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UNHOUSING – The\u00a0Los Angeles Times\u00a0recently reported a number of unsettling findings about how Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is addressing the homelessness crisis, revealing that\u00a040 percent of unhoused participants<\/a>\u00a0of her Inside Safe program were back on the street. Additionally, The\u00a0L.A. Times\u00a0also noted that the longer Inside Safe exists, \u201cthe greater the share of participants who have returned to \u2018unsheltered\u2019 homelessness.\u201d The mayor\u2019s approach needs a swift overhaul that\u2019s focused on root causes and long-term solutions.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Since coming into office in 2022, Bass has used the Inside Safe program as the main way to address L.A.\u2019s homelessness crisis, clearing encampments and moving people into transitional housing with the goal of finding them permanent housing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bass\u2019s office routinely sends out press releases touting the success of Inside Safe, but the\u00a0L.A. Times\u2019s findings show a different story, revealing that Bass\u2019s focus on transitional housing has created a revolving-door policy that doesn\u2019t keep people housed.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Los Angeles elected leaders have spent more than $300 million on Inside Safe, but the city has been unable to quickly place people in permanent housing, spending millions of dollars to house residents in motels and hotels that often have strict rules that end up with people living on the street again.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n UCLA Law School professor emeritus Gary Blasi, an expert on homelessness, told the\u00a0L.A. Times\u00a0that Inside Safe needs \u201ca thorough re-engineering.\u201d He added, \u201cOnce [Los Angeles officials] started having people in interim housing for nine months or a year, that should have rang some alarm bells, because that\u2019s just not sustainable.\u201d<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n The stakes are high for people who end up on the street. Between 2014 and 2021, homeless deaths in Los Angeles County tripled over that seven-year period. It was only until 2024 that L.A. County saw a decline in homeless deaths, but\u00a02,208 unhoused people still passed away that year<\/a>. Activists have long questioned the accuracy of that count, and believe the numbers are much higher.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n Here is an original song created by Jim Hampton, Publisher of CityWatchLA that speaks to the homeless and HIV\/AIDS related issues that face LA.\u00a0 Take a look and share it.<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n In addition, Bass\u2019s homelessness policy is not multi-pronged and doesn\u2019t deal with root causes. Specifically, the mayor fails to comprehensively address L.A.\u2019s housing affordability crisis \u2013 sky-high rents, according to a major UC San Francisco study<\/a>, drive homelessness. Excessive rents impact seniors on fixed incomes, working-class families, and students, among others.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Recently, a\u00a0pair of UCLA research briefs<\/a>\u00a0found that student homelessness in Los Angeles County spiked 28 percent between the 2022-2023 school year and 2023-2024. The\u00a0Westside Current<\/a>\u00a0reported that, in the city of Los Angeles, homelessness among seniors increased to 4,680 people in 2025, and the number of unhoused seniors in L.A.\u00a0spiked by more than 36 percent<\/a>\u00a0between 2023 and 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n But Bass can turn things around, gaining long-term results for Angelenos.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Activists continue to urge Bass and other state and local politicians to urgently implement the\u00a0\u201c3 Ps\u201d<\/a>:\u00a0protect\u00a0tenants through rent control and other protections;\u00a0preserve\u00a0existing affordable housing, not demolish it for luxury housing; and\u00a0producenew affordable and homeless housing through such concepts as adaptive reuse and prefabricated housing.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Adaptive reuse can be particularly effective: it costs far less to renovate a hotel or motel for permanent housing than constructing a new building; the renovation can be completed quickly; and people can move into permanent affordable housing, not transitional.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n Bass should also work to repeal the Ellis Act, the state law that allows landlords and developers to turn rent-controlled buildings into luxury housing, such as condominiums and boutique hotels.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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