Los Angeles County officials are expected to approve a new $460 million increase in spending to support the homeless and the development of permanent housing through Measure H. The five elected officials who run the county committed to find solutions, but also noted that there's a "widely anticipated rise in the numbers of people without a permanent home," according to the Los Angeles Daily News.
“The scale of this crisis is overwhelming,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said. “We cannot and will not accept this as the new normal.”
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority count of homelessness will be available to the public on May 31, but all signs point to an increase in the Southern California homeless population. The Board of Supervisors already received results from other counties, and were able to confirm a 43 percent increase in homelessness in Orange County. The John and Ken Show could have told you that...
“If you look at our neighboring counties, their growth in homelessness reported already is humongous and it will be way more than twice as much or even three times as much as what we will experience here,” Supervisor Sheila Kuehl said.
The proposed $460 million would work out like this:
$92.8 million to "strengthen the shelter system",
$85.4 million for "rapid" re-housing,
$77.3 million in rental subsidies,
and millions to be spend on the staff that will be assigned to helping the homeless...
“I have said to my taxpayers, you are making a difference in individual lives. Now we have to work on prevention, because as more and more people fall for the first time into homelessness, we have to look at the causes,” Kuehl said. “But I think the taxpayers should be very pleased with the lives that they’ve saved.”
KFI's Andrew Mollenbeck will join the John and Ken show at 2 p.m. today with the latest on Measure H.