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M O N D AY, O C T O B E R 09- O C T O B E R 15, 2023
LACo Board OKs amended 2023-24 budget, boosting spending by $3.4B By City News Service
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LA city controller says anti-camping arrests continue to rise By Jose Herrera, City News Service
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| Photo courtesy of Christian Statescu/Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 3.0)
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rediting an influx of state and federal dollars along with higherthan-expected revenue and departmental cost savings, the county Board of Supervisors approved an amended $46.7 billion budget for the 2023-34 fiscal year Tuesday, adding hundreds of new positions. The board unanimously approved a $3.4 billion supplemental budget plan, augmenting the initial $43.3 billion budget it approved for 2023-24 back in June. In a presentation to the board, county CEO Fesia Davenport said more than half of the new funding, or about $1.8 billion, represented new funding from the state and federal governments. She noted that the bulk of that money is specifically “attached to particular programs or services,” meaning it mostly cannot be reallocated to other county programs. The rest of the additional funding is the result of “operational savings” in various departments, including staff vacancies, cost savings in areas such as ongoing capital improvement projects and revenue collections that “exceeded what was anticipated,” primarily property tax revenue.
The new funding will be used to add 666 staff positions, bringing the county’s overall workforce to 115,324, Davenport said. Of the new positions, the largest number -- 167 -- will be allocated to the Department of Mental Health, largely to expand services to the homeless as the county works to clear encampments by moving people into housing and treatment. She noted that more than 30 positions will be spread across various departments to shift people with the highest mental health needs out of jail and into treatment settings. The county Department of Children and Family Services will get the secondhighest number of new staff positions, at 123, in an effort to reduce caseloads for social workers while also supporting foster children and families. The Department of Parks and Recreation will see 33 new positions, supporting aquatics and recreation programs. As they have in many previous public hearings during the budget cycle, board members got an earful from many activists who continued to push for the immediate closure of the Men’s Central Jail
downtown, contending that conditions remain poor and endanger the lives of those housed there. Board of Supervisors Chair Janice Hahn noted that the budget includes funding for body-worn cameras for jail deputies and the replacement of 2,000 cameras that “monitor activities inside the jail.” She noted the commitment of the board to ultimately close the jail, but said in the meantime, the county must be sure “we care deeply for those who are in custody and make sure we are protecting their safety as well as the safety of the deputies who are in our jails.” Hahn and Supervisor Hilda Solis both noted funding in the spending plan to assist immigrants, including those being bused to Los Angeles from Texas. Hahn also pointed to $22 million in state funding being provided for the scheduled Dec. 1 implementation of the Community Assistance, Recovery and Empowerment, or CARE, Court, a statewide effort to get severely mentally ill into treatment. She also noted the addition of 132 mental health beds included in the new spending plan.
Solis hailed other programs, such as the LA vs. Hate program aimed at combating hate crimes, the establishment of an LGBTQ+ Commission, funding to expand awareness and use of gun violence restraining orders, efforts to create “heat action plans” for individual communities and $20 million to provide free phone calls for jail inmates. In a statement after the board’s unanimous vote, Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she would be keeping a close eye on the planned addition of mental health treatment beds in the coming months. “As we fund homelessness outreach, housing, and supportive services, we’re seeing clearly that treating mental illness is inextricably connected to successfully achieving lasting results,” Barger said. “Funding mental health services, beds, and personnel are all fundamental building blocks to every focal policy area of our board -- from accomplishing reforms in the county’s jails, to helping people experiencing homelessness remain housed, to supporting foster youth who have experienced trauma that limits their full potential.”
rrests for violating the Los Angeles law prohibiting sitting, lying, sleeping or placing personal property on sidewalks continue to rise, according to a report released Thursday by City Controller Kenneth Mejia. The analysis of Los Angeles Police Department arrest data of alleged violators of Section 41.18 of the Municipal Code from January 2021 through Sept. 15 ties the increase in the Southland’s homeless population to the increase of arrests since 2021. According to the results of the point-in-time 2023 homeless count conducted in January, there were 75,518 people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County, and 46,260 in Los Angeles, compared to 69,144 in Los Angeles County in the 2022 count and 41,980 in Los Angeles. The figures continue a steady climb in the number of Southland homeless people over the past five years. In 2018, there were 52,765 homeless people counted in the county, and 31,285 in the city. Meija’s report notes half of arrests are misdemeanors and claims the ordinance is “unevenly enforced across council districts with little relation to the number of unhoused people per council district.” The LAPD did not immediately respond to a request for comment. According to the report, there were 558 arrests in 2021, 853 in 2022, and 1,582 through Sept. 15 related to violations of the Municipal Code section. Council District 12, which includes portions of the northwest San Fernando Valley, has the highest number of arrests related to the anti-camping law this year, with more than 800 — while Council District 1, which includes parts of northeast and northwest downtown Los Angeles, is second with more than 200, the report says. “We are utilizing all tools and resources available to confront the humanitarian crisis on our streets and upholding the city’s responsibility to ensure that public areas remain safe, clean and accessible,” Councilman John Lee, who represents the 12th District, said in a statement. “We are continuing to bring housing beds online and partnering with the county to provide mental health and substance use services, and will always lead our efforts with outreach first.” Lee was one of the original proponents of the anticamping ordinance. According to his office, Lee never “viewed the anti-camping zones as a half-measure,” and believes these zones “only work” if enforcement is consistent. In the four years since Lee has taken office, he opened nearly 200 beds of interim housing with nearly 270 interim and permanent supportive beds in the pipeline scheduled in the next 18 months, according to his office. Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, who represents the 1st District, has previously stated that anti-camping law is not an effective mechanism to address homelessness, often creating additional barriers to receive the proper resources. See Anti-camping Page 27