LOS ANGELES (KNX) — U.S. Rep. Karen Bass (D.-Los Angeles), who is running for mayor of L.A. in the 2022 election, released a plan to combat the city’s homelessness on Friday, including a promise to house 15,000 people by the end of her first year in office.
“Homelessness is a crisis for the unhoused and for every one of our neighborhood,” the congresswoman’s campaign said in a statement. “It’s a crisis on every level — public health, public safety, economic, and humanitarian — and it requires a bold and aggressive emergency response.”
Bass’s plan put forward a slew of action items in addition to her promise to get 15,000 people into housing in a year’s time — including ending street encampments, bolstering mental health and substance abuse treatment services, and leveling up job training and employment services geared toward unhoused Angelenos.
The campaign additionally announced Bass’ intent to appoint a “homelessness chief” in the event she is elected to City Hall, who would “report directly to the mayor.”
“Personality conflicts and bureaucratic turf battles will not be tolerated,” the Bass campaign said in its statement. “Every dollar budgeted for homelessness will actually go to solving homelessness — no accounting tricks, no added bureaucracy.”
Bass’ plan seeks to more effectively use city tax dollars to tackle the homelessness problems. “The current model of spending nearly $750,000 per unit of housing is outrageous,” the campaign said. “Bass will be laser-focused on ensuring accountability, transparency, and property oversight for each dollar spent,” alongside efforts to maximize state and federal funding opportunities for L.A.’s homelessness programs.
Bass vowed to “marshal the resources of the federal, state, county, agd city governments” to coalesce around her plan, as well as forge partnerships with religious and community institutions, as well as major private-sector players “like Google, Apple, and Facebook.”
Bass has enjoyed a significant polling lead over a field of mayoral candidates that includes L.A. city councilmembers Joe Buscaino and Kevin de León; City Attorney Mike Feuer; and business executives Craig Greiwe, Ramit Varma, and Jessica Lall.
The primary of the 2022 mayoral election will take place on June 7, with the top two finishers proceeding to a general election on Nov. 8.
Outgoing Mayor Eric Garcetti was nominated to become U.S. Ambassador to India in July, and was confirmed by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee earlier this week. His nomination now goes to the full chamber for a vote.
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