LOS ANGELES (CBSLA) – A Los Angeles City Councilman introduced a plan Tuesday to create 25,000 housing units by 2025 for people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles.
Councilman Kevin de Leon’s “A Way Home” plan marks what the councilman calls “a first of its kind” strategy to offer a “clearly defined objective” in the effort to ease homelessness.
The plan calls for the review and reconsideration of citywide funding for projects that have been approved for special funding – but have yet to become shovel-ready. It also streamlines what de Leon says are cumbersome approval processes in an effort to eliminate major barriers to cost-effective housing projects.
Joined by members of the state legislature and homeless advocates, de Leon officially introduced the package during Tuesday’s virtual council meeting.
“The status quo isn’t working,” he said. “It hasn’t been working for quite a while. 58:40 Whether it be adaptive reuse, whether it be home key or whether it be just a stick type of building, we need to accelerate it.”
A new report by The Economic Roundtable says job losses caused by the pandemic will nearly double the number of homeless people in L.A. County by the year 2023.
According to the research group, the county will be especially hit hard because of its large low-wage labor force and high high housing costs. That’s why DeLeon says the city must act now.
Adam Conover, a volunteer and organizer with SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition, is glad to see a renewed effort to help the homeless in L.A.
“I think it’s great to set a concrete goal of how many units we should build,” Conover said. “We do not have enough shelter beds here in LA for the amount of demand. I’ve met people who were working, they have jobs, but still were simply not able to afford a home in LA and our living in a car or tent as a result.”
