Homeless News

On Wednesday, November 8, City leaders from across the country arrived for a two-day U.S. Conference of Mayors to discuss the challenges in addressing homelessness. 

The main purpose of this conference is to come up with a national strategy to combat the homelessness crisis, share successful practices, and build momentum to address this. 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will also conduct a discussion with the president of USCM, Reno Mayor Hillary Schieve. 

Bass also gave a statement, “When mayors come together and unite around a common issue that all of our cities are facing, we can make national change. Many of our cities are facing similar barriers to moving unhoused people inside and together we will knock those barriers down.”

Bass also said that confronting homelessness is a matter of life and death. Schieve responded by saying that the nation has not made housing a priority due to which many people in America are unhoused. 

American cities are at the forefront of dealing with the homelessness crisis, which is closely linked to addressing a mental health crisis, according to Mayor Schieve. 

Mayor Bass, who was appointed as the chair of the USCM’s Homelessness Task Force, has prioritized addressing homelessness and affordable housing since taking office nearly a year ago.

The actions Bass has taken since she became Mayor include working with a council to develop a spending plan to support housing and homelessness, advocating for homeless funding along with mental health and substance abuse beds, advocating for an investment of $1.3 Million to combat homelessness crisis, launching Inside Safe Initiative to move people from streets to hotels as temporary housing, tracking the construction of affordable housing units and shelters and declaring a homelessness emergency. 

The Mayors will also take a tour of Skid Row to see the “magnitude of the crisis” and visit the village to see an example of eliminating barriers to building temporary housing.