New data shows that about 40% of the nearly 6,000 people helped in Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass’s project to combat homelessness are back on the street. The numbers were first published in an investigation by the Los Angeles Times.
In 2022, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass signed an executive order to launch the Inside Safe Program to help people experiencing homelessness
in the city. The $300 million project provided people with interim housing, typically in motel rooms.“Mayor Bass launched Inside Safe – a bold city-wide, voluntary, proactive housing-led strategy to bring people inside from tents and encampments, and to prevent encampments from returning,” a statement from Mayor Bass’s office reads about the project.
Currently, Los Angeles has one of the largest and most visible homeless populations in the U.S., with an estimated 43,699 people experiencing homelessness in the city and over 70,000 in the county. Mayor Bass told the newspaper that she wants to look more into why people are returning to encampments.
“It’s critically important that we look at the people who left, why they left, and what we need to do to strengthen the interim housing that we have,” said Bass. “I have my opinions about it, but the opinions have to be based on science.”
Some people who participated in Mayor Bass’s program told the outlet that the restrictions on guests were “unfair.” Other critics of the program, such as UCLA Law School Professor Emeritus Gary Blasi, said there are not enough housing vouchers or low-cost apartments to provide permanent housing for program members. Instead, the program invests in expensive temporary housing such as motels, which are not long-term solutions.
BLACK ENTERPRISE reached out to Mayor Bass’s office for comment on how her administration plans to address the return of people to the streets.
In a recent operation in North Hollywood, the Inside Safe program helped more than 40 unhoused Angelenos transition off the streets and into safe and stable housing.
“I’m here to build a better life for myself and my son,” Joshua Johnson said in a statement. Johnson, 22, is a single father to a three-year-old. He was moved into a nearby interim housing site.
“I’m working two jobs and am still falling short. Going inside means a different future for the two of us.
Mayor Bass said her administration is also focused on preventing individuals and families from becoming unhoused in the first place.
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