LOS ANGELES (CNS) – Mayor Karen Bass is scheduled to return to Los Angeles Saturday after a brief visit to New York City, she said she made to study its success in providing interim housing for people who had been living on the streets.
“One of the things that I knew about New York, and I wanted to come here and see what they had developed, is that they started years and years ago developing a system of interim housing,” Bass told City News Service in a telephone interview Friday from New York City.
Bass emphasized that approximately 97% of homeless people in New York City are sheltered, citing statistics from the New York Department of Social Services, and hopes to emulate that success in Los Angeles.
“My whole thing coming into office was to deal with street homelessness,” Bass told CNS. “I wanted to come here to see how they were able to do that.”
Bass met with Department of Social Services Commissioner Molly Wasow Park on Friday and toured several of the city’s facilities with traditional and interim housing.
Bass said she visited New York City 20 years ago when she was an Assemblywoman and New York City had begun its shelter effort.
“I had never been back to see what they accomplished. I knew they didn’t have the same level of street homelessness that we do, and I wanted to understand why and how they went about it,” Bass told CNS.
The mayor said New York City incorporates hotels into its shelter system. She had questions about their contracts, how they worked with the community-based organizations, and what types of services they provide.
Bass said she expects New York City officials to visit Los Angeles before the end of the year and hopes to visit New York City again with City Council members.
“I do want to bring members of the City Council with me and come back again because we’re at a crossroads and I want members of the City Council to see what I learned here,” said Bass, who flew to New York City on Thursday.
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