The Short Answer:

We will end homeless in LA in under four years. It’s hard but it’s not complicated:

• Understand who is homeless and what they need in real time.
• Provide housing and resources to match everyone’s needs, with immediate help, not waiting lines.
• Prevent new people from becoming homeless.

And it can all be done with the resources we have.

There are those who will tell us, you’re too optimistic, you don’t understand, this can’t be done. That’s wrong. Fourteen cities in America have solved homelessness, and we can, too. Ending homelessness in LA won’t be easy, but we can do it. We just have to give people the support they need, whether it’s a helping hand, or 24/7 support.

We will provide 20,000 semi-private shelter-based beds (categorized by need, so that people in similar needs are with each other), 12,000 collaborative housing beds, 10,000 transitional support housing units, 3,000 mental health beds, and 500 substance use residential beds within 12 months, while regulating public spaces—all without spending a single dollar more than we’ve already allocated and building long-term solutions.

The Details:

Angelenos don’t need to be reminded that homelessness is out of control. We see it on our streets, in our parks, and on every corner. What we need is a real plan that ends homelessness once and for all. Failing city leaders have spent billions and achieved nothing. Even their best plan will house only one-third of those currently experiencing homelessness. This is unacceptable. You cannot trust the people who created a problem to solve it.

We can end homelessness in under four years – and be held accountable for it –all while not spending a single extra dollar more than what LA has already allocated. The question is not how much money we spend, it’s how we spend it.

1. Know the cause. Keep new people from becoming homeless. A real solution has to prevent the problem. Here’s our pledge to every Angeleno: if you have a home today, you will have a home tomorrow. We’ll create a 24/7 hotline, simple and easy to use, to keep everyone on the right track. A number everyone knows, and everyone can use. This isn’t about endless eviction moratoriums with complicated and impossible rental assistance applications that end up punishing renters and mom and pop property owners – this is about real, immediate, and in-person help. We’ve got the money already – it’s how we spend it that’s the problem. It’s ten times cheaper to keep someone housed than to get them off the street. If you’ve got a problem and can’t make your rent, just make a toll-free call, and a case worker will be on site in 24 hours to evaluate the situation, provide immediate assistance, and work with you for six months to make sure it doesn’t happen again. Any and every Angeleno should know: if you’re about to become homeless, it doesn’t have to be this way. And it won’t be.
2. Know the problem. The reality is we can’t solve a problem we don’t understand. The city does not know how many people are homeless, who they are, or what they need. Experts agree: a real-time mapping program is essential. It will tell us exactly how many resources we need and for whom. The reality is that not every homeless person needs Permanent Supportive Housing. Some people just need a helping hand, and others need robust mental health and addiction resources – but LA’s existing “intake program” doesn’t map real time needs and resources or operate as a workable central clearinghouse. That must change immediately.
3. Know the money. LA spends $50,000 a year per person without feeding, housing, or clothing the homeless. We have spent billions while homelessness has skyrocketed. For perspective, we could have cut a check to every single homeless person for $100,000 – but instead we fed a corrupt and inept system. Even the current City Controller, whose job it is to know where the money went, says it’s impossible to find out. There are no receipts for any money spent. Every dollar spent requires accounting, period. Money must go to the people who need it most. No more recruiting fees, or payments based on volume. Payments will be based on results.
4. Know the power. Action is power, which means that the mayor must act immediately. We will declare a state of emergency to bypass or break through bureaucracy to start solving the real problems. If needed, we will take legal action against the county and any neighboring cities that don’t cooperate. We will ally with the Alliance for Human Rights to force the county to provide better and more mental health resources while building our own. We will not be bound by previous illegal settlements and agreements, and we will open new avenues for action, pursuing every action to its legal end, and act in the interim. Our administration will use the bully pulpit of public opinion to drive results – creating allies in government, and isolating obstructionists. We will hold daily public meetings with all department heads, council members, and city agencies, and ensure clear, understandable reporting with accountability and measurement.
5. Know the solutions. The time for more studies, more planning, more committees is over. Now is the time to act. The question is not how to solve homelessness, it’s who will step up. We will engage Community Solutions, one of the most respected organizations working to eliminate homelessness in America, to help drive the city’s programs using their proven methods. We will regulate public spaces through outreach and engagement, not criminalization, and provide places for the homeless to go to while disincentivizing being on the street. On day one, we will begin immediate construction of 20,000 semi-private shelter-based beds, in non-residential areas; create 12,000 collaborative housing spaces over 12 months; generate additional construction of 10,000 transitional support housing (“TSH”) drop units (prefabricated housing meant for use from six months to two years) with hard caps on expenditures; begin immediate construction of 3,000 mental health beds and 500 substance use residential beds. Further TSH will be constructed as needed, up to 20,000 additional units. We will pause construction of new Permanent Supportive Housing (“PSH”) that has not broken ground until a comprehensive accounting of community needs is concluded to establish how much PSH is actually required. Then we will set a maximum new cap of expenditure per unit to provide PSH to those who need it.

Functional Zero homelessness achieved in under 4 years, and in as little as 24 months.

The Short Answer:

Only 13% of the housing in LA has been built in the last 30 years, which means we’re not building for 1991, let alone 2021. Moreover, our zoning code was written in 1946, which means it’s not just archaic, it’s irrelevant.

In order to create an affordable city, we need to build a minimum of 400,000 units of housing just to house the people who live here over the next 10 years. No one should have to pay more than 30% of their income in rent. And we can do it while preserving historic single-family neighborhoods, increasing density in select areas where it makes sense, not pricing anyone out of their community, providing real-time data on rent and costs, and building places where people want to, and can afford to, live work and play—all while bringing businesses and unions both to the table.

The Details:

This city is unaffordable for the vast majority of people who live here. The basic economics make living in LA a non-starter for too many people, which means we need to build. And because building new housing means rents come down. All while preserving historic single family home neighborhoods and communities, and ensuring people are not priced out of their homes. The solutions to create an affordable city, like those to end homelessness, exist. It’s not easy, but it is straightforward.

1. New Leadership and Empowerment. We will declare a crisis in affordability to empower the mayorship to bypass bureaucracy. We’ll merge Building, Planning, and Safety into a single, accountable, organizational infrastructure with clear public reporting on performance. Create an office of public accountability, whose job is to ensure legal and ethical compliance by all city employees, according to the law. Create a real-time database of construction, rentals, and costs for the city, landlords, and tenants in a public-private partnership so we know exactly how much inventory exists, trend lines in costs for both construction and rentals, and so we can make policy based on actual real-time data. Generate an ongoing public advisory council to make concrete recommendations, composed not of elected officials, but of developers, general contractors, housing advocates, small mom-and-pop landlords, renters, and owners. Start with the three core understandings that 1) we need to build, 2) we can build without destroying any historic neighborhood or pricing people out of their communities and 3) we can build ethically, responsibly, and quickly, with a commitment to at least 200,000 affordable new units in working class neighborhoods.
2. Public Union and Business Reset. Both business and labor unions need to come to the table with workable solutions. The cost of union labor, when combined with the costs of doing business with the city, make it impossible to build affordable housing in LA while also being a profitable business. But by working together in an honest, public conversation, instead of a back room deal, businesses and unions can find a path forward that makes projects work—and demand real changes from the city that is hurting them and everyone else. Unions and business can be part of the effort to reform the city and its policies, and we will foster this role and relationship. But if they are not, they must face public accountability for their actions. Businesses and unions have a responsibility to everyone. They must be advocates for their members, and use their power for the benefit of the public as a whole. Businesses and unions must be a part of the communities their members live in. We welcome and embrace both unions and business at the table of change – but they must be partners at every stage for the betterment of everyone.
3. Completion of RE:Code LA. The city’s zoning code was written in 1946 and has only gotten worse since then. The basic governing regulations of our city are not only outdated, but they’re also impossible nonsense, not to mention unwieldy, prejudicial, and disadvantaging to those who need the most help. The RE:Code LA re-zoning project has proceeded for a decade with no meaningful progress to rewrite the code. Meanwhile, secretive proceedings move forward with updated Community Plans that are not based in community or logical planning. Our zoning code needs to be re-written in under 18 months in a public, transparent, efficient, and results-oriented process. We must borrow the processes that work best for transparency and accountability from private enterprise, to ensure the same level of high-performance delivery.
4. New Local Policy Enhancements. We will foster increased density and capacity for parking lots, transit hubs, and industrial zoning in non-historical single family zone neighborhoods. Increased density for “touch zones” on main commercial thoroughfares, with additional incentives for live-work-play developments. Updated residential requirements that reflect a formula-based approach for modern standards of transportation, parking, and tree requirements that preserve our city’s urban forest cover and neighborhood character while enabling faster development that meets the changed needs of younger populations. Tie affordability covenants to market conditions that incentivize development of additional affordable units, instead of arbitrary timelines. Expansion of city-funded ride-share linked to transit hubs, as well as unified transportation access through a single point of contact. Require transparency of ownership, avoiding hidden LLCs and arcane structures designed to evade accountability. Build reputational protections for quality corporations and mom-and-pop owners by aggressively rooting out bad actors with zero-tolerance policies and strong enforcement mechanisms.
5. New State Policy Enhancements. We will create an historic tax-exempt bond program to fund affordable housing, offer government-provided ground leases, and enable property tax abatements for affordable housing projects. Re-evaluate CEQA, including new provisions to prevent misuse; foster creation of additional incentives, limitations and exemptions to facilitate responsible development; modify the appeals process for affordable housing; limit “serial” appeals; and create community of interest and stakeholder requirements for appeals. Remove municipal liability protections for employees who violate the law intentionally.

The Short Answer:

Crime is up, way up. And we haven’t done anything to alleviate the pain and suffering of social injustice. We can solve for both: addressing racism, injustice, and bias does not have to be at odds with reducing crime. We can have a safe and just city.

Simply reducing and eliminating homelessness goes a long way. Over 50% of LAFD calls are to deal with fires in homeless encampments. But it’s not enough. We must also be honest about our needs. We ask too much of the police, to show up when mental health or dispute resolution experts are called for. We must focus police on police work; we must enforce the laws we have on the books with fairness and free from bias; and we must create a corps of peace officers whose job is engaging their communities and providing resources to address the root causes of crime, including poverty and struggle.

The Details:

We can have a safe and just city, and it’s time we stopped treating these issues like they were at odds with each other. Crime must come down, and we must work to eradicate bias in policing, eliminating bad actors with a zero-tolerance policy. Everyone deserves to feel safe. Safe from crime, safe from bias, safe from bureaucratic machines that make the problem worse with radical, poorly-executed policy. The 2015 Department of Justice 21st Century Policing Recommendations and Community-Oriented Policing Services Report both outline how we can and should approach this issue.

• Ending homelessness. No single act can bring down crime as much as ending homelessness in Los Angeles. Police spend 34% of their time dealing with homelessness. By ending this crisis, it’s the equivalent of adding 3,000 more officers back on the streets without costing a single additional dollar. Officers who will get to do police work, not busy work, and engage and protect the communities they serve. As the only campaign with a comprehensive plan to END homelessness in under four years, we will do more to bring down crime immediately than any other administration.
• Enforce the laws. The fact is, when criminals think they can get away with it, they will do more of it. Policies like cash bail can and should be reformed to prevent marginalized communities from disproportionate harm, preventing those communities from being hurt more. But that is different from not enforcing the law, and both should be individual priorities. First, we must enforce the laws we have and let every criminal know: if you break the law, you will face the consequences. We don’t need new laws; we need to enforce the ones we have, while building trust with communities through real concrete steps to ensure fair and equal treatment for all under the law.
• Help people get better. While we enforce the laws, we must also help people who are placed in horrible situations. The man who steals food to feed his family should not face the same consequences as the man who steals a car for a chop shop. Folks who cannot afford cash bail for non-violent crimes should have alternatives while still facing the consequences of their actions. Our focus should be on understanding how we get people on the right track. Pre-trial diversion programs, mental health, addiction, anti-recidivism, and re-entry training should all be comprehensive, basic, and focused. “Once a criminal, always a criminal” is the siren song of a society that fails. Instead, we believe “Once a community, always a community” and work to bring people back into society as healthy, productive, and contributing members. These programs aren’t new; they’re proven to reduce crime in both the short term and long term.
• Engage the community. Communities must be active and engaged participants with law enforcement, and law enforcement must be a part of the communities they serve. The public must have a say in policies as they are created, and they must have a say in oversight and regulation. Real community members, who are focused on the common ground we share and practical policies with real positive impact for everyone, must have their voices heard. At the same time, officers must be held accountable for engaging the community. They need to know the people of the communities they serve, and their lives, outside of policing. Police must have expanded training and education that focuses on the elimination of bias, along with a zero-tolerance policy for bad actors. We must eliminate no-knock warrants in non-emergency situations; minimize the use of force except where essential; and focus on non-lethal engagement while also making sure that the safety of officers is protected.
• Community and Officer Assistance. Too often, law enforcement officers and community members both feel scared, stressed, and under massive amounts of pressure, for different reasons. We will work to change this. We need to promote and engage communities through programs that help reduce and remove tension with law enforcement to bring the overall temperature of the relationship down. Millions of people have had positive, non-threatening encounters with thousands of police officers; our focus should be on how to create more of those positive experiences, not pitting people against each other.
• Outcomes-Based and Needs-Oriented Budgeting. We need to stop pitting people against each other as if this is a zero-sum equation. This isn’t about pie in the sky slogans; it’s about making sure every dollar goes to where it does the most good, and there is enough money for everyone to work together to bring crime down and communities up. First, we need to create a peace officer corps of mental health experts, mediators, dispute resolution experts, addiction and recovery specialists, and others who can address the needs of those in trouble in real time. Doing so will allow police officers to focus on doing police work: preventing and stopping real crime. We need to evaluate the number and types of calls coming into the police, and budget resources according to the needs of those on the other end of the line; then we can budget based on outcomes and our ultimate goal: a safe and just city.