LA mayor eyes to prioritize solving homelessness in California

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00:00 It is overseas Los Angeles the city of angels a la la land the entertainment capital of the world

00:06 Has also turned into tent city and a haven for homelessness in California at its height

00:12 The problem was so severe that on any given day at least

00:15 170,000 street dwellers could be counted but LA Mayor Karen Bass has solving or putting a dent on

00:23 Homelessness tops on her working agenda with turning hotels in downtown LA into homes for the homeless among her remedies

00:30 the always Anna Rice narrates

00:32 The Mayfair Hotel in Los Angeles Westlake neighborhood has seen its share of Hollywood royalty

00:40 When the covert 19 pandemic hit the u.s

00:43 In 2020 the Los Angeles mayor's office made a deal with the hotel's owners to allow homeless people to stay in its many

00:51 Rooms during the lockdown Herman Gomez lives across the street from the famous hotel and says it changed the neighborhood

00:59 fighting stabbing shooting

01:02 Gang activities drugs mostly drugs, you know

01:06 in August the Los Angeles City Council passed a plan by Mayor Karen Bass to acquire the Mayfair and turn it into

01:14 Interim housing a project that will cost the city about 83 million dollars

01:20 Again, locals like Paul Moss don't like the idea

01:24 See we were here when they had

01:27 Probed the last program

01:31 It's it was a necessary type of deal but the devastation that it brought to the neighborhood everybody had to change up their life

01:39 But not everyone is taking such a dim view of the plan

01:43 The fact that there'll be a place that people can be get off the streets. I

01:47 Think it's a good idea

01:49 according to a report by the US Department of Housing and Urban Development on a single night in

01:55 2022 about

01:57 170,000 people in California were homeless

02:00 accounting for 30% of the nation's homeless population at that time

02:05 Since the pandemic the city has managed to accommodate some 10,000 people in 37 hotels across Los Angeles

02:13 According to the city's Homeless Services Authority. One of them is the LA Grand Hotel downtown

02:19 The homeless people who moved here during the pandemic are still here and some hotel workers who would normally cater to tourists

02:28 Are still on the job

02:30 Actually, we have been having this for three years

02:33 Was it there and it been changed a lot?

02:36 from regular

02:39 clients regular guests to clients

02:42 and

02:44 It's a different for cleaning is all different for people

02:50 Unite here local 11 is a union representing over

02:54 32,000 hospitality workers employed in Southern California and Arizona

02:59 members support a Los Angeles City initiative that would allow

03:03 Homeless people to live in empty hotel rooms across Los Angeles and pay via government voucher

03:10 Obviously get vouchers for people that are unhoused that need them right that work that are like at home, you know unhoused shelters

03:16 You know women domestic violence people that need housing right to be able to have a roof over their head

03:21 The issue is divisive and complicated

03:24 So much so the Los Angeles City Council is putting the proposal to house homeless people in hotels on the March

03:31 2024 ballot for Angelina, but this around in Los Angeles, California

03:36 NRS Boe news

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