Los Angeles Panel Proposes Homelessness Emergency, Funds
Earlier this year, a study by the city’s top budget official found Los Angeles already spends $100 million a year to deal with homelessness — much of it on arrests and other police services —but its departments have no coordinated approach for addressing the problem. Without clear guidelines, departments instead tend to rely on ad hoc responses, according to the report by City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana.
Callaghan said she fears this latest initiative is aimed more at “reducing the visibility” of the homeless ahead of a proposed bid to bring the Olympics to Los Angeles in 2024, rather than getting homeless people off the street permanently.
“They can spend billions on getting the Olympics,” she said of the proposal that anticipates spending $6 billion in public and private financing to bring the Games to LA. “But not on getting people off the sidewalks.”
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