For the first time in six years, Los Angeles’ homeless count has declined. People on the streets were finally being put in permanent homes and dog walkers and residents report happily being able to walk on the sidewalks without a tent in sight on a morning stroll in Venice Beach.
This is all thanks to Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, and her program Inside Safe. When Ms. Bass started her term as mayor in December 2022, she almost immediately declared a city emergency on homelessness. This allowed her to access enough funding to launch Inside Safe. Inside Safe is a program that provides motel rooms for homeless residents that lived in encampments (groups of people living inside temporary shelters together such as tents or cars). The program allows the homeless to have a roof over their heads while Ms. Bass works with the city to find them permanent housing. After a year of work, residents report that they can see and feel the difference when walking the sidewalks and parks in Los Angeles.
Karthryn Barger, one of the more conservative members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said that “I actually have seen and felt the difference.”
But this success might not entirely prevent the future growth of the homeless population: experts warn that underlying economic conditions can lead to a rise in homelessness again if funding for these efforts are cut. It doesn’t help either that every day there are new encampments and homeless people in the city; even while others are placed in temporary or permanent housing.
Homelessness is an increasingly severe problem that the US has been facing; it is especially an issue in California. Over the past five years, California spent over 20 billion dollars to eradicate the problem. However, despite huge efforts, the state never really tracked the success of their homelessness programs and basically drained that 20 billion, all while the homelessness rate increased. Homelessness grew by a whopping 53% since 2013.
However, the main reason homeless rates are so high today in California is because California has not kept up with housing demands. According to recent Pew research studies, there is a strong correlation between the local housing supply and homelessness rates. When cities added more housing over the years to meet the demand, rent growth was lower and so was homelessness. Where homelessness spiked though, housing didn’t keep up with the demands, and rent and homelessness skyrocketed. After all, if people that need houses can’t get houses because there are simply no houses on market or for rent (at an affordable price), people will be forced onto the street. In fact, rent has reached all-time highs throughout the US (not just California or LA): “Half of renters nationwide spend at least 30% of their income on rent, and a quarter spend at least 50%.” So, while the streets are mostly free from rows of tents in LA, that might not last for long if we don’t move fast.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/us/los-angeles-homeless-count.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-09/state-audit-california-fails-to-track-homeless-spending-billions-dollars#:~:text=California%20has%20spent%20%2420%20billion,%E2%80%9Cpoint%20in%20time%E2%80%9D%20data.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2023
This is all thanks to Karen Bass, the Los Angeles mayor, and her program Inside Safe. When Ms. Bass started her term as mayor in December 2022, she almost immediately declared a city emergency on homelessness. This allowed her to access enough funding to launch Inside Safe. Inside Safe is a program that provides motel rooms for homeless residents that lived in encampments (groups of people living inside temporary shelters together such as tents or cars). The program allows the homeless to have a roof over their heads while Ms. Bass works with the city to find them permanent housing. After a year of work, residents report that they can see and feel the difference when walking the sidewalks and parks in Los Angeles.
Karthryn Barger, one of the more conservative members of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, said that “I actually have seen and felt the difference.”
But this success might not entirely prevent the future growth of the homeless population: experts warn that underlying economic conditions can lead to a rise in homelessness again if funding for these efforts are cut. It doesn’t help either that every day there are new encampments and homeless people in the city; even while others are placed in temporary or permanent housing.
Homelessness is an increasingly severe problem that the US has been facing; it is especially an issue in California. Over the past five years, California spent over 20 billion dollars to eradicate the problem. However, despite huge efforts, the state never really tracked the success of their homelessness programs and basically drained that 20 billion, all while the homelessness rate increased. Homelessness grew by a whopping 53% since 2013.
However, the main reason homeless rates are so high today in California is because California has not kept up with housing demands. According to recent Pew research studies, there is a strong correlation between the local housing supply and homelessness rates. When cities added more housing over the years to meet the demand, rent growth was lower and so was homelessness. Where homelessness spiked though, housing didn’t keep up with the demands, and rent and homelessness skyrocketed. After all, if people that need houses can’t get houses because there are simply no houses on market or for rent (at an affordable price), people will be forced onto the street. In fact, rent has reached all-time highs throughout the US (not just California or LA): “Half of renters nationwide spend at least 30% of their income on rent, and a quarter spend at least 50%.” So, while the streets are mostly free from rows of tents in LA, that might not last for long if we don’t move fast.
Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/2024/06/28/us/los-angeles-homeless-count.html
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-09/state-audit-california-fails-to-track-homeless-spending-billions-dollars#:~:text=California%20has%20spent%20%2420%20billion,%E2%80%9Cpoint%20in%20time%E2%80%9D%20data.
https://www.pewtrusts.org/en/research-and-analysis/articles/2023/08/22/how-housing-costs-drive-levels-of-homelessness
https://www.jchs.harvard.edu/state-nations-housing-2023