Blue City, County To Drop Billions On Homeless Assistance In Lawsuit Settlement

Los Angeles County and city will pay billions of dollars to combat its homelessness crisis after a district court judge approved a settlement with the LA Alliance for Human Rights on Thursday, the Associated Press reported.

The settlement requires Los Angeles to provide 25,000 new beds for homeless people and create programs to help reduce homelessness in the area and will cost the city and county over $5 billion to implement, Daniel Conway, a policy advisor for the LA Alliance, said, according to the AP. District Court Judge David Carter, who was appointed to the position by former President Bill Clinton, had rejected previous settlement proposals that would have provided fewer beds.

“The City, the County, and the LA Alliance have come together because we are no longer willing to accept the unacceptable,” Conway wrote in a statement. “This agreement is a starting point, not an end point. Today’s announcement shows that City and County leaders are ready to do more and are in it for the long haul. We expect that today will mark the beginning of a new era of collaboration, creativity, and commitment to address the humanitarian crisis that has engulfed Los Angeles.”

The LA Alliance initially sued the city and county over its homelessness in 2020, claiming that the local government’s negligence had caused the homeless population to balloon and decreased the safety in the area, according to the complaint. Homelessness increased 70% in the county and 80% in the city since 2015, the AP reported.

Los Angeles County hosts roughly 40% of the state’s total homeless population. Democratic California Gov. Gavin Newsom recently called on the Supreme Court to review a court injunction preventing San Francisco from clearing its homeless camps.

LA County, the LA mayor’s office and the LA Alliance for Human Rights did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.