LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to extend Mayor Karen Bass’ emergency declaration for the city’s homelessness crisis, while city staff provided an update on Bass’ Inside Safe program amid frustration from some council members who expect more frequent reports on the costly program.
The council requested bi-weekly reports as part of its initial $50 million to fund the program, intended to bring people in from encampments, but those reports have not occurred.
On Tuesday, Chief Administrative Officer Matthew Szabo said Inside Safe resulted in 1,205 placements and a collective 15 encampment operations in Districts 2, 3, 4, 5, 8, 9, 11, 13, 14 and 15. In addition, the city hosted 11 housing fairs.
Szabo noted Inside Safe provided approximately 22,437 hotel-room nights and utilized 25 hotels resulting in an expenditure estimated at $12.8 million. Of that funding, $2.8 million was spent on hotels, $6.4 million was spent to extend the contract between the city and the L.A. Grand Hotel to provide interim housing and $3.2 million went to service providers at the Grand Hotel.
“Based on the work that’s been done since April 28, the homeless emergency account will incur $34 million of obligation,” Szabo said.
By June 30, the city is projected to expend approximately $44 million overall, he added.
Mercedes Marquez, deputy mayor for housing, said the city’s Planning Department has streamlined approvals for more than 15 new affordable housing and permanent supportive housing projects in under 60 days from application following the mayor’s executive directives. In total, more than 360 projects have qualified for streamlining and more than 8,200 units are currently being tracked, she said.
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez expressed frustration that this was only the second Inside Safe report in five months.
“The oversight is not providing what has been leveraged with county resources (and) is very problematic,” Rodriguez said. “It’s hard for us to ascertain what if anything is being duplicative in the process, what we are funding versus what we should be leveraging from the county.”
Rodriguez also asked for further information about those being helped through Inside Safe, including but not limited to the number of individuals participating in the program, where they go, and how Inside Safe operations are determined.
Marquez said the city, county and the Los Angeles Housing Services Authority are working to develop modules to enter information, verify it and then be able to present it to council. Ultimately, the goal is to establish a communication system to share data on Inside Safe operations and other activities intended to address the homelessness crisis, she added, because there was no system to begin with.
After other council members expressed similar concerns and the need for transparency, the council requested that the CAO’s office report back with additional information.
