Committee Targeting Homelessness Is Proposed by 2 Council Members

Two Los Angeles City Council members proposed Friday to create a council committee to deal exclusively with homelessness.

Jan Perry and Bill Rosendahl co-sponsored the motion, which would require approval and probably some funding from the full council.

Both said the city should have focused more attention on the issue long ago.

“It is to our shame and dishonor that we do not focus on this problem as we do a war, as we do a natural disaster, as we do a pressing social and moral crisis,” their motion says. “Here in the city of Los Angeles we need to do more. Much more.”

It has been estimated that there are 90,000 homeless people in Los Angeles County, according to a count commissioned this year by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.

A large number of those are presumed to be living in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles Times columnist Steve Lopez has written a weeklong series about the people and problems on downtown’s skid row.

Rosendahl, who represents the Westside, said he has been discussing his proposal with council members “for some time” and described the timing of the motion as “serendipitous.” But he said the recent front-page coverage has helped “to connect readers to critical social issues in the city.”

Perry said she thinks a council committee exclusively focused on the issue is essential because “we need a coordinated effort.”

Rosendahl’s council district includes Venice, which shares a large homeless population with adjacent Santa Monica. Perry’s downtown district includes skid row.

The council has 15 permanent policy panels and six ad hoc committees that address specific issues, such as garbage disposal and gang violence.

Council President Alex Padilla said that before the council creates the committee, he would “ask what’s the framework and the goal here. In my opinion, it has to be justified in order to do something.”

The proposed committee, according to the motion, would be charged with evaluating homeless programs in other cities and drawing up a plan to expand shelters in Los Angeles.

Another focus of the committee would be to ensure that new funding from the state for mental health services is spent in the city.

Voters in California last year passed Proposition 63 to tax those earning more than $1 million annually and spend the money on county mental health programs.

Los Angeles County is expected to receive $280 million over the next three years.

Rosendahl and Perry want some of the money to go to programs in the city that work with the homeless who are mentally ill.