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LOS ANGELES (CNS) - As part of their trip to Sacramento to meet with state legislators and advocate on behalf of the city, Los Angeles leaders Monday announced 3,365 housing vouchers to benefit unhoused Angelenos.
According to the Bass' office, the voucher award comes in response to direct efforts to bring online more permanent housing through the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles by increasing staff and prioritizing goals.
Additionally, Bass noted the city secured a $7.2 million Homekey Round 3 grant last week, which is the seventh award the city has secured from the state.
Bass and a delegation of City Council members -- including Council President Paul Krekorian and council members Bob Blumenfield, Hugo Soto- Martinez, Monica Rodriguez and Eunisses Hernandes -- traveled to Sacramento to build on state investments so far to address the homelessness crisis.
Krekorian, who was former assemblyman, told City News Service it's been years since his last meetings at the capital.
"I don't remember a time when we've had a city delegation come up here with a mayor and members of the City Council," he said.
He emphasized that it's important for them to visit with state leaders -- having meetings with members of the legislature, members of the governor's administration, and the governor because it really makes a difference.
"When we're not here, if we're not being heard then we will be overlooked when it comes to budget decisions and policies," he added.
Other goals of the trip include various discussions with state leaders to obtain funding for more housing and advocate for expedited reimbursements for past emergencies such as COVID-19 and recent storms.
Councilwoman Rodriguez said the trip was an opportunity to connect with many legislators, and elevating the issues that are "most pressing to the people of Los Angeles, particularly past COVID."
She agreed with Krekorian in that it's important for city leaders to engage with state leaders, and remind them that "we don't always have one-size fits all solutions for challenges that face Californians."
Bass touted that several legislative leaders from Northern California were in attendance, as well as those from Southern California -- giving them more opportunities to ask for resources.
"But, both budget chairs and the president of the state senate and speaker are from Southern California," Bass noted. "So, that means that we have to definitely make our case very strongly, specially in a difficult budget time."
City officials lamented that the state is looking at a budget deficit in the upcoming fiscal year.
"We are also very concerned about an item in the governor's budget that would actually not just cut funding, but require the city to repay that money that has already been allocated of us."
The city of Los Angeles is also looking at a possible $150 million deficit that could balloon to $400 million as result of overspending and new labor contracts with several unions representing city employees.
In regard to the funding for interim housing, Bass emphasized that "our priority always has to be to save lives, and when we work together, across all levels of government, we can make real progress."
"With more than 40,000 unhoused Angelenos on our streets, it was unacceptable that we had voucher holders unable to come inside," she continued.
In January 2023, Bass noted they worked with HACLA to increase its capacity and now the city is at "full voucher utilization."
"We cannot standby and allow business as usual to kill unhoused Angelenos," Bass said in a statement.
Krekorian said in a statement that their trip was about securing funding to expand on proven programs for the unhoused, and build more affordable housing for working Angelenos.
Councilwoman Nithya Raman, the chair of the city's Housing and Homelessness Committee, said, "This is why I insisted on working closely with HACLA in the committee, setting a clear goal of 100% utilization, and working in partnership with HACLA staff to ensure that we were able to successfully meet that goal."
The city partnered with Hope the Mission to use the $7.1 million to repurpose an existing motel into a 22-unit housing community to serve unhoused youth, or those at-risk of being homelessness. The total $105.8 million is expected to deliver a combined 367 interim and permanent housing for homeless individuals.
"These state funds are absolutely vital to our efforts to bring Angelenos inside. I want to again thank the Newsom administration for their continued partnership to address the homelessness crisis," Bass said in a statement. "We will continue to call on our federal and state partners to increase our voucher allocation and other resources to bring more people inside."
Blumenfield noted that the city must take advantage of "every state and federal resource on the table, and leave not rock unturned."
Bass said they will have several important meetings Tuesday with Newsom and a couple of his cabinet secretaries.