The Brief

Thousands of municipal jobs in the city of L.A. have gone unfilled since the end of the pandemic, with vacancy rates in some departments at double or even triple their pre-pandemic levels.

City officials chalk it up to a number of factors, including a greater number of resignations during COVID and slow hiring practices. The result: Angelenos are frustrated by response times for city services, and city workers are stressed out by higher workloads and, in some instances, mandatory overtime.

“Across the city, we are finding that because of our vacancy rates, we are providing less than the service that we should be providing to our constituents,” said City Councilmember Tim McOsker, who chairs the council’s Personnel, Audits and Hiring Committee.

Some of those vacancy rates are startling. A decade ago, the vacancy rate for city jobs was 10%, excluding the Department of Water and Power, L.A. World Airports, and the Harbor Department. Just before the pandemic, it was 11%.

Today, there is a 17.4% vacancy rate citywide, or 9,786 unfilled positions, according to a September report by L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia.

It’s even worse in some departments. The Bureau of Street Lighting faces a 32% rate, the Recreation and Parks Department has a 23% rate and the Sanitation Department has a 21% rate. Sanitation alone has more than 800 unfilled jobs.

Mejia’s report called it “a growing crisis that affects every Angeleno’s safety and well-being,” adding that the staffing shortage is “chronic and rampant.”

Mayor Karen Bass admits the vacancy rate is a problem. “You call up and you want something picked up and you wonder why it takes so long — that’s exactly why,” Bass told LAist.

“City services are slower,” she said.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass (center) attended a recent L.A. city job fair.

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Frank Stoltze

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LAist

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At Sanitation, spokesperson Elena Stern acknowledged the high vacancy rate but maintained the department is picking up more tonnage of trash in recent years. That’s little consolation for Steve Lomke, who’s tired of the trash accumulating on the streets of his Fairfax District neighborhood.

“It’s just depressing,” he said.

When visitors come from out of town, he likes to walk them from his home a few blocks to CBS Television City.

“They’re appalled by the amount of trash on the sidewalk,” said Lomke, 70, a retired architect. “It’s not good for the morale of the city.”

Behind the numbers 

 Why are vacancy rates so high? COVID is largely to blame, says Dana Brown, who heads the city’s personnel department. More than 2,000 people took early retirement under a city program designed to address a dramatic drop in revenues in 2020, she said.

“That’s how we got behind,” she said. “We are still catching up.”

Like all employers, the city was also affected by the Great Resignation — the pandemic-era phenomenon of young people leaving their jobs and baby boomers retiring.

Brown also said onerous civil service rules make rapid hiring nearly impossible.

Slow testing, interviewing, and vetting processes add to what can be a six-month or more ordeal of hiring somebody new to the city.

“The processes are a little archaic,” Brown said.

Brown also said her own department is struggling with a 12% vacancy rate, slowing hiring.

High vacancy rates can mean a city job is harder

Vacancy rates and their effects vary across departments. With a vacancy rate of 15%, the Housing Department “has said that one of the challenges with enforcing tenant protections is having adequate staff to follow up on the complaints,” said Chief Deputy Controller Rick Cole.

The LAPD’s response time for non-emergency calls can be over an hour as a result of a 16% vacancy rate, according to Chief Michel Moore. “That’s just one result” of having fewer officers, he said.

Some police reform advocates hail a shrinking department, saying police should hand over a lot of duties to unarmed responders anyway.

There are 500 open positions at LAX.

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Kelly Barrie

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Courtesy of Los Angeles World Airports

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LAX has 500 positions open — some alongside Joe Martinez, who works the day shift as a mechanic at a city maintenance facility near the tarmac, fixing airport trucks, buses, and other vehicles.

“It is very stressful for us,” Martinez told LAist during a recent break from work. “We are trying to play catch-up on a daily basis.”

For at least three years now, he and his colleagues have been scrambling to keep up amid a mechanic shortage that plagues the shop. Martinez, 57, said he’s regularly forced to work mandatory overtime because nearly half of LAX mechanic jobs are unfilled.

The airport never closes, and the need for repairs never ceases. “It's kinda like ‘OK, am I going to be home for the holidays. Am I going to have to give up Christmas and Thanksgiving with my family?” Martinez said.

The controller’s report makes note of vacancies leading to “an increase in overtime costs, labor tension, stress and potential increases in worker compensation costs over the long run.”

Possible solutions

The report by the controller makes a series of recommendations, including overhauling the civil service system. That’s unlikely, given it would require changes to the city charter.

The controller also recommends convening a task force of city and union leaders and building on programs like Targeted Local Hiring, which provides people who live in the city a faster track to entry-level jobs.

Brown said her department is working to improve hiring practices. She pointed to a pilot program with the Engineers and Architects Association to allow outside candidates to apply for certain jobs previously open only to current employees.

“That is a huge, huge step in the direction of allowing people to bring their professional talent into the city,” she said.

At the same time, finding a city job online isn’t easy. Not all jobs are listed on the personnel website. You have to go to each individual department’s website to see everything that’s available.

Brown is also finding that her personnel department needs to adjust its recruiting message.

Young jobseekers are as interested in meaningful work as lucrative government pensions.

A personnel official with L.A. County agreed.

“Traditionally we have not had to rely on that message” of government as a social service that helps communities, said Johan Julin, chief of hiring strategies for the county.  “We are realizing that really resonates with the younger generation.”

The county vacancy rate is 14%. It's typically 6 or 7%, according to Julin.

'Confusing' application process

Charles Goldman, a senior economist at the RAND Corporation who co-authored a study on public sector hiring in 2021, said young people found the process of applying for jobs “very confusing.”

“They often were not sure where to go to make an application or to find job listings,” he said. “College and university students have low awareness of the range of opportunities available in the public sector,” his report said.

The city is in part relying on an old solution to address some of these issues — they're holding more job fairs.

At a recent fair in Wilmington, Erin Meyers visited a booth set up by the L.A. Harbor Department. He recently graduated with a degree in mechanical engineering from Cal State Long Beach.

Meyers, 26, landed an interview next month, but knows the process for getting hired by the city is “somewhat daunting.” Still, he thinks it's worth it.

“In terms of the work-life balance, it’s preferred,” said Meyers, comparing a city job to one in the private sector. “I would argue that being able to go home at a set time is more important than getting an extra 5K a year.”

His mother, Gina Martinez, is “thrilled.”

“I would love it if he went to work for the city,” she said.

Companies that create and manufacture personal delivery devices, those cute bots you see on public sidewalks, have been working on growth plans for years.

Cities, on whose public sidewalks the delivery bots travel, are only now catching up to regulating them and charging the companies fees.

That's what's happening in Glendale, where, City Councilman Dan Brotman says, “[The delivery bots] just appeared out of nowhere. The company that operates [them] never reached out and talked to us."

He and other council members, he said, want to know if the delivery devices make it harder for Glendale residents using wheelchairs to use public sidewalks.

“I also am curious who is getting the financial benefit from these,” he said.

Glendale’s City Council asked city staff last month to draft two proposals, one with regulations and fees and the other pausing the operation of delivery bots while the council studies their impact. Brotman said staff may deliver those proposals to him and his colleagues in the months to come.

The two largest cities in LA County, at two different stages

The City of Los Angeles approved rules for personal delivery devices a few years ago, including flat permit fees. The City Council has since asked staff in the Department of Transportation to revaluate those rules and make suggestions.

One idea being considered — charging companies for every bot trip instead of the flat fee.

A delivery robot sits next to the bike path by the beach

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Courtesy Coco

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L.A. City Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez successfully introduced the motion last year to have the regulations revisited. 

“[The companies are] starting to put movie ads or show ads, and if they're generating revenue off that, we want to know what that looks like but also be able to have a fee for them,” Hernandez said.

That report should be presented to the City Council later this year, she said. 

She’s also keen to hear from the public about their views on delivery bots. 

Companies that make the devices argue they’re providing an essential delivery service to residents while cutting down on the number of vehicles on the road making the deliveries.

“We currently pay fees in Los Angeles, Chicago and West Hollywood as part of their permit programs and are open to similar models in other cities,” said Vignesh Ram, vice president of policy at Serve Robotics, by email.

Starship Technologies' delivery robot exits the elevator in the company's office.

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Meg Kelly

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NPR

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The company is now operating in Long Beach; Ram says it notified the city before beginning to operate there.

A City of Long Beach spokesperson told LAist its business licensing, planning and public works teams are currently working on recommendations for regulations. Those should be presented to the City Council early this summer.

The story first appeared on The LA Local.

When Hermila Melero trains future therapists at Cal State LA, she emphasizes something she learned over nearly two decades working on the Eastside: It matters where you’re from. 

“When you know the difference between East LA and Boyle Heights … they appreciate that on a really fundamental level,” Melero, director of field education at CSULA’s School of Social Work, said. “You feel a sense of safety and being seen when the person reflects what you look like, has a foundational understanding of where you come from.” 

Now, a $48 million grant to California State University, Los Angeles, will open new opportunities for students to serve the communities they come from. The funding will expand the university’s social work and counseling programs, training 1,000 new students to support youth mental health in Eastside communities and other underserved areas of Los Angeles.

What will the funding do?

The five-year investment by the Ballmer Group — the largest grant in the university’s history — will significantly grow Cal State LA’s Master of Social Work program. 

Its one-year MSW program will double in size, the two‑year program will increase by 50%, and the School-Based Family Counseling program will also double. The bulk of the funding will support scholarships, new faculty and the expansion of clinical placements.

Cal State LA already partners with organizations across the Eastside, including El Centro De Ayuda, AltaMed, Survivor Justice Center and schools across LAUSD. The new funding will allow more students to work directly with these groups, serving families who often lack access to care. 

“This speaks to the amazing work our social work and counseling programs are doing within our schools and with LA’s agencies serving youth and families,” said CSULA President Berenecea Johnson Eanes in a statement to Boyle Heights Beat. “With more clinical placements and greater numbers of master’s alumni, we will make real strides in meeting a critical shortage of qualified social workers and counselors.”

In addition to CSULA, CSU Dominguez Hills received $29 million to expand mental health resources in South LA and UCLA will use part of its $33 million grant to develop a minor in youth behavioral health. The three universities have received a total of $110 million. 

When Hermila Melero trains future therapists at Cal State LA, she emphasizes something she learned over nearly two decades working on the Eastside: It matters where you’re from.

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Courtesy CSULA

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Why representation matters

For Melero, who was born and raised in East LA, the expansion is personal. 

Melero spent 17 years of her professional career as a social worker in her own community and the surrounding areas. She witnessed firsthand how much her patients appreciated it when she spoke to them in Spanish or told them where she grew up. 

“You don’t have to explain yourself, you don’t have to explain what it’s like, you know, to grow up here,” she said. 

Now as director of field education, she helps place students in organizations, clinics and schools across the region, many of them serving the neighborhood they call home. 

Barriers to access

The need for more mental health workers comes at a time when many Eastside families are facing more barriers to care.

Stigma around mental health combined with fear tied to immigration raids have discouraged some people from seeking services, Melero said.

At the same time, financial challenges are making it harder for students to enter the profession. 

In January, the U.S. Department of Education updated its definition of a “professional degree” and excluded social work, which will affect graduate students’ eligibility for federal student loans, creating a significant financial barrier, according to the Council on Social Work Education.

Students hope to give back

For students like Silvia Perez, 41, financial assistance would be a great help.

The Cal State LA undergraduate student is pursuing her master’s degree after she graduates in May, all while raising two teenagers and a 23-year-old. Perez has been paying for her education by selling shoes and perfume outside of her home in East LA. 

Her decision to pursue a career in social work came after seeing her sister navigate the Department of Children and Family Services system with her children and witnessing how young people in her community struggled with substance abuse and homelessness. 

After graduating, Perez hopes to work in East LA to help the people she encounters every day. She believes that level of understanding can create trust with an already vulnerable population.

“I would like to help the people in my community first…I live the daily life that everyone else in my community faces,” she said.

For more information on CSULA’s MSW programs, click here.

Editor’s Note: The LA Local also receives support from the Ballmer Group.

This story was originally published by CalMatters. Sign up for their newsletters.

California scored a legal victory Monday that for now, undermines the Trump administration’s efforts to drastically cut funding for homeless housing.

Changes that would have diverted huge chunks of federal funds away from permanent housing and funneled them instead into temporary shelters and sober living programs will remain suspended after the Trump administration dropped its appeal of an earlier court loss. While the broader case is still being litigated, the new development could provide some reassurance to California counties waiting for the federal funds.

“We continue to fight for Californians and the rule of law, and we continue to win,” Attorney General Rob Bonta said in a news release. “People experiencing housing insecurity or homelessness need the federal government’s continued support — not a rollback of assistance.”

In November, the federal Department of Housing and Urban Development attempted to change the way it doles out money for homeless services via its Continuum of Care program. It decreed that jurisdictions applying for a piece of about $4 billion in federal homelessness funds can’t spend more than 30% of that money on permanent housing — a move that would result in a significant cut to the type of long-term housing that can resolve someone’s homelessness.

Last year, California communities spent about 90% of their federal Continuum of Care funds on permanent housing.

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s administration quickly joined 19 other states and the District of Columbia in suing to stop the Trump administration’s changes. In December, a federal judge in Rhode Island temporarily blocked the changes and ordered HUD to process funding applications under the original rules. The Trump administration appealed that ruling, leaving local governments and homeless service providers unsure of what they would be awarded funding for, and when.

The federal government on Monday dropped its appeal. While the rest of the lawsuit will move forward, and could take months to resolve, counties should be able to access permanent housing funds in the meantime.

Instead of prioritizing permanent housing, as has been the rule in the past, the Trump administration wants to focus more on shelters that get people off the streets quickly and temporarily, and on programs that require residents to be sober. HUD also attempted to ban the use of federal homelessness funds for diversity and inclusion efforts, support of transgender clients, and use of “harm reduction” strategies that seek to reduce overdose deaths by helping people in active addiction use drugs more safely.

A HUD spokesperson said the agency stood by its funding reforms.

“HUD remains committed to reforming the failed ‘Housing First’ approach and restoring the Continuum of Care program to its core objectives; reducing homelessness and promoting self-sufficiency for all vulnerable Americans, ensuring taxpayer dollars are directed towards those goals,” a spokesperson said in a statement.

HUD experienced another legal setback last month when a federal judge in Rhode Island shot down the agency’s attempt to upend another, smaller, source of federal homelessness funding. At issue in that case was a program called the Continuum of Care Builds grant, which funds the construction of new homeless housing. HUD last year made grantees reapply under a very different set of criteria, which seemed to disqualify organizations that support trans clients, use “harm reduction” to prevent drug overdose deaths or operate in a “sanctuary city.”

About $75 million in federal funds had been frozen as that case moved forward.

In March, the court found HUD violated the law through its “slapdash imposition of political whims.”

“This ruling is a victory for people across this nation who have overcome homelessness and stabilized in HUD’s permanent housing programs,” Ann Oliva, chief executive of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, which filed the lawsuit, wrote in a statement. “Today’s news reinforces a fundamental truth: that the work to end homelessness is not partisan, and never should be interfered with for political means.”

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.