LA Mayor Eric Garcetti signed the city’s 2021-2022 fiscal year budget on Wednesday morning. Garcetti, City Councilmembers and community leaders spoke at City Hall about the budget’s priorities, such as community investment, housing and homelessness, and social justice programs.
The budget will include nearly $1 billion to deliver housing and combat homelessness. The city and county are currently involved in a legal battle over the local government's handling of the homelessness crisis. The LA Alliance for Human Rights, a group made up of downtown business owners and Skid Row residents, says the local government mismanaged the crisis and wasted public money.
It is the largest spending bill in the city's history, and Garcetti labeled it the "most progressive.”
In addition to providing money for programs like park repairs and a “guaranteed basic income” pilot program, Councilmembers focused on how the spending bill will help LA move past the last year of COVID-19.
“This budget is a monumental step forward in getting us from a time of crisis to a time of incredible opportunity,” said Councilmember Paul Krekorian, who is the chair of the City Council's Budget and Finance Committee.
Krekorian said the worst-case scenario for the budget became a reality last year with the coronavirus pandemic. According to Krekorian, social programs, such as the budget’s increased funding for child care and $75 million for overdue repairs at parks and recreation facilities, will bring increased economic opportunities to Angelenos. The budget also included a slight increase in funding for the LAPD.
The 2021-22 budget is bolstered by $777 million in spending from the American Rescue Plan.
The state of California is headed for one of its best economic years since World War II, according to economists at UCLA. Generous stimulus plans and spending programs are setting-up an economic boom. The chief economist for the UCLA Anderson Forecast, Leo Feler says the nation’s GDP is set to surge.
“This growth that we’re going to have in 2021 of 7.1% is going to be one of the best years of growth that we’ve had since the 1960s,” said Feler.
Economists say that California is set to bounce back faster than other states because it protected the state’s economy with very strict health measures.