LOS ANGELES (KNX) - The New Year brings enormous challenges for Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass. She's pledged to clear encampments, restore public spaces, and house 17,000 people during her first year in office.
"Temporary housing needs to be just that, temporary," Bass said upon declaring a State of Emergency over Los Angeles' homelessness crisis.
She says the city will purchase or lease motels and other properties as the first step to house the homeless. "When someone accepts an offer to live temporarily in a motel, they should be right in line for a permanent home of their own. That's how the system is supposed to work," said Bass.
Bass campaigned on being a coalition builder who can muster help from Los Angeles County, state officials in Sacramento, and the federal government.
"She will need to reach out, be humble enough to reach out to federal government, state government, county and say 'let's all work together to solve this'," says Andy Bales, President, and CEO of LA's Rescue Mission.
Bass has the support of the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which voted to assist the city by deploying trouble-shooting liaisons who will work to identify who needs help and find the best ways the county can assist the city.
Political analyst Sara Sadwhani tells KNX there's much to watch in the Bass administration in 2023. "A lot of us will be looking to see if she's able to forge some of those relationships at the county level to help bring some of the changes that we need to see at the city level," says Sadwhani.
"There will be no holding back on my watch," Bass declared after signing her administration's emergency declaration.
Each Friday during the first 100 days of the Bass administration KNX will present its latest Original Series— "Mayor Karen Bass - tracking The First 100 Days." Reporter Craig Fiegener is keeping tabs on what Mayor Bass is saying she'll do, and how she'll do it.
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