Los Angeles Mayor Pledges $138 Million To Help The Biggest Homeless Population In The U.S.

Behind the Hollywood glamor, Los Angeles has the United States' largest chronically homeless population , which has swelled to more than 12,000 people . Now, the city plans to increase funding by more than $100 million  to tackle the issue.   

Mayor Eric Garcetti's plan for the next fiscal year, beginning in July, would provide $138 million in homeless services, much of which would be used to build permanent, affordable housing for low-income communities. The proposed budget is more than quadruple the $34 million allocated for the current fiscal year.

"Los Angeles is on the path to strong economic growth, and we need to make sure that prosperity extends to all," Garcetti said in a statement accompanying the proposal on Wednesday.

The city is home to one third of the nation's chronically homeless, a population that has grown by 55 percent since 2013. Homelessness as a whole in the area, including both Los Angeles and the surrounding LA county, is up 12 percent .

However, the city has come under fire in recent years for what many have called the ongoing criminalization of homelessness .  LA city council recently made it easier to confiscate homeless people's property . And critics have lambasted plans to reimpose bans on living in cars . Many have pointed not towards New York City as a leader in tackling the homelessness crisis, after Mayor Bill de Blasio announced a $41.1 billion affordable housing plan .

Others have already expressed concern with how Garcitti's proposal will actually be funded, and the Los Angeles Times notes many of those sources of revenue don't exist yet .

The suggested homelessness budget, for example, assumes $20 million in income from so-called “linkage fees” — a levy on real-estate developers that can be used to build low-income housing. LA, however, does not currently collect such fees. Garcetti has advocated doing so but has not presented a concrete plan to the City Council for approval.

But Garcetti said after the announcement that the proposal was"very conservative" and "bold." 

"This commitment represents a housing first strategy that we know works ... that came from LA but that has not been scaled up enough to deal with the ongoing onslaught of new homeless individuals we see on our streets," he said, according to NBC .

While this new proposal does represent a significant increase in funding next year, the city's administrative officer Miguel Santana pointed to the need for steady funding over the long-term in order to adequately help the homeless, the Guardian reports.

“If a new funding source is not established at this time next year, then this funding source is in jeopardy and all of the programs it is supporting are in jeopardy,” Santana said at a briefing for reporters.

Garcetti's budget still needs to gain approval from the full city council on June 1.