Council Adopts Motion From Councilmember Raman To Create Holistic Investment Strategy For Interim And Permanent Housing to Reduce Unsheltered Homelessness

For Immediate Release: May 16, 2023

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COUNCIL ADOPTS MOTION FROM COUNCILMEMBER RAMAN TO CREATE HOLISTIC INVESTMENT STRATEGY FOR INTERIM AND PERMANENT HOUSING TO REDUCE UNSHELTERED HOMELESSNESS

LOS ANGELES — Last week, the Los Angeles City Council adopted a motion introduced by Councilmember Nithya Raman to design a holistic investment strategy for growing the City’s permanent and interim housing stock. With more than 25,000 individuals experiencing unsheltered homelessness on any given night in the City of Los Angeles, investments have yet to match the housing needs required to address this crisis. Councilmember Raman’s legislation seeks to create a comprehensive investment strategy designed to produce housing capacity sufficient to make significant reductions in both sheltered and unsheltered homelessness. 

Between 2019 and 2022, the City brought thousands of beds and housing units online, leading to a count of 13,522 people in shelter in 2022—a 51% increase from three years earlier. Additionally, according to LAHD’s supportive housing tracker, 4,146 HHH permanent supportive housing units have been completed, with 4,986 under construction and more planned. However, the current rate of investment in both permanent and interim housing does not meet the needs of people experiencing homelessness on the City’s streets.

“At the risk of sounding like a broken record, we cannot solve our homelessness crisis without housing,” said Councilmember Raman. “Right now, the investments we have made at the City to grow our permanent and interim housing stock simply do not match the scale of the crisis. We need to dramatically increase our investments to meet the urgency this issue demands, leveraging every dollar we can to build the housing we desperately need.”

Councilmember Raman’s legislation directs the Los Angeles Housing Department (LAHD) to report back in 30 days with a holistic investment strategy to increase the production of permanent and interim housing, including recommendations on the size of investment needed, the housing typologies to target, and a projection of additional outside dollars the City will need to leverage.

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