Los Angeles–Mayor Eric Garcetti today announced his proposed budget for the 2022-2023 fiscal year, a proposal that makes record-breaking investments in homelessness while maintaining the largest cumulative reserves in City history at 8.8%.
The spending plan includes over $1 billion to address the homelessness crisis, the City’s largest-ever investment at $1.164 billion, which is more than 20 times the homelessness budget when Mayor Garcetti took office in 2013. The budget also shows a 6.6% increase in projected revenue from last year, an indication that the City is undergoing one of the strongest economic recoveries from the pandemic in the nation.
The $1.164 billion proposed to tackle homelessness, the largest proposed investment by nearly $200 million, includes a total of over 3,700 permanent supportive housing units, $331 million for over 2,200 total housing units through Proposition HHH, and $255 million for a new round of Project HomeKey, which will add 928 permanent housing units.
The proposed budget calls for new public safety resources, including the hiring of 780 police officers and 260 firefighters. The spending plan would increase current spending on public safety alternatives by over 30%, with $8 million for CIRCLE, a program to divert nonviolent 9-1-1 calls related to homelessness to trained professionals; $2 million for the Therapeutic Transportation Van Pilot program; $37 million for the City’s Gang Reduction and Youth Development program; and $6.4 million for Saturday Night Lights, a program to reduce crime and violence during the summer months by offering free food, activities, and resources at City parks.
Other key components of Mayor Garcetti’s budget include:
- $15 million for waste diversion and water resiliency improvements;
- $12.4 million for electric vehicle purchases and leases, electric vehicle infrastructure, and charging infrastructure across the City;
- $10.5 million for the establishment of the two-part Climate Equity Fund to provide mitigation actions for low-income communities that disproportionately suffer from climate impacts
- $9.7 million for street safety improvements;
- $4 million in cool pavement, doubling the City’s current investment;
- $3.8 million to expand the City’s Clean and Green program;
- $3 million for Summer Play LA, which will provide low-cost summer camp programs at recreation centers;
- Nearly 800 additional sanitation workers, including more than 200 youth positions for the CleanLA program;
- $2 million for tree planting in low-canopy neighborhoods.
