“We are asking the most fortunate Angelenos to participate in this effort, with personal, private sector and philanthropic funds – to help us acquire more properties, lower the cost of capital and speed up housing,” said Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass in her State of the City address this week.
She was referring to a new capital campaign called LA4LA. Through this program, the city hopes to provide housing in already built, but vacant, structures and motel rooms – something it already does via nightly rentals.
“We will not hide people but what we will do is house people,” said the mayor, a Democrat who previously worked in the healthcare field. “The crisis on our streets is nothing less than a disaster.”
As of last summer, there were more than 75,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County on a given night, with an estimated 46,260 in the city of Los Angeles . Even for those who are not homeless, stress about rental costs in the city continues to stress people out .
Throughout the U.S., the median sale price for a single-family home was 5.6 times higher than the median household income as of 2022. According to the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University , that’s higher than at any point on record dating back to the early 1970s.
Per the Legislative Analysis’ Office , California home prices have been much more expensive than the rest of the U.S. for some time. A February report from the Motley Fool found that California had the most expensive typical home price in the U.S. at $737,677 compared the national average of around $417,000. In 2022, Audacy reported that a California School District was even asking parents to rent rooms to teachers, since local rents had become too high for them to afford on their salaries.
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Bass has been working to deal with the local issue of homelessness with the Inside Safe program. In addition to asking for help to buy properties, she said that money to buy motels and hotels was included in the city budget. The mayor also called on apartments to accept housing vouchers.
“Start with just one unit and let us earn your trust. You will see that this Administration is doing things differently,” Bass said.
By investing in dealing with homelessness head-on, she said the city will be able to avoid the economic impact it has on Los Angeles. Bass explained that this comes in the form of fire, paramedic and police calls, emergency room visits and more. During a KNX Town Hall event earlier this month , Bass discussed the toll of homelessness on the city, and the how mental health and addiction plays a role in the problem.
“Where we really have to go is... we have got to develop a method of preventing people from ever becoming homeless,” she told the town hall audience. Bass said that will be a challenge, but one she is dedicated to taking on.
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