Councilwoman Traci Park Blasts Homeless Spending in Fiery ‘No’ Vote on LA’s $13.9 Billion Budget

In her remarks, Park singled out the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), calling it a “free for all” where “no one is able to account for the billions we flushed down the toilet.” She said the city is now so unprepared and overwhelmed in managing its homelessness response that it faces the possibility of being placed in federal receivership.

“We are spending a million and a half dollars per door to build micro units of housing to give away to homeless drug addicts,” she said, “when the vast majority of our own city employees can never afford a condo with that price.”

The revised budget cuts funding to Mayor Bass’ flagship homelessness program, Inside Safe, by 10%, and redirects over half of the interim housing dollars into the city’s unappropriated balance — a move prompted by Los Angeles County’s recent decision to withdraw more than $300 million from LAHSA and form its own county-run agency. Council members said the shift would provide better oversight and flexibility.

But Park said the entire structure of the city’s homeless response is broken and called for a full vote of the council to consider withdrawing from LAHSA altogether.

“I don’t think we should agree to spend another penny on homelessness until we — as a full council, not just the few of you who get invited into the conversation — have the chance to chime in and actually cast a vote on whether we’re finally getting a divorce from LAHSA,” Park said.

“We’re shrinking LAPD in favor of expanding other programs that haven’t been effective, and we’re doing it on the cusp of major world events and in the midst of a crime and homelessness crisis,” Park said, pointing to the city’s role as host for the upcoming World Cup and Olympic Games.

Despite a $46.7 million year-over-year increase to the Los Angeles Fire Department’s budget and $80 million in equipment funding through MICLA, the plan does not include new dollars for LAFD’s homelessness response unit — a shortfall Park highlighted.

“There are still a hundred rigs sitting over at the boneyard, but we’re sitting here unable to say yes to the mechanics that we need to fix them,” she said. “All of our residents and taxpayers… they want the sidewalks fixed. They want the street lights to work. They want their kids to be able to play at the local park without having to step over drug and trash camps.”

Councilwoman Katy Yaroslavsky defended the budget as a pragmatic solution in a difficult fiscal year, saying it protects basic services such as sidewalk repair, streetlight maintenance, and illegal dumping enforcement.

Overall, the revised spending plan restores funding for hundreds of positions across city agencies, including: 108 jobs in the Department of City Planning, 122 positions in the Department of Transportation, including 75 traffic officers, 63 jobs in the Bureau of Sanitation, plus five-day CARE/CARE+ service in all council districts, 130 jobs in Recreation and Parks, 67 in Engineering, 77 in General Services, and 22 in the IT Agency.

The budget also allocates $5 million from the unappropriated balance to maintain staffing levels across the city’s six animal shelters.

Even so, Park said she could not support a plan that leaves Los Angeles “less safe, less fiscally sound, and even less responsive to our constituents’ basic needs.” “We are down rabbit holes of spending on things that no one cares about,” she concluded. “I just can’t in good conscience vote for this budget.”

City officials are expected to finalize the budget by the end of the month. It must be adopted before the new fiscal year begins in July. Mayor Bass is reviewing the council’s changes and is expected to weigh in on the final version in the coming days.