, whom many suffer from drug and mental health issues.

In 2020, NPR reported that homelessness is on the rise in Los Angeles County for the third time in four years. It was attributed to the growing number of people who cannot afford the region's high housing costs.

Los Angeles' annual homeless count last year showed that 66,433 people now live in the streets, in shelters, and vehicles within the country. It is an increase of 12.7 percent from 2019.

WATCH: Inside Los Angeles' Homelessness Crisis | Elvis Summers - From California Insider - The Epoch Times