State of the City Address: New emergency shelters for LA's homeless

LOS ANGELES, CA (FOX 11) - It was almost like a campaign event. Mayor Eric Garcetti, just back from Iowa testing the presidential waters, entered city council chambers to the Red Hot Chili Peppers song "Can't Stop"! But, what the mayor wants is to stop homelessness in LA.

He wants communities to respond. It was one of the biggest points in his State of the City Address.

Garcetti told those in the packed chambers, "LA is now coming together to respond to the greatest moral and humanitarian crisis of our times... homelessness.

As he spoke at City Hall - just down the street - were many of the homeless he was talking about. He wants a new plan funded called "A Bridge Home". It would pay for tents, trailers and other types of shelters in each of the city's 15 council districts. The price tag is 20-million dollars. The money would come out of the general fund. So the council simply needs to approve next year's budget which will come out on Friday and be voted on May 21st.

About "A Bridge Home" the mayor says, "This week we will put into place an Emergency shelter crisis declaration so we can build shelters across LA as quickly as possible.. bypassing red tape and regulations that would slow down the urgency of that operation"

Overall the mayor sized up LA as exceptional… a stable and strong place..

But, on the south steps of City Hall demonstrators were what they think of the State of the City. Pastor William D. Smart of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference told FOX 11 "There's a housing problem…homeless problem… there's a jobs problem." Povi-Tamu Bryant said, "The Mayor promised us 5000 jobs as of this June, but by our track we are no where near that close and black workers in particular in Los Angeles have found have been experiencing a steady decrease."