Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass unveiled her first city budget on Tuesday that contains funds to tackle the homelessness crisis, expand mental health services and increase LAPD recruitment.
Bass’ budget commits nearly $1.3 billion to combat homelessness, $250 million of which will go towards her Inside Safe program, which aims to get homeless individuals out of encampments and into hotel and motel rooms.
“This budget is a reflection of our values and invests in the most critical needs of the city,” Mayor Bass said at a press conference on Tuesday. “This budget breaks new ground by funding the purchase of hotels and motels, which will reduce costs compared with renting rooms. This is long overdue, and something the community sees as common sense.”
In addition, Mayor Bass is also calling for the creation of the Mayor’s Office of Community Safety.
“We want to have the office of community safety build out the infrastructure for non-law enforcement responses and build out the infrastructure so that our city can move to prevent crime and reduce crime,” Bass said.
The mayor’s budget also includes financial aid to increase recruitment for the LAPD. The funds would support the hiring of new officers and bringing back recently retired officers. The budget is also prepared for financial headwinds, containing reserves of 10 percent of general fund receipts.
Bass’ spending plan has to be approved by the City Council before it passes.
