A homeless person in the city of Los Angeles (USA), this Thursday. ETIENNE LAURENT (EFE)
There are 6,000 more homeless people in Los Angeles today than there were a year ago. This population has increased by 9% in the county and 10% in the city, according to the latest census conducted by the city services. A total of around 75,500 people live on the streets, in camps or in vehicles. In 2022 it was just over 69,000. The figure released today puts pressure on local authorities’ efforts to reduce one of the city’s most visible problems. Karen Bass, the mayor of Los Angeles, took office last December and immediately made the issue one of her priorities. There are currently doubts about the effectiveness of the crusade undertaken, which involves an investment of more than a billion dollars.
According to the census, conducted over three days in January, the number of homeless increased by 55% in three areas in particular. One of them is West Los Angeles, including neighborhoods like West Hollywood, Venice and Santa Monica. The other region of conflict is the port city of Long Beach. In any case, the census record of about 2,000 new people made homeless due to rising house prices, mental health problems (a quarter of the population say they suffer from them) and drug abuse (present in a third of the cases). South Los Angeles also saw an increase of 1,600 people living on the streets. Another 20,000 people who are already living in shelters built in recent years are not included.
Latinos are the ones who suffer the most from this phenomenon as they make up 43% of the homeless population. However, this percentage has not increased significantly compared to the 2022 census. Hispanics make up the majority in Los Angeles County, a vast region of 10 million people spread across 88 cities. However, the phenomenon of begging punishes African Americans particularly harshly. Three out of ten people living on the streets are black. This is despite the fact that the group makes up less than 10% of the population. The census showed that there are more Asians living on the streets compared to last year’s numbers, but they make up only 2%, about 1,200 people.
Karen Bass, the mayor, takes a self-critical view of the report and admits she faces a “huge challenge”. In a statement, he said he would continue to work with all levels of government to “deal with this crisis as the emergency it is.” “Several lives depend on it,” he assured in the text. The politician, the first woman to govern Los Angeles, has received a vote of confidence from the Supervisors, the body that oversees Los Angeles County. Janice Hahn, one of the supervisors, called the new numbers “disappointing” but said the year 2023 should serve as a turning point in the fight against homelessness, a problem that has plagued several California cities for decades.
Homelessness has been on the rise since 2015. It wasn’t until 2018 that growth slowed, when a 4% drop was reported, which was achieved by investing $1.2 billion in new, affordable housing, so scarce in the metro area and one of the main causes of the crisis. But that period was followed by two years that shattered any optimism. Begging increased nearly 26% in the county between 2018 and 2020. The pandemic has made things worse, increasing cases by 4.1% in 2021. In nearly eight years, the phenomenon has increased by 70% in the county and 80% in the city.
Because of this, Bass made the subject his obsession. Since taking power in a city with more than 40,000 homeless people, he has been campaigning for the cause. On his first day in office, he submitted his plan of attack to a City Council vote, which endorsed it with the urgency the issue deserves in public opinion. This would invest around $100 million to move people sleeping on the streets and in tents to shelters run by local authorities or non-governmental organizations. A declaration of emergency was also issued, facilitating access to federal and state resources to deal with the situation. To encourage cheap housing, he imposed a moratorium on regulations that impeded new construction.
Join EL PAÍS to follow all the news and read without restrictions.
subscribe to
Bass’ proposals represent an investment of approximately $1.3 billion, primarily in construction mutual funds. It’s an increase of nearly $300 million over its predecessor, fellow Democrat Eric Garcetti. Now, after six months in office, the mayor reported that her government had pulled around 14,000 people off the streets. About 10,000 people were accommodated in emergency shelters, while about 4,300 were given access to housing thanks to government-aided financing schemes. The mayor’s actions will take time, but the problem plaguing the county won’t stop growing.
Follow all international information on Facebook and Twitteror in our weekly newsletter.