Strong bipartisan support that included 77% of the voting population in Los Angeles offered hope for the homeless population in Los Angeles. That was three years ago. Today, following an audit of Proposition HHH spending and progress, it has been revealed the city has completed zero homes intended to help 10,000 of the 34,000 known homeless people in the California city.
The $1.2 billion bond was supposed to pay for 10,000 housing units spread across 114 projects. The units were supposed to cost between $350,000-$414,000. But with a median cost now over $531,000, including over 1000 units that will cost over $600,000, the 10,000 unit goal has been reduced by 24%.
Even with the lower expectations based on higher costs, movement is slow. Of the 114 projects earmarked, only 19 have begun.
“The length of time needed to complete these projects does not meet the level of urgency needed to match the magnitude of our homelessness crisis,” a new Los Angeles Controller audit report stated.
The homelessness problem in the city is growing to crisis levels as drug abuse and poverty force tens of thousands to the streets. Meanwhile, Proposition HHH was supposed to be a step in the right direction, but bureaucratic incompetence and the city’s radical progressive policies have only exacerbated the problem. Tax payers and bond owners thought they were buying a solution, but as government incompetence often does, they’re visibly disappointed by the results.
“Over-promise and never deliver. That’s why I stopped trusting this city’s government years ago,” said Hollywood resident Jillian Quaid. “We’re better off giving to charities than trying to let city hall do their damage.”
Nearly 3 years after L.A. voters approved a $1.2 billion bond program to build up to 10,000 housing units for the homeless, an audit has found that no units have been made available yet. Meanwhile, costs per unit went up from $350K to a median of $531Khttps://t.co/5QokJFJYEd
— KTLA (@KTLA) October 8, 2019
Adding insult to injury, the agency tasked with assisting homeless people in the city has failures that rival Proposition HHH at a lower scale, according to KTLA:
The audit also found that in fiscal year 2018-2019, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority only moved 167 people to permanent supportive housing, referred 598 people to bridge housing and 39 with with substance abuse problems to treatment, and connected 56 people with mental health conditions to services.
This meant that the group, which received a combined total of $54 million in funding from the city and county in the past two fiscal years, did not achieve most of its city outreach goals, according to the report.
There’s a reason leftist policies for helping the homeless invariably fail. Government’s ability to manage complex situations has always been lacking. Combine that with ill-conceived feel-good projects and we see progressive incompetence in action.
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