News

Jul 17

Gov. Jerry Brown, California legislative leaders commit to push an affordable housing plan next month

With time running out before lawmakers break for summer recess, Gov. Jerry Brown and legislative leaders announced Monday that they were postponing a vote on a package of bills to address the state’s housing affordability crisis until August. “The package of legislation we are all working on will help ensure Californians won’t have to pay an arm and a leg to ...
Read More
Jul 13

$5-million program finds housing for only 268 veterans, report says

$5-million program to assist homeless veterans has helped only 268 get off the streets over 18 months, according to a recent Los Angeles County civil grand jury report — in part because a $1.2-million contract to provide interim shelter has been delayed for nearly a year. Homes for Heroes, a county program funded by the federal government, provides interim shelter to ...
Read More
Jun 30

Homeless cleanups in L.A. have surged, costing millions. What has been gained?

Los Angeles public works crews have cleaned 16,500 homeless encampments since 2015, removing more than 3,000 tons of trash. But the $14-million citywide cleanup effort — increasing dramatically since it was launched — has made only a marginal difference in the number of encampments across the city’s sidewalks, alleys and riverbanks, a Los Angeles Times review found. Inspectors for the city’s CleanStat ...
Read More
Jun 28

L.A. City Council takes first step to make evictions harder

If a landlord wants to evict a tenant, the process can be simple. In many cases in Los Angeles, and across California, property owners only have to state they are ending the lease. No justification is needed — only notices of at least 30 days to provide some time to move out. Now, amid an affordable housing shortage and reports that low-income ...
Read More
Jun 13

Los Angeles County supervisors endorse a spending plan for Measure H homelessness tax

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a spending plan Tuesday for millions of dollars from a special sales tax to fight homelessness. On a unanimous vote, the supervisors accepted virtually all of the recommendations of a 50-member planning committee on how to divide nearly $259 million projected in the first year of Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax ...
Read More
Jun 3

It's insanely difficult to build housing in L.A. No wonder we have a homelessness problem.

To the editor: When lots of people want to live here and there aren’t enough homes, there is a shortage. And in a market economy, the way that shortage manifests itself is through price increases as people compete for housing. The prices go up for everyone, and the people at the bottom of the economic ladder find themselves pushed onto ...
Read More
May 31

Knowingly exposing others to HIV should no longer be a felony, state Senate says

 The state Senate on Wednesday voted to no longer make it a felony for someone infected with HIV to knowingly expose others to the disease by having unprotected sex without telling his or her partner about the infection. The crime would be downgraded to a misdemeanor, and the bill would also apply to people who donate blood or semen without telling the blood or semen ...
Read More
May 10

Here's how L.A. County citizens panel wants to spend $355 million a year in homelessness fight

The citizen planning group for the Measure H sales tax drew up final recommendations Wednesday for how Los Angeles County should spend $355 million annually over the next three years to fight homelessness. The 50-member panel — composed of homeless advocates, service providers, local government and county officials, and business and nonprofit leaders — largely endorsed the requests made by officials ...
Read More
May 3

L.A. County considers another path on homelessness: prevention

The calls on the hotline reflected life at its messies:  A single mom who left her boyfriend and was living in a motel. An out-of-stater who came for a job that fizzled. A low-income family with medical bills and a three-day eviction notice.The callers had one thing in common. They were not homeless — yet. When they reached the referral line ...
Read More
Apr 27

How should L.A. County homelessness funds be spent? Here's how to tell officials what you think

Los Angeles County officials are seeking public comment on the preliminary spending proposal for the estimated $355 million to come annually from the Measure H sales tax increase approved by voters in March to reduce homelessness. A summary of the plan was posted on the county’s Homeless Initiative webpage late Wednesday along with a comment form.Phil Ansell, director of the Homeless ...
Read More

Pages

Subscribe to News