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Alex Comisar, Mayor Garcetti’s spokesman, said he is doing everything he can to solve the crisis, leveraging every dollar to confront it and working with diverse partner to try and find innovative solutions for quick scaling. The city is currently building shorter-term dormitory-style shelters with shared bathrooms and kitchens.

The program is not sustainable!

It doesn’t take much to realize that it would be possible to house more people if less money was being spent on pricey apartments. The cost is unacceptable and a fundamental course correction is necessary. Pricey apartments are not the answer when it comes to providing housing for the homeless. The fact that this is happening at all shows the incompetence of the city and that government programs are the wrong way to go about dealing with homelessness.

Lowering the cost and increasing the availability of housing in LA is the solution. Lowering taxes, reducing time, cost and effort of getting approvals and changing regulatory controls are some of the measures that would help to accomplish this. Protecting landowners from lawsuits using environmental and zoning issues as covers to object to development would be another useful measure.

A final word

Los Angeles City Council member, Mike Bonin, regards the affordable housing shortage in Los Angeles as an “existential crisis.” It is threatening the whole concept of what life is like in Los Angeles for many residents. Attempts to address the situation are failing and the approach to it needs serious adjustment to really make a difference. Stopping the construction of expensive apartments for a supported living is the logical first step.