Some LA City Leaders, Community Advocates Want An Additional $4.5M Budgeted For Mental Health Crisis Responses

Two members of the Los Angeles City Council joined progressive policy advocates Wednesday to call on the city to allocate an additional $4.5 million for mental health crisis response services that rely less on police.

Councilmember Eunisses Hernandez and representatives from LA Forward, a group that advocates for affordable housing among other issues, urged the city to budget $2.5 million in the fiscal year that starts July 1 to make emergency dispatches more efficient. They also said L.A. should earmark $2 million to evaluate what kinds of programs are currently paid for with city funds and how they might be streamlined.

At a morning news conference held outside City Hall, speakers called on residents to comment during a budget hearing scheduled for later in the day.

Mayor Karen Bass’ $12.8 billion budget proposal includes $50 million for community-based organizations for violence prevention and intervention, civilian crisis response and anti-recidivism services, according to a budget summary.

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Hernandez said during the news conference that putting more money into better crisis responses would save the city money “by investing in prevention rather than reaction.”

“We’re asking the city to invest in building alternative crisis responses that are life-affirming, that are culturally humble and will provide our communities the care they need when they need it most, in their moments of crises,” she said.

Godfrey Plata, deputy director of LA Forward, said centralizing dispatch efforts could go a long way toward getting people the right mental health crisis response in a timely manner. He said the process is not as simple as pressing a button to call for medical assistance from the fire department.

“[Dispatchers] have to manually call different services in order to reach that service,” he said.

L.A. recently launched a pilot program that sends teams of clinicians — not police officers — to respond to incidents involving people in mental health crises. A separate program, known as the Crisis and Incident Response through Community-Led Engagement, or CIRCLE, focuses on crises involving unhoused people.

A third effort partners the L.A. County Department of Mental Health with local fire stations to send teams made up of a driver, a licensed psychiatric technician and someone who has personal experience with mental illness.

Jason Enright, who has a son with autism, said he doesn’t have any good options to call for help when his child is in crisis. He said the options the city provides don’t cover his North Hollywood neighborhood and responses from the county mental health department take too long.

Enright said he worries what a police response might look like if his child is in crisis. He cited a recent LAist investigation that found nearly a third of LAPD shootings since 2017 involved someone living with a mental illness and/or experiencing a mental health crisis.

“It’s just terrifying as a parent,” he said. “You don’t want to call for help and have that lead to the death of your loved one.”

In March, L.A. partnered with three local nonprofit organizations — Exodus Recovery, Alcott Center and Penny Lane Centers — to provide two unarmed teams in each of three service areas spread across L.A. The teams are available 24 hours a day, seven days a week within the LAPD's Devonshire, Wilshire and Southeast service areas.

Tracee Porter of LA Forward, who worked as a cab driver for decades, said she’s seen many people in crisis on the streets, and she agonized over how to help them. She recalled seeing a man in Long Beach throwing lit matches at a building.

She said she thought the man was in psychological distress and called 911.

“But I was terrified with that call, what would happen if the wrong people responded. Would they just shoot him or what have you?” Porter said.

The full city council has until June 1 to adopt or modify the mayor’s proposed budget.