LA County Passes Record $527 Million for Soaring Homeless Crisis
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Los Angeles County approved a record $527.1 million in next year’s budget for a plan to fight homelessness, which has become so pervasive that officials are tearing down tent cities and a judge ordered shelter for everyone on downtown’s Skid Row.
The vast majority of the funds for the initiative -- $454.8 million -- will be raised through Measure H, a quarter-cent sales tax approved in 2017 to pay for homeless prevention initiatives, street outreach and housing. The rest will come from federal stimulus payments, state grants and other funding sources, according to an emailed statement from the Los Angeles Homeless Initiative on Tuesday. The previous budget dedicated $509 million to the initiative.