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Mayor Bass lifts LA’s homelessness emergency declaration
LA Mayor Karen Bass (right) speaks with a man at an encampment in front of the Sunset Sound recording studio in Hollywood on May 31, 2024.
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Nick Gerda
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LAist
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Topline:
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass lifted the city’s state of emergency on homelessness that she had declared on her first day in office.
Background: Bass declared the state of local emergency in late 2022. That declaration gave Bass the power to streamline processes for her signature Inside Safe program, which moves unhoused people into hotel rooms. It also led to Executive Directive 1, Bass’ policy that waived certain regulations for affordable housing developments, including public hearings and environmental reviews.
Emergency over? Bass and L.A. city councilmembers said the emergency declaration always was meant to be temporary. The mayor noted the homelessness crisis is ongoing but said there has been progress. She cited two years of declines in the city’s unhoused population estimates. Additionally, Bass and other city officials are pushing to turn Executive Directive 1 into a permanent law.
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“Because many of the tools created under the declaration are now in place, we can continue urgent action without the temporary declaration,” Bass wrote in a letter to city councilmembers Tuesday.
She said she would reinstate the declaration if needed.
City officials react: Councilmember Tim McOsker had been calling on the the city to lift the emergency declaration and return to normal operations. He told LAist ending the emergency shows L.A. is committed to more transparency.
“For example, ending the emergency restores normal rules for contracts and property use, giving residents better visibility on how public resources are spent,” McOsker said.
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