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LA WATCHDOG - Over the last three years, the City of Los Angeles has allocated over $3 billion to its Homeless Services and Housing Program. The County, the State, and Federal government have also spent untold billions addressing homelessness in the City and the County.
City voters also approved in 2016 Measure HHH that authorized the issuance of $1.2 billion in bonds to support permanent supportive housing.
There is also a report circulating City Hall that says $22 billion is needed over the next ten years to get the homeless off the street. But there is no plan on how to finance this program other than that Angelenos know that we are the deep pocket.
There is, however, a shocking lack of transparency and outreach about the efforts of the City and County to address the plight of people living on the streets. Yes, there is a Measure HHH oversight committee whose members are appointed the Mayor and the City Council who do not have the expertise to oversee such massive and complicated programs.
Furthermore, try to find time to attend any the committee meetings or review and analyze their reports. Nor has there been any meaningful outreach on by this committee, the Mayor, or members of the City Council to the Neighborhood Councils or local community associations, people who are directly impacted by the homeless programs.
It is very difficult to understand the progress (or better yet, the lack of meaningful, cost-effective progress) of these programs. We are inundated with press releases from Mayor Bass about the clean-up of encampments and Inside Safe. We do not get any information about the net results as many homeless come in one door and out the back door.
We do not have the benefit of any review and analysis from the City. Rather, we have to rely on writers such as Tim Campbell of CityWatch and Christopher LeGras to get a better understanding of the headcounts and cost of the operations of the City, the County, and their affiliated entities. And it is not pretty.
But there is a reason why the Homeless Industrial Complex has kept us in the dark. If we knew about the lack of progress and how inefficiently our billions in tax money were being spent, we would have rejected Measure A, the $1.2 billion, permanent half cent increase in our sales tax.
Measure A does not call for meaningful independent oversight. There is only one reference to a “citizens oversight committee” that will essentially be appointed by the County Supervisors who, along with their cronies in the Homeless Industrial Complex, are feasting off the proceeds of this new $1.1 billion sales tax.
To improve transparency and accountability, Mayor Karen Bass, Council President Marqueese Harris-Dawon, and Councilwoman Nithya Raman, the Chair of the Housing and Homeless Committee, need to establish an independent committee or committees of knowledgeable experts to provide Angelenos with a critical analysis of the effectiveness of how our billions in tax dollars are in addressing the homelessness in the City and the County.
(Jack Humphreville writes LA Watchdog for CityWatch. He is the President of the DWP Advocacy Committee, the Budget and DWP representative for the Greater Wilshire Neighborhood Council, and a Neighborhood Council Budget Advocate. He can be reached at: [email protected].)
