The City of Los Angeles' new budget tops $13 billion for the first time in history, and it includes an unprecedented $1.3 billion investment to continue tackling the homelessness crisis. The Los Angeles Homeless Service Authority recently announced that homelessness in the city increased 10% in 2022. Since 2015, homelessness has spiked by 80% in the city.

What You Need To Know

  • LA City Council member Bob Blumenfield, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee, highlighted the city’s biggest priorities, including the mayor’s Inside Safe program, which is receiving $250 million to end encampments and get unhoused Angelenos inside
  • State Sen. Steven Bradford also discusses the final recommendations made by the California Reparations Task Force
  • Los Angeles is also focused on hiring more LAPD officers to maintain 9,500 officers
  • Mayor Karen Bass also carved out funding in the budget to address poverty and income equality

On this week’s “In Focus SoCal,” host Tanya McRae takes a closer look at the new budget with LA City Council member Bob Blumenfield, chair of the Budget and Finance Committee. He highlighted the city’s biggest priorities, including the mayor’s Inside Safe program, which is receiving $250 million to end encampments and get unhoused Angelenos inside. 

“We’re focused on getting people immediately indoors, people who are on the streets into interim sites,” Blumenfield said. “And (Bass is) working on getting hotels in all the different areas of the city, where we get folks directly off the streets into those sites and then get them services and on their way to permanent housing.”

Los Angeles is also focused on hiring more LAPD officers to maintain 9,500 officers. Blumenfield said that the budget includes incentives for recruitments and to ensure that every class of recruits is funded. 

“Classes are supposed to be 60 per class. We’re getting class sizes about 30 or more, so that’s a big problem,” said Blumenfield. “You have overworked officers, which create problems in and of itself through overtime.”

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Bass also carved out funding in the budget to address poverty and income equality. Blumenfield said that the city is applying an equity lens across the board to make sure that the most vulnerable population will be assisted, including more funding for programs that help the city’s youth, including LA Rise and LA Conservation Corps. 

State Sen. Steven Bradford also discusses the final recommendations made by the California Reparations Task Force. The nine-member panel has been meeting for two years with the goal of establishing a path to slavery reparations that could serve as a model for the nation. The final report, released at the end of June, proposed more than 100 statewide policies to address generations of racial discrimination and disparities. The five main subject areas discussed throughout the report include housing, labor, education, political participation and the unjust legal system.  

“We constantly say our budget is a reflection of our values and our priorities. Well, if reparations is not in our budget, then it states to the rest of California, rest of the nation, that it’s not a priority. So funding, this is my number one priority,” said Bradford. 

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