{"id":794829,"date":"2026-05-14T02:32:20","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:32:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/794829\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T02:32:20","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T02:32:20","slug":"los-angeles-mayoral-candidates-discuss-homelessness-housing-at-2-day-forum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/794829\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles mayoral candidates discuss homelessness, housing at 2-day forum"},"content":{"rendered":"

From clearing encampments to building affordable housing, some of the Los Angeles mayoral candidates laid out competing visions for how to address the city’s homelessness crisis, and city spending during a two-day forum.<\/p>\n

Mayor Karen Bass, Councilwoman Nithya Raman and entrepreneur Adam Miller participated in the two-day forum, at the historic Original Pantry Caf\u00e9. Spencer Pratt was invited, but he didn’t respond.<\/p>\n

\u00a0“I think we can end street homelessness in the city,” “I believe in acting,” “It requires a holistic response,” were just some comments made in each candidate’s hour-long discussion.<\/p>\n

Hope the Mission hosted the “Hotcakes and Housing” forum, not a debate, with questions coming from service providers, advocates, and people directly impacted by homelessness. <\/p>\n

\"screenshot-2026-05-13-160619.png<\/p>\n

Participants of the two-day forum submitted LA mayor candidate questions.<\/p>\n

CBS LA<\/p>\n

Bass said she launched Inside Safe immediately after taking office, adding that now, she would do it differently to reduce costs. “We need to look to publicly owned land,” she said.<\/p>\n

Raman and Miller took aim at Inside Safe. “Right now we have Inside Safe having a lot of people who are in there for a year or more,” Raman said. “That’s like having someone in an emergency room for a year.”<\/p>\n

Miller added that he would take a totally different approach. “We’re spending $85,000 a year on motel rooms for unhoused people. That’s equivalent to giving a homeless person rent for 7,500 a month,” he said. <\/p>\n

\"screenshot-2026-05-13-160657.png<\/p>\n

Mayor Karen Bass discusses her policies and how to improve them at the two-day forum.<\/p>\n

CBS LA<\/p>\n

Housing affordability and homelessness remain top of mind for voters across Los Angeles, including those in attendance at the forum. <\/p>\n

When asked how the city would balance getting people off the streets and maintaining housing stability, Bass said she has fast-tracked 42,000 units “because I know that it takes too long and I’m trying to do everything I can to shorten it.”<\/p>\n

\"screenshot-2026-05-13-160709.png<\/p>\n

Nithya Raman<\/p>\n

CBS LA<\/p>\n

Joe White, a chaplain with the Los Angeles Mission, says he experienced homelessness before. He said red tape is getting in the way of giving priority to the unhoused facing addiction. <\/p>\n

“In the interim, what happens is they lose hope. They relapse. In a perfect world, I’d love to see the process more streamlined,” White said.<\/p>\n

Bass said she’s been fighting the red tape, changing state and federal policy “to shred that red tape.”<\/p>\n

\"screenshot-2026-05-13-160721.png<\/p>\n

Adam Miller<\/p>\n

CBS LA<\/p>\n

Raman said a “relentless system” is needed to get people indoors and Miller added, “Housing first doesn’t work. We have to get the people the treatment that they need.”\u00a0<\/p>\n

Organizers say the goal of the forum is to keep homelessness and housing solutions at the center of the mayoral race.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"From clearing encampments to building affordable housing, some of the Los Angeles mayoral candidates laid out competing visions…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":794830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5123],"tags":[1582,276,2961,224,5337],"class_list":{"0":"post-794829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-california","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-los-angeles","12":"tag-losangeles"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116570590414414746","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=794829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/794829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/794830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=794829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=794829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=794829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}