Los Angeles, CA–The City of Los Angeles has asked for $2 billion in state funding and will instead receive $124 million to assist with the current homeless crisis.
“We all know that homelessness is perhaps the most complicated issue
that we’ll confront in our lifetime,” Garcetti said during a news conference today at the Homelessness Response Center downtown.
“We asked for $2 billion, but you always ask for what you need, but you get what you get. And we’re not upset, we’re actually quite pleased.”
This years homeless count released recently by the Los Angeles Housing Authority, shows that homelessness has increased by 13% in the city and 16% in the county.
The numbers unleashed a harsh critique of Los Angeles officials by news outlets such as The Los Angeles Times. Columnist Steve Lopez writes:
“We’re in troubled waters on a ship without a captain, and though there might be a few pretenders on the bridge, nobody trusts them.
We found out on Tuesday that although the city and county spent $600 million last year to chip away at the number of homeless people, the total increased by 16% to nearly 60,000.
That same day, voters said absolutely, positively no way to a parcel tax that would have raised money for struggling L.A. Unified schools, and the vote reflected a resounding lack of faith in school administrators to spend the money wisely.
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