Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass unveiled her $13 billion budget proposal for 2023-2024 this week, the first of her tenure.
The budget prioritizes the city’s sprawling homelessness problem with a record-high $1.3 billion allocated for more housing, purchasing hotels and motels, substance abuse treatment beds, and establishing a new agency of homeless solutions in her office. The new fiscal year begins July 1.
The move was met with optimism and concern from some Angelenos, as the city’s budget to address homelessness has swollen from $100 million in 2015 to $1 billion in 2021, while the homeless population and tent encampments keep rising.
The last homeless count in 2022 recorded nearly 42,000 homeless people living on the streets of Los Angeles, up almost 2 percent since 2020. About five homeless people die per day across the county, according to the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health….