April 20--Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti on Wednesday released his proposed budget for the final year of his first term, advocating for significant increases in funding for anti-homelessness programs as part of a 2% increase in overall spending.
The $8.76-billion budget proposal, up from $8.58 billion last year, asks for no radical changes to most areas of government funding. It would slightly increase L.A.'s municipal workforce to just over 33,000, still well below the city's pre-recession staffing level of 37,000, keeping the police force level and adding 100 new fire department employees.
Homelessness, a subject whose political importance far outweighs the relatively small share of city dollars it consumes, could receive the most attention as the mayor and City Council hash out the budget's final version in the weeks ahead. The debate will probably be more intense because of Garcetti's novel approach to setting aside resources for the issue, which involves opening up a half-dozen prominent city properties for sale or development as low-income housing projects.
Tens of thousands of people live on Los Angeles' streets, the nation's largest homeless population without access even to temporary shelter. City officials have adopted a $2-billion plan to house them over the next decade and already are planning to place a new bond or tax on the ballot this fall that would provide long-term funding for that effort. But Garcetti and some council members have also said they wish to provide at least $100 million out of the city's budget over the next year to jump-start the effort before asking voters for more money.
The city of L.A. has long endured criticism that it underspends on its homeless population, which grew 12% over Garcetti's first two years in office. The mayor's staff is touting his new budget as a major step toward reversing that trend, saying it will provide $138 million for homeless programs during the fiscal year that begins July 1.
That would represent a nearly fivefold increase from the current fiscal year, when the city set aside $34 million for homeless programs -- an initial outlay of $18 million and an interim appropriation of $16 million that the mayor ordered late last year.
At a news conference Tuesday morning, Garcetti said his suggested budget "commits unprecedented resources to help get Angelenos off of our streets."
However, more than half of the mayor's proposed homelessness spending depends on sources of revenue that do not yet exist, raising questions about whether the budget projections are realistic.
The suggested homelessness budget, for example, assumes $20 million in income from so-called "linkage fees" -- a levy on real-estate developers that can be used to build low-income housing. L.A., however, does not currently collect such fees. Garcetti has advocated doing so but has not presented a concrete plan to the City Council for approval.
Other money comes not out of the city's unrestricted general fund but from special funds whose uses are limited to specific city departments. The result is some spending proposals not foreseen in the 235-page homelessness strategy the city adopted earlier this year.
Garcetti's proposal, for instance, includes about $1.5 million in library money to buy and operate two bookmobiles for the homeless, as well as to hire more security guards at libraries frequented by people who live on the street. It lists $1.1 million from the Recreation and Parks Department's fund for a "Park Restroom Enhancement Program" that increases the number of times per day some bathrooms in public parks are cleaned.
But it is the figure of $47 million in expected revenue -- counted as either anticipated sales of unused city property or the potential value of their use in as-yet-undefined partnerships with private developers to build low-income housing -- that could generate the most controversy. Garcetti and City Administrative Officer Miguel Santana have identified eight unused, underused or vacant city properties for that purpose. Several of them are in affluent West Side neighborhoods that have historically rebelled against proposals for affordable housing projects.
At Wednesday's news conference, Garcetti insisted in response to questions that this was not a "pie-in-the-sky" number.
"This is a very conservative estimate," he said. "This is real. We talked to council members. They're supportive in their own districts, and we know that this will move this year."
Mark Ryavec, president of the Venice Stakeholders Assn., said he believes residents of the neighborhoods surrounding some of the properties may be amenable to their sale but would balk at new affordable-housing projects.
"These are phony numbers," said Ryavec, who has argued for a more aggressive short-term response to homelessness. "The mayor and the council continue to try to make the public think they're doing something about this when they're doing almost nothing."
Adam Murray, executive director of the Inner City Law Center, said Garcetti's proposal was "very promising" despite its "uncertain" funding mechanisms. He said the next step would be for the council to make the mayor's spending suggestions concrete, and to look beyond the current year to long-term sources of money for homeless programs.
"There are additional things that would have to happen to make it real," Murray said. "Now the challenge is for the council to implement those and for the city to have a conversation about ongoing funding."
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