In the newest Legal Lens podcast episode, Lourdes Castro Ramírez, President & CEO of @HACLA and serving under the leadership of Mayor Karen Bass, reiterates that “housing is foundational to opportunity” and emphasizes that responding to homelessness requires “all hands on deck,” including the federal government, the state, regional partners, and local leaders working together.
Ramírez describes how on her first day in office Mayor Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness in the City of Los Angeles. Through HACLA, Mayor Bass established the “Inside Safe” encampment resolution program that brings multidisciplinary teams to meet people where they are and connect them to transitional housing and other wrap-around services.
We look at recent efforts to address street homelessness in the City of Los Angeles and how HACLA fits into that work. As an example, Ramirez notes that nearly 800 veterans who were experiencing homelessness have been housed with VA case‑management support, and that new housing units coming online are helping to relieve pressure on renters.
Listen now on all major streaming platforms: linktr.ee/areddock