On Thursday, May 19, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved LA City’s proposed $8.76-billion fiscal budget.
The budget, originally put forward by Mayor Garcetti, includes $138 million to go toward providing services and permanent housing for LA City’s homeless population. This is more than four times the $34 million the budget allocated last year to tackle LA’s homelessness crisis. The budget now needs one last signature from Mayor Garcetti, who’s already voiced his support for this finalized version.
This already historic budget is made more momentous by the fact that it directly addresses women. The Downtown Women’s Center made two recommendations to the City Council’s Budget and Finance Committee that target women’s homelessness. The first item, a Housing Gap Analysis, would provide data on where and what services and housing women are accessing. This, in turn, will help service providers to better serve women’s unique needs. The second, implementing Trauma-Informed Care training across key city departments such as the Library and the LAPD, will establish trust between city workers and women experiencing homelessness. This trust is crucial to connecting women to services and housing, as Trauma-Informed Care is particularly effective for women, who are likely to have survived violence.
This already historic budget is made more momentous by the fact that it directly addresses women.
We were thrilled to see our recommendations approved by the full Council and included in the final budget. For this, we thank the Mayor, Budget and Finance Committee Chair Krekorian and the members of Budget and Finance Committee, and our district’s Councilmember Huizar and the full City Council for their leadership on this issue and attention to women’s homelessness. We look forward to working with our elected officials to ensure long-range sustainable funding of the City’s strategic plan to end homelessness.
And, from the bottom of our hearts, we thank you, our supporters and fellow advocates, including those who’ve experienced homelessness themselves. The support you show us every day is what makes our voice powerful and constantly pushes us onward. Whether you’re new to this issue or a long-time advocate, we can’t thank you enough – you make our work possible.