During an interview with CNN released on Tuesday, Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said that when she promised to end street homelessness in Los Angeles by this year, she “didn’t anticipate some of the bureaucratic barriers that I would experience, but I am prepared to take those on now.” And argued that “we need to end the failed policies of the past,” while saying that the next four years would be “an absolute overhaul and reconstruction” of the system to address homelessness.
Host Elex Michaelson asked, “So, when you talked to Jake Tapper in 2023, you said that your goal was to end street homelessness in L.A. by 2026. It’s now 2026. We have not ended it and we’re not close to ending it. How were you so off?” Bass answered, “Well, basically, when I said that, it was at the beginning of my term, I am very committed to achieving that goal. I didn’t anticipate some of the bureaucratic barriers that I would experience, but I am prepared to take those on now.” Bass further stated that she has decreased street homelessness and “we need to end the failed policies of the past, which is all we’re going to do is focus on building and we are going to ignore street homelessness. That is what the city and the county [have] done for years, ignored street homelessness.”
