Los Angeles needs $1.3 billion to address homelessness in the city

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass says she told President Biden that he could significantly reduce homelessness in the United States by helping to find shelter for the roughly 40,000 people in the city who are currently unhoused.

“[I] basically said, ‘If your goal, Mr. President, is to reduce homelessness in the United States by 25%, you can literally meet that goal in our city for such a massive problem that I absolutely believe is an emergency,'” Bass said in an interview with All Things Considered on Saturday.

Bass, who campaigned on a promise to reduce LA’s homeless population by 17,000 people in her first year of office, has vowed to spend an unprecedented $1.3 billion on programs to address homelessness.

The mayor’s comments came days after she unveiled a new budget proposal that represents an almost 10% annual increase on spending that is focused on homelessness. But she acknowledged that federal support through various grant programs will be crucial if her plan is to succeed. Los Angeles has already received more than a quarter billion dollars from the Biden administration, Bass said.