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Inside Safe homeless spending approaches $40M
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Sheriff Luna: Video of deputy throwing woman to ground ‘disturbing’
By Jose Herrera, City News Service By City News Service
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LA Mayor Karen Bass tours an Inside Safe initiative location. | Photo courtesy of Mayor Karen Bass/Twitter
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pending related to Mayor Karen Bass’ Inside Safe program to dismantle homeless encampments and bring unhoused people indoors has reached nearly $40 million, according to a report presented Wednesday. The money has gone to renting hotel rooms, keeping the L.A. Grand Hotel open for another year to house formerly unhoused people, and service providers, paying overtime to Los Angeles Police Department officers and reimbursing the city’s Department of Transportation, according to the fourth report to the L.A. City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee on the Homelessness Emergency Account. The report detailed
spending through June 30. The City Council voted 13-0 Jan. 18 to create the fund and transfer $50 million to it. Mercedes Marquez, Bass’ chief of housing and homelessness solutions, said the city has yet to spend the initial $50 million because of spending by Los Angeles County. Councilwoman Nithya Raman, chair of the Housing and Homelessness Committee, questioned why the city is spending more on service providers, saying that “we already have invested as a city in case management services.” Marquez told the committee the city spent approximately $14 million on service provider contracts to expand services
that were not offered prior to the creation of Inside Safe, such as three meals a day and 24/7 monitoring. Approximately $7 million was spent on LAPD overtime and LADOT costs related to ensuring safety and clean-up during Inside Safe operations. “The issue of underspend is allowing the county permitting contracts to be used for people while they’re on the street and encampments up until the moment they go into a motel,” Marquez said. “When they go into a motel, it switches over to another contract.” The city will have a better understanding of how much money it spent “fairly
soon,” she added, “now that the fiscal year has ended and everyone is doing their accounting on the county side.” Councilman Bob Blumenfield, a committee member and who chairs the council’s budget committee, requested more information in terms of which contractors received payments in addition to a list of contracted providers, encampment areas and council districts where work is being done. “I want to be mindful of our responsibility as custodians of the public taxpayer dollar,” Blumenfield said. While committee members expressed their appreciation for the
See Homeless spending Page 02
alling video of the confrontation “disturbing,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna vowed Wednesday that an “objective” and thorough investigation will be conducted into the actions of a deputy caught on camera slamming a woman to the ground and pepper-spraying her in the face outside a Lancaster grocery store. “I want to make it clear to all of our community that this investigation is to objectively — and I do repeat objectively — determine if the force used was reasonable if it was necessary, if it was appropriate and proportionate to the level of actions that were described,” Luna said during a downtown Los Angeles news conference. He repeatedly declined to offer an opinion on whether the deputy’s actions appeared to be appropriate or within department policy, insisting he did not “know the facts” and wanted to ensure the internal investigation is conducted fairly. But of the video, he said, “It’s disturbing. There’s no ifs and buts about it.” Cell phone video of the June 24 altercation outside a WinCo store in the 700 block of West Avenue K-4 surfaced late Monday night, and the sheriff’s department responded by releasing deputy-worn body camera footage. Luna said deputies went to the store in response to a call from an employee who said two customers “were assaulting loss-prevention employees.” Video shows two deputies at the scene, one of them detaining a man who Luna said matched the description of one of the suspects given by store officials. As that person is being detained, a second deputy approaches a woman standing nearby using her cell phone to record the deputies’ actions. The deputy grabs the woman and eventually forcibly throws her to the ground then struggles to handcuff her, ultimately using pepper spray in an effort to detain her. The video has drawn the ire of community activists and residents who contend the confrontation is reflective of violent behavior by deputies in the Lancaster area — where the sheriff’s department is still operating under federal oversight due to a consent decree. Luna, who said he just learned of the violent confrontation on Friday, said he has already reached out to the area’s elected officials and community leaders. “What we’ve directed our command staff to do is to organize a meeting with community stakeholders later on this week,” Luna said. “Those phone calls have already started. We’re still trying to identify a location and work with others to put this (together) but it will give the community an opportunity and our community leaders out there to bring forward their concerns regarding this incident. And our full intent is to work with the community and based on some of the community outcry that I’ve heard. There has been some challenges out in that area. ... “I always think we can do better, but again, I don’t know all the facts and as we get them, we’ll be sharing them with See ‘Disturbing’ Page 28