Don’t Get Dizzy

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Are you just about dizzy with all the news about homelessness in Los Angeles lately?

No surprise if you are.

There nonetheless continues to be good reason for the community of business to maintain proper bearings and keep a close eye on the public purse and policymakers.

Homelessness matters to all of us because it has direct bearing on the quality of life.

It’s a competitive world, and quality of life matters to businesses ranging from corner restaurants that count on safe streets to accommodate walk-up trade to corporate behemoths seeking to recruit top talent.

Clarity matters, too, but it’s tough to get a clear picture when you consider these developments from the past month or so:

• A survey conducted by the United Way of Greater Los Angeles reportedly found that 70 percent of respondents were in support of permanent housing in their own neighborhoods.

• Residents of various neighborhoods in the city have complained in recent weeks about plans to establish homeless shelters in each of the 15 City Council districts, and a particularly vocal contingent in Koreatown is pressing a claim that elected officials cut them out of the decision-making process.

• An annual count of homeless individuals in Los Angeles County showed a 3.4 percent decline from a year prior – but still came to 53,195, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a joint city-county agency.

• The same count found that the number of street encampments and vehicles being used for shelter rose 5 percent.

• A press conference held by a coalition of community groups in downtown’s Skid Row district took exception to a proposal dubbed DTLA 2040 by city officials. The plan, which could reach City Council next year, would bring a zoning change to industrial areas of the district, clearing 5th Street, 6th Street and 7th Street for developments of market rate housing. The groups – which have gathered under the banner of Skid Row Now and 2040 – estimate that would spur upscale development to replace some 4,000 rooms in residence hotels. They called on any would-be developers of new upscale residences to also fund 7,000 units of low-income housing.

There’s more back-and-forth if you consider the latest outlook on the $1.2 billion in property taxes that will be raised over 10 years thanks to Measure HHH, which was approved by city voters in 2016, when we were told the money would pay for 10,000 units of housing to relieve homelessness.

The estimate is down to 6,000, thanks to rising costs and a loss of state and federal grants, according to recent reports.

Can anyone in City Hall honestly say they have earned the trust of taxpayers on the Measure HHH funds?

Do you see anything in all of this back-and-forth on homelessness to indicate that now is the time for a plan to rework the streets of Skid Row?

You’d have to be dizzy to buy either proposition at this point.

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