Mayor Karen Bass opens mental health center in Chinatown, calls it key step in tackling homelessness
LA Mayor opens mental health center
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass helped cut the ribbon Tuesday on a new mental health care center in Chinatown, saying the facility could play an important role in the city’s effort to reduce homelessness.
LOS ANGELES - Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass helped cut the ribbon Tuesday on a new mental health care center in Chinatown, saying the facility could play an important role in the city’s effort to reduce homelessness.
Bass said expanding access to mental health treatment and residential services is a key part of the strategy to get people off the streets.
"Absolutely. This is one of the missing pieces — mental health and residential services," Bass told FOX 11. She added the services could be especially important for young people aging out of foster care, who often "fall between the cracks."
The event also gave FOX 11 its first opportunity in at least four months to ask the mayor questions relating to homelessness in Los Angeles.
When asked whether she feels encouraged by what she sees while driving around the city, Bass acknowledged the work still ahead.
"Of course there are still encampments there. There are many more to remove, but we have removed many," she said.
The brief exchange continued as the mayor left the building, where she defended the city’s progress.
"This is the second year in a row that street homelessness is down," Bass said.
FOX 11 noted that many residents remain skeptical of the numbers.
"There’s a lack of trust with these numbers — it’s not what people see," FOX 11 said.
"I will tell you something," Bass responded. "It’s exactly what you see if you live on a block, or you have a business where there was a large encampment, and that encampment is gone and hasn’t come back for years."
According to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, homelessness in the region has declined for two consecutive years.
However, a recent audit raised concerns about transparency within the agency and how billions of dollars allocated for homelessness programs are being spent.
Near City Hall, some people living on the streets told FOX 11 they have declined offers of shelter.
"Yeah, I refuse it," one man said when asked whether outreach teams had offered him a place to stay. "Too many bed bugs. Thieves."
Another unhoused person criticized the city’s Inside Safe initiative.
"Inside Safe made a lot of money for this city using underutilized hotels," the person said. "They spent a third of a billion dollars, and most of us are back where we started."
When asked whether LAHSA should receive more funding, Bass said the focus should be on improving how the system operates.
"The question is we have to make sure the system runs better," Bass said. "There are a lot of problems with the system. We have to address that. We have to make the dramatic changes."
Bass maintained that progress is being made even as political pressure builds ahead of the primary election, now less than three months away.
When asked how she would grade her term as mayor, Bass declined to answer.
FOX 11 has been requesting a sit-down interview with Bass since before Christmas to ask questions on several issues facing the city. The requests will continue.