Bass' $250-million budget proposal for homelessness program clears a key council hurdle

Mayor Karen Bass' first citywide budget cleared an important hurdle on Friday, with a five-member committee paving the way for her to spend $250 million on Inside Safe, her strategy for combating homelessness.

The City Council's Budget, Finance and Innovation Committee struck a compromise with Bass over efforts to secure additional oversight over Inside Safe, which has been moving unhoused Angelenos into hotels, motels and other facilities.

Council members have been seeking more supervision of the program, which has moved about 1,200 unhoused people indoors so far. Bass warned last week that the committee's push for additional review — setting some of the money for the program aside to be approved later on — would return City Hall to the days when there was a "lack of urgency" on homelessness.

The committee resolved the issue by calling for about $184 million of the planned $250 million to be put into the city's "unappropriated balance," an account where city programs receive funding but typically require additional council approval. However, the committee took steps to ensure that Bass' homelessness team would have immediate access to the remaining funds — without triggering additional council votes.

Read more: Bass looks to buy a 15-story hotel as she ramps up her fight against homelessness

Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who chairs the committee, compared the arrangement to a Starbucks gift card that automatically reloads: Any time the mayor's Inside Safe account falls below $25 million, it would be automatically replenished with another $25 million from the unappropriated balance, he said.

Council members would be notified in advance of each transfer to the Inside Safe account — and retain the power to reject that transfer if they had concerns about the program, Blumenfield said.

"[Bass] was concerned about the expediency ... and I had concerns about the oversight and accountability," he said. "I wanted to find a third way that would create the accountability and the oversight, but still give her expediency."

Bass, for her part, would be required to provide biweekly reports on Inside Safe, spelling out how the money is being spent and what the initiative is accomplishing.

The mayor's proposed budget now heads to the full City Council, which is scheduled to make its decision Thursday. The next budget year starts July 1.

Zach Seidl, a spokesperson for Bass, said in a statement that the mayor and her team are reviewing the committee's actions.

"This is a step in a multi-step process and the mayor looks forward to continuing her work with the City Council to urgently bring Angelenos inside," he said. "The mayor is confident that the collaboration with the City Council established over the past five months will continue."

When the council approved $50 million for Inside Safe in January, council members said they wanted biweekly reports on the progress of the initiative. Only one report has been produced so far.

City Controller Kenneth Mejia, who sent staffers at one point to monitor an early Inside Safe operation, suggested in recent months that there were legal limits to his ability to oversee the program.

"Since Inside Safe is under the mayor's office, some interpretations of city law make it difficult for us to independently assess," he said on Twitter in March. "That’s why we & other offices defer to the mayor."

Chief Legislative Analyst Sharon Tso, who advises the council on the budget process, has also raised the issue of oversight regarding Inside Safe and other programs.

"While there is no objection to the mayor carrying out her priorities and directing departments accordingly, doing so without review by the city's legislative branch is of great concern and upsets the balance established in the City's Charter,” Tso said in a memo to the committee this week.

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During this year's budget hearings, oversight of Inside Safe has turned out to be a bigger source of contention than the mayor's proposal for police hiring. Bass has called for the Los Angeles Police Department to grow to 9,500 officers — a target viewed by many at City Hall as difficult to achieve. The department currently has 9,100.

On Friday, the budget committee endorsed the mayor's hiring plan. At the same time, the panel recommended the removal of about $31 million from her proposed budget for the LAPD, scaling back the amount allocated for salaries and related costs. The committee also recommended an additional $10 million for police hiring and overtime go into the city's unappropriated balance.

Blumenfield said he remains committed to the mayor's hiring goal, even amid efforts to trim the LAPD's proposed budget.

“None of these reductions," he said, "will impede hiring."

Councilmember Curren Price tried at one point to halt the reductions planned for the LAPD budget, but later withdrew his motion after receiving reassurance from Tso that there would still be enough money to reach the mayor's LAPD hiring goal.

"I think we have a responsibility to support her as she endeavors to achieve her objective," he said in a statement.

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This story originally appeared in Los Angeles Times.