News

Feb 19

Letters to the Editor: Landlords have attorneys, renters almost always don’t. That’s a recipe for injustice

To the editor: Economist George Zuo clearly does not understand the purpose of renters’ right to counsel, something that 17 cities, four states and one county across the nation already have codified. (“Renting in L.A. could go from bad to worse,” Opinion, Feb. 13) Zuo prefers instead for the money that would fund renters’ counsel to go directly into the pockets of ...
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Feb 14

A year ago, L.A. County declared homelessness a state of emergency. Is it working?

  Just over a year ago, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, following Mayor Karen Bass’ lead, declared a local emergency on homelessness in an effort to inject a sense of urgency into addressing the needs of the almost 76,000 unhoused people spread across America’s largest county.  On Tuesday, the supervisors heard from Cheri Todoroff, executive director of the L.A. County Homeless Initiative, ...
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Jan 30

Endorsement: Yes on Proposition 1, a modest step forward on mental health care

  Proposition 1 on the March 5 ballot won’t help the vast majority of the approximately 180,000 Californians living on the street, nor even most of the estimated one-third with serious psychiatric illnesses, substance use problems or both. It’s important to say that upfront, because the “Treatment not Tents” campaign urging a “yes” vote could leave voters with the impression that ...
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Jan 15

Editorial: Yes, it really will take billions of dollars a year to solve homelessness in California

  Gov. Gavin Newsom has said that addressing homelessness is his top priority. It should be. California has 30% of the country’s homeless population and 50% of those who sleep outside as opposed to in shelters or temporary housing. Certainly no California governor has responded to the humanitarian crisis the way Newsom has. He has invested in programs to prevent and reduce ...
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Jan 3

Newsom, firefighters back Prop. 1 to tackle homelessness, mental health crisis

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- This March, California voters will get to determine how money will be spent addressing the state's homeless and mental health crisis under Proposition 1. On Wednesday, Gov. Gavin Newsom and other local leaders came together to rally support for the ballot measure dubbed "Treatment not Tents." "The reforms in Prop. 1 will expand access to care for hundreds of ...
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Dec 22

LA County chooses developer to turn iconic General Hospital into housing, retail The 90-year-old landmark will keep its facade and offer affordable housing in a restorative village

  The vision of transforming the vacant yet iconic L.A. County General Hospital building in Boyle Heights into housing and healthcare facilities for working-class and homeless residents took a giant step toward reality Tuesday, with the county’s selection of a developer. Centennial Partners, consisting of Primestor and Bayspring Development, was chosen by the Board of Supervisors to build between 800 and 1,000 ...
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Dec 18

Editorial: Bass had a strong first year on homelessness. Year 2, L.A. needs more housing

  There is no problem more fraught and seemingly intractable in Los Angeles than homelessness. Karen Bass knew that when she came into office last December — a month before the annual count found that homeless numbers in the city had gone up 10% to 46,260. As mayor, Bass has made homelessness her unwavering primary focus, not just proclaiming it an urgent ...
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Dec 11

Bass, one year in: Progress on homelessness but still a steep climb

  Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass had been in office for little more than week when she announced the launch of Inside Safe, her signature program to move homeless Angelenos out of the city’s biggest encampments and under a roof. The first place she went was a noisy stretch of Cahuenga Boulevard under the 101 Freeway in Hollywood. Working closely with Councilmember Nithya ...
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Dec 7

Bass says L.A. has put 21,000 homeless people into interim housing. Here’s what that means

  Over the past year, Los Angeles city and county agencies have moved more than 21,000 unhoused Angelenos into interim housing — motel rooms, shelter beds, tiny home villages and an assortment of other sites, Mayor Karen Bass said Wednesday. Bass, marking the end of her first year in citywide office, said the figure showed the strides that her administration, working closely ...
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Dec 5

We can’t solve homelessness by institutionalizing people. Here’s why

  One of the greatest challenges facing the United States is the number of residents who do not have a place to live, one of the most basic, foundational necessities for well-being. In 2022, the Department of Housing and Urban Development counted 582,000 Americans experiencing homelessness. That’s roughly 1 in 556 people, a third of whom live in California. There are myriad, conflicting ...
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