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Why LA Is Considering A Centralized Department To Keep Homelessness Efforts Accountable
A woman pushes her belongings past a row of tents on the streets of Los Angeles on Feb.1, 2021.
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Frederic J. Brown
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AFP via Getty Images
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The Los Angeles City Council on Tuesday voted to begin the process of potentially creating a homelessness department as a way to bolster accountability across programs and initiatives.
Details on the vote: The council voted 13 to 0, with two council members sitting out, in favor of a motion to evaluate the creation of a homelessness department. The aim would be to centralize oversight of city-funded efforts to address the homelessness crisis, including outreach to encampments, interim and permanent housing, prevention, contracting, and collection of real-time data.
What city leaders are saying: Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who represents Sunland, Lake View Terrace, Pacoima and Shadow Hills, introduced the motion.
Ahead of the council’s vote on Tuesday, she said a centralized department would yield “greater transparency and outcomes associated with the investments that we are making.”
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Why it matters: The number of people experiencing homelessness in the L.A. area continues to rise. The latest count shows nearly 33,000 people are unhoused. The council has given the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority millions of taxpayer dollars to improve data access, with mixed results.
The backstory: The city of L.A. has been grappling with major data problems as it works to address homelessness, including the possibility of paying for services that went unused, such as motel rooms that sat empty.
What's next? The motion instructs legislative analysts to assemble a report on how to centralize all the different services. According to Rodriguez, the city council expects to have the report within "the next few months," after the city budget is finalized.
Go deeper: ‘Horrifying’ Homeless Service Data Problems Prompt Fury From LA Councilmembers
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