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One can argue that Los Angeles voters have only themselves to blame after a primary mayoral election in which they rejected the candidate urging a new approach to the city’s rising homelessness. On the other hand, more timely reporting of the depth of the crisis might have made a difference in a fairly close election. Regardless, it’s almost as if the city’s working, taxpaying residents are now being taunted by candidates asking which flavor of tragic boondoggle they prefer. After an open primary that resulted in two
candidates of the hard left moving on to face each other in the general election, incumbent Mayor Karen Bass is now coming under fire from challenger Nithya Raman, a member of the City Council. Noah Goldberg reports in the Los Angeles Times: Raman contends that Bass’ signature program Inside Safe, which dismantles encampments and moves people living there into motels, hotels and interim housing, is overly expensive and unsustainable. On average, the cost of housing these individuals runs about $82,000 a year, according to city reports. Raman has repeatedly signed off on funding for the program, but has become more critical of it in the last year. Despite the city’s efforts, L.A.’s unsheltered homeless population — those living outdoors or in their vehicles — went up by 7.9% after two consecutive years of decreases, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority reported last month. Along with supporting the failing Bass program, Ms. Raman has also advanced her own scheme to allow the homeless to use vouchers to obtain housing, which in its
own way may be just as ineffectual. Mr. Goldberg reports:
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