Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass faces mounting criticism as new data reveals a 3.5% increase in homelessness over the past year, erasing two years of progress and returning the city to 2024 levels. The mayor has deflected responsibility, blaming federal and state funding cuts rather than addressing local policy failures.
Numbers Tell a Different Story
After celebrating consecutive years of declining homeless populations, Bass now confronts uncomfortable statistics released Thursday showing the crisis has reversed course. The increase comes despite her heavily promoted Inside Safe program, which the mayor claims has moved 6,000 people off the streets. Downtown Los Angeles, including the notorious Skid Row area, remains the epicenter of the city’s homelessness challenges, with local leaders reporting inadequate enforcement and inspection resources.
Bass released a statement to Fox 11 attributing the setback to the Trump administration’s economic policies and a state funding reduction exceeding $70 million. She also pointed to Los Angeles County, claiming insufficient services contribute to people cycling in and out of homelessness. Critics note the mayor appeared to anticipate negative results, releasing a promotional video glorifying her efforts just one day before the official statistics became public.
Local Leaders Raise Concerns
Jens Midthun, president of the Downtown Los Angeles Neighborhood Council, identified abandoned properties as a significant contributor to the worsening situation. He told Fox 11 that inadequate funding and insufficient inspectors have created nuisance properties operating below acceptable standards. Downtown continues bearing the heaviest burden of the crisis, according to Midthun, who described the area as the heart of the homelessness emergency facing the city.
The Inside Safe program has produced mixed results despite Bass’s emphasis on its achievements. While the mayor maintains that homelessness has declined 13% since 2023, with tens of thousands placed in interim housing and more than 1,000 homeless veterans housed, the recent uptick raises questions about the sustainability of these efforts.
Political Implications
Bass faces a challenging reelection campaign this November against socialist Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who chairs the city’s Housing and Homelessness Committee. The timing of these statistics could prove problematic for the incumbent mayor, who has made addressing homelessness a central focus of her administration. Bass insists she will continue fighting until no residents sleep on city streets, claiming previous city leadership ignored the crisis for decades. The debate now centers on whether local policies or external factors deserve primary responsibility for the setback.
