Mayor Eric Garcetti plans to devote millions of dollars to addressing homelessness as part of the Los Angeles proposed budget for the 2016-17 Fiscal Year.
Garcetti announced the budget last week which includes $86 million dollars that, if approved, will be used to build permanent and affordable housing, according to a statement from his office. An additional $30 million will go towards hiring outreach workers and connecting the homeless to services to help get them off the streets. The budget also calls for new facilities that will let people store their belongings, and shower and use restrooms.
Los Angeles has long been criticized for not spending enough on its homeless population, which tallies in the tens of thousands. Recently, the city and LA County have pledged more support to address people living on the streets and has released plans on how to manage that. The proposed homeless programs, according to the LA Times, will be funded from revenue that currently does not exist– such as a levy that Garcetti wants to collect from real estate developers but that is currently not implemented.
The new budget also sets funds aside to hire 525 new police officers and to buy 2,000 new body cameras for the Los Angeles Police Department. The Mayor would also like to hire 230 more firefighters.
Other parts of the budget will set aside money to support a seismic retrofit program to enforce the city’s earthquake readiness legislation and to repair sidewalks.
The proposed budget must go before City Council before it is finalized. The Council has until June 1 to approve it.
You can view the full $8.76-billion dollar budget here.
