Los Angeles County supervisors approved looking into several plans to address a funding shortage for homelessness this week, including a marijuana tax, a half-cent sales tax or a half-cent tax on income exceeding $1 million.
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The motion to seek additional means and research possible avenues for the funds, was approved by a 3-2 vote with supervisors Michael D. Antonovich and Don Knabe opposing the move.
“To address the profundity of the crisis and the depth of poverty and homelessness in the county,” said Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, “we have to do more.”
Since adopting a strategy February to address the worsening crisis, the Board has been weighing options for funding. This includes redirecting Measure B revenue, or imposing a parcel tax, a marijuana tax, a half-cent sales tax, or a half-cent tax on personal income exceeding $1 million a year.
Click here for a look at the county’s strategy to combat homelessness.
With 46,874 people living on the streets of Los Angeles County on any given day – up 5.6 percent from last year – Supervisor Ridley-Thomas called homelessness “the most compelling crisis that confronts us.” He added the County is “uniquely positioned and, therefore, specifically obliged” to take action because of its massive social services, health and public safety infrastructure.
A recent poll found 76 percent of likely voters favor the last option – a “dramatic level of support,” pollster David Binder told the Board. The Board, however, does not currently have the authority to put such an initiative on the November ballot. Supervisors Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl’s motion, which passed with the support of Supervisor Hilda Solis, launches the County’s efforts to seek that authority from the state Legislature and Governor.
“Our actions show that the Board is strongly committed to finding the long-term funding needed to implement the County’s innovative and comprehensive Homelessness Initiative,” Supervisor Kuehl said. “The friendly amendment I introduced this week also allows us to evaluate the interaction of this possible county tax with a new state bond proposal, which could build housing in the county.”
A recent poll found 76 percent of likely voters favor the last option – a “dramatic level of support,” pollster David Binder told the board.
The board, however, does not currently have the authority to put such an initiative on the November ballot. Supervisors Ridley-Thomas and Kuehl’s motion, which passed with the support of Supervisor Hilda Solis, launches the county’s efforts to seek that authority from the state Legislature and governor.
The board also approved Tuesday a measure by Supervisors Solis and Don Knabe that would delve into how the county uses existing funding to serve the homeless. Supervisor Ridley-Thomas expressed support, saying, “It continues our long-term efforts to always ensure we are leveraging existing resources as effectively as possible.”
Marsha Temple, executive director of the nonprofit Integrated Recovery Network, added, “The cost of doing nothing is too high, both in terms of funding and human misery.”
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If the County keeps trying to take care of homeless people then it will attract homeless from other cities, counties and states. The real solution is to arrest them for vagrancy and then force them to work off their fine (community service) as well as earn some money (enough to move out of LA County). Making them dependent only breeds more and more dependency. I am happy to see our Supervisor voted against it and I hope his successor would do the same.