LOS ANGELES—Newly inaugurated Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, in her first order of business, on Dec. 12 declared a state of emergency on homelessness in the city.
Bass spent her first morning in the office meeting with various city department heads, then signed the declaration inside the city’s Emergency Operations Center, in a room designated as the “United Homelessness Response Center.”
“Using the emergency order is our ability to fast-track things,” Bass said.
In her inaugural speech on Dec. 11, Bass said the declaration will officially recognize homelessness as a crisis. The city has recorded a 1.7 percent increase in homelessness since 2020—with nearly 42,000 people now living on the streets, according to the city’s 2022 homeless count.
“It will create the structure necessary for us to have a true, unified, and citywide strategy to set us on the path to solve homelessness,” Bass said.
The declaration allows Bass to take more aggressive executive actions to confront the crisis; however, the city council will have to sign off on it every 30 days.
Bass urged city and county officials to “lock arms” with her in her goal to reduce homelessness through a streamlined strategy encompassing mental health outreach and housing services.
In the past few weeks, Bass and termed-out Mayor Eric Garcetti have been seeking during the transition process to identify solutions for the homeless crisis with council members, the city controller, and the city attorney.
“We have already started,” she said. “You elected me to lead and lead I will do but I am also asking you Angelenos to join me in moving our city forward.”
Bass also addressed the city’s rising crime; she said her administration will open an Office of Community Safety to meet with “neighbors, store clerks, teenagers” who “actually know what’s going on behind the statistics.”
“We must stop crimes in progress and hold people accountable. Some neighborhoods have asked for additional officers, but what neighborhoods are asking for and what they need for safety is as diverse as our city is,” she said.
Bass said she will also address the “social health and economic conditions” that contribute to an unsafe environment.
“Let’s partner with the people, ask them what works in their neighborhood, and create our public safety policy from the ground up by helping people pay the bills, by helping people feel safer,” she said.
In November, Police Chief Michel Moore reported a 45 percent increase in robberies involving a firearm compared to 2019 and a nearly 4 percent increase in violent crime compared to the same time last year.
In Garcetti’s final year as mayor, he allocated nearly $1 billion in the city budget to combat homelessness. When he took office in 2013, there were 22,993 homeless people in the city, including 60 percent without shelter.
Bass, a former congresswoman, is the first woman to be elected as the city’s mayor. Vice President Kamala Harris swore her into office at the Microsoft Theater.
The inauguration, which was attended by several top officials including Gov. Gavin Newsom and several Congress members, was originally scheduled for City Hall, but rainy weather caused the event to be moved.
Entertainment included songs by multiple artists, including Stevie Wonder, along with a poem by National Youth Poet Laureate Amanda Gorman.
Bass, who ran on a platform to keep Los Angeles’s values progressive, was endorsed by former President Barack Obama, President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris, former Secretary Hillary Clinton, U.S. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.), and dozens of other Democrats in state and federal offices.
Her opponent, Rick Caruso, a billionaire builder known for constructing some of the city’s most beloved malls and plazas, began as a Republican, later became an independent, and eventually registered as a Democrat before entering the race in February. He was endorsed by the Los Angeles Protective League, among others, and several celebrities such as music manager Scooter Braun, Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Chris Pratt, and Snoop Dogg.
