LA County Board

3. Proclamation of Local Emergency for Homelessness in the County of Los\nAngeles\nRecommendation as submitted by Supervisors Horvath and Barger: Proclaim a\nLocal Emergency for homelessness in the County to remain in effect until its\ntermination is proclaimed by the Board; approve and execute a Proclamation of\nExistence of Local Emergency for homelessness in the County; instruct the\nExecutive Director of the Homeless Initiative, the Director of the Office of\nEmergency Management, and all other County Departments, to take necessary\nsteps for the protection of life, health, and safety of people experiencing\nhomelessness in the County, including:\nContracting and Procurement: Leveraging the lessons learned during\nthe COVID-19 pandemic, direct the Chief Executive Officer and relevant\nCounty Departments to take appropriate steps to expedite the\nprocurement and contracting processes for materials, equipment, and\nservices necessary to respond rapidly to the homelessness crisis;\nHiring: Instruct the Director of Personnel and relevant County\nDepartments to expedite recruitment and hiring for positions necessary\nto respond to the homelessness crisis, including any actions needed to\nquickly reduce vacancy levels for positions providing mental health,\nsubstance use disorder, health, and case management services directly\nto people experiencing homelessness;\nHousing: Instruct the Executive Director of the Homeless Initiative, and\nrelevant County Departments, to accelerate timelines for the creation of\nlicensed beds, interim housing, and permanent housing for people\nexperiencing homelessness and placement of clients in these housing\nresources, increase funding for local rental subsidies, and coordinate\nwith local cities regarding the construction of permanent supportive\nhousing, including funding;\nServices: Instruct the Executive Director of the Homeless Initiative, and\nrelevant County Departments to work directly with outreach teams and\ninterim housing providers to provide accelerated access to mainstream\nCounty services including, but not limited to, the Departments of Mental\nHealth, Public Health’s-Substance Use Prevention and Control, Health\nServices, Public Social Services, and Children and Family Services, to\nsheltered and unsheltered people experiencing homelessness\nCountywide;\nSpending: Direct the Chief Executive Officer and all relevant County\nDepartments to identify strategic uses of restricted funding in order to\nalleviate the crisis among unhoused individuals and any State and\nFederal legislative relief required to use restricted funding as proposed,\nand report back to the Board in writing in 60 days on all available options;\nand\nCommunication and Outreach: Direct the Chief Executive Officer,\nExecutive Director of the Homeless Initiative, the Director of the Office of\nEmergency Management, and Countywide Communications, to develop\nand implement a communication plan to interact with Los Angeles County\ncities and the public on the local emergency proclamation, including how\nthe County will coordinate and work with cities, and how solutions will be\nimplemented;\nInstruct the Executive Director of the Homeless Initiative, to lead the overall\ncoordination of the emergency response and to coordinate efforts with the State\nand Federal governments, and the cities within the County; and direct the Chief\nExecutive Officer to report back to the Board in 14 days with the authorities\nneeded and requisite changes to implement the foregoing;\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer to enable the Executive Director of the\nHomeless Initiative to immediately assume a leadership role in managing the\nlocal emergency proclamation until the County entity responsible for\nhomelessness is finalized and concurrently establish the infrastructure to\nmaintain the efforts initiated under this Local Emergency Proclamation, and\nreport back to the Board in writing in 21 days on necessary organizational\nchanges, and resources required;\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer to report back to the Board in writing in six\nmonths with an update on the local emergency proclamation, including data\ndemonstrating the effectiveness of County efforts and if the efforts should in\nany way be modified;\nDirect the Chief Executive Officer to report back to the Board in writing in one\nyear regarding whether the local emergency proclamation should be\nterminated, extended, or modified, with such recommendations to be supported\nby data demonstrating the effectiveness of County efforts; and\nInstruct the Executive Director of the Homeless Initiative, Chief Executive\nOffice, to develop a process for providing periodic reporting, at a minimum\nquarterly, to the Board on the expenditure of Measure H funds, in order to more\naccurately assess the effectiveness of the use of Measure H funds, in\nconjunction with the local emergency proclamation and the overall coordinated\nresponse to homelessness. (23-0174)\nAttachments: Motion by Supervisors Horvath and Barger\nPublic Comment/Correspondence