House the homeless
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Should vacant hotels in Los Angeles house the homeless? Voters will decide.
In 2024, residents will get to vote: Should those rooms be offered to the unhoused?
"It's insane. It isn't going to solve the problem," says Stuart Waldman, president of the Valley Industry & Commerce Association, which represents hotels and other businesses across the north of the city. He fears housing the homeless in hotels will put people off visiting Los Angeles.
"I wouldn't want my kids around people that I'm not sure about. I wouldn't want to be in an elevator with somebody who's clearly having a mental break," he says. "The idea that you can intermingle homeless folks with paying, normal guests just doesn't work out."
The ordinance was proposed by Unite Here Local 11 -- the union that represents most of the city's hospitality workers. Now that they've collected enough signatures, whether to house the homeless in hotels will be on the ballot in March 2024."By no means do we think this solves the homelessness crisis. But do hotels have a role to play ... of course they do," says Kurt Petersen, the union's co-president.
If voters give the green light, every hotel in town -- from a suburban Super 8 Motel to glitzy hostelries like the storied Biltmore -- will be required to report vacancies and welcome homeless guests who have a voucher from the city. The hotels would be paid market-rate for the rooms. The measure would also have implications for developers, who would have to replace any housing knocked down to make way for new hotels.
"They don't seem to understand who the unhoused are," says Petersen of hotel industry opponents. "We're talking about seniors, students, working people -- that's who the voucher program would benefit the most."
How to handle the city's worsening housing and homelessness crises are principal planks in every campaign for local political office. In polls, more than half of LA voters say tackling homelessness is their number one concern. The county's homeless services agency has an annual budget of over $800 million, which is spent on everything from counts to counseling, from shelters to permanent housing.
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@89th said in House the homeless:
And the citizens pay for it.
I really have little problem with that. If the electorate wants to allocate funds for it, go for it. After all, you get the government you
deserveelected.My big problem is the mandate for this.
If a hotel wants to accept taxpayer money for housing the homeless, that's fine. But it should be made in the context of the business. Will it hurt or help business overall? Will paying for these rooms offset the number of people who will not want to stay at these places?
But, bottom line is that the gummint shouldn't mandate it. Offer it? Perhaps.
Require it? Nope.
