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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass pleaded with “the most fortunate” to help fund housing for the homeless as part of a new strategy to tackle the crisis during her State of the City address on Monday.
“We will not hide people but what we will do is house people,” the Democratic leader touted as she began her remarks on the city’s struggle to house over 40,000 homeless people. “The crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster.”
Bass touted the success of her signature Inside Safe program, which moved over 21,000 homeless people into temporary shelters, according to The Associated Press. She insisted this “strategy” and “system” moving the homeless into temporary housing would eventually end the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
Acknowledging the costliness of this endeavor, Bass asked the wealthy to help “speed up” housing purchases for the homeless.
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass discussed her new campaign to address homeless crisis in L.A. during State of the City Address on Monday. (Irfan Khan / Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)
“Right now, we’re working to move past nightly rentals,” she continued. “We are asking the most fortunate Angelenos to participate in this effort, with personal, private sector and philanthropic funds – to help us acquire more properties, lower the cost of capital and speed up housing.”
“This is the mission of our new capital campaign, LA4LA.”
The homeless crisis has affected everyone in the city, Bass said, driving away businesses and customers, costing taxpayers city resources and creating safety issues.
“I will just not accept this and our city can’t afford to accept it,” she argued.
The new program will depend on the “humanity and generosity of the private sector,” the Democrat added. “LA4LA can be a sea change for Los Angles, an unprecedented partnership to confront this emergency, an example of disrupting the status quo to build a new system to save lives.”
LA JUDGE, LOCAL OFFICIALS LAUNCH BOLD REVIEW OF CITY’S HOMELESS SERVICE PROVIDER AMID GROWING CRISIS
A homeless encampment is seen along a roadside in Los Angeles, California, on December 6, 2022. (FREDERIC J. BROWN/AFP via Getty Images)
Billions of dollars have been spent on homelessness in the region, and an array of new programs are in place. But the mayor says it’s possible that the number of homeless people will continue to increase, in part because of evictions and the end of COVID-19 aid for low-income households.
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the city’s leading centralized hub for homeless services, more than 75,500 people were considered homeless in 2023, a 9% increase countywide. In the city, about 46,200 were considered homeless, a 10% increase from the previous year.
Fox News Digital reported that a coalition of business owners and residents in L.A. filed a lawsuit against the city, arguing it did not honor its 2020 settlement agreement that promised it would build thousands of shelters and sweep out homeless encampments.
Last week, the Los Angeles City Council agreed to pay an outside firm $2.2 million to audit its homelessness programs after a request by a federal judge.
Fox News’ Jamie Joseph and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Kristine Parks is an associate editor for Fox News Digital. Read more.
