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LA County Board approves homeless emergency declaration By City News Service
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irroring a step taken by Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass on her first day in office last month, the county Board of Supervisors Tuesday unanimously approved a motion proclaiming a local emergency on homelessness. "Today's unanimous action by the board honors the November mandate from L.A. County voters: lead with urgency and transparency to address the homelessness crisis in every neighborhood," Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said in a statement following the vote. The board last month approved a motion calling on its staff to work arm-in-arm with Los Angeles city officials to address homelessness and assist in any way possible to implement Bass' emergency declaration. But the board on Tuesday approved a declaration of its own, noting that the Long Beach City Council is scheduled to vote on a homelessness emergency proclamation Tuesday night for the second-largest city in the county.
"While Los Angeles and Long Beach represent the two largest cities in Los Angeles County, many other smaller cities in the
funding and homelessness services. Without a coordinated effort between cities and the county we will not be able to effectively address
additional tools include accelerated hiring of additional employees to address homelessness and mental health, the more effective
the emergency, the motion also directs county staff to expedite procurement and contracting processes for materials and services needed
Homeless person in a wheelchair. | Photo by Gilbert Mercier (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
county are also struggling to address homelessness," the board motion by Supervisors Horvath and Kathryn Barger states. "These smaller cities can permit new affordable housing in their jurisdictions through their land use powers, but in many cases rely on the county for
homelessness." The motion noted, "Proclaiming a local emergency to address this critical crisis will provide the county with additional tools to accelerate and expand its response through the Homeless Initiative and in collaboration with our city partners. These
and efficient use of funds, an expedited procurement of critical items, a faster and more streamlined creation of housing, expanded services, and the ability to request additional resources from the State and Federal governments." In addition to proclaiming
to address the homelessness crisis, expedite the hiring of staff to address the crisis and direct the homeless to relevant services and housing, accelerate efforts to create more licensed shelter beds and interim and permanent housing, and to identify funding that can be directed
to housing and services. The motion calls for a report back in six months on the effectiveness of the effort, and a decision in a year on whether to extend the emergency declaration. The municipal emergency declaration by Bass allows her to take more aggressive executive actions to confront the crisis, though the City Council will have to sign off on the declaration every 30 days. The last time a mayor declared a local emergency related to homelessness was in 1987, when Mayor Tom Bradley cited the effect of winter weather on people experiencing homelessness, according to the declaration. The conditions now, the declaration claimed, are "even more dire." The most recent pointin-time homeless count last year found nearly 42,000 homeless people in the city of Los Angeles, and more than 69,000 in the county. "Okay, let's go to work," Supervisor Janice Hahn said following the board's vote on the county declaration.
IRS extends tax deadline for California storm victims By City News Service
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ue to the storms and a resulting federal emergency declaration, Southern California residents and business owners will have until May 15 to file federal individual and business tax returns and make tax
payments, the Internal Revenue Service announced Tuesday. The one-month filing grace period is being offered to residents in areas designated by the Federal Emergency Management Agency
as qualifying for tax relief due to storms -- including individuals and households that reside or have a business in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and San Diego counties. A list of eligible locations
is always available on the disaster relief page on IRS. gov. The storm relief postpones various tax filing and payment deadlines that occurred starting on Jan. 8. As a result, affected individuals
and businesses will have until May 15 to file returns and pay any taxes that were originally due during the period, according to the IRS. The relief includes 2022 individual income tax returns normally due on April 18, as
well as various 2022 business returns normally due on March 15 and April 18. Among other things, the relief means eligible taxpayers will have until May 15 to make 2022 See IRS Page 7