Editorial: A fact check on Rick Caruso’s magical thinking about L.A. homelessness
Updated 10:05 p.m.
LOS ANGELES — On June 25, Mayor Eric Garcetti announced a $2.8 million, one-year plan to address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. He told us in a news conference:
“To address a crisis of this magnitude, we require bold leadership, we require a bold approach,” Garcetti said. “We don’t want to wait for another year or another month or another week or another day when we’re not on an emergency footing. We are not only not at emergency footing, but we are not on emergency footing when it comes to addressing this problem.”
Last week, Rick Caruso, the executive director of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, announced the city was about to release a major new report that would give clear guidance on how to address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles. Caruso released the report through the city’s website, and he promoted it on his Twitter account.
But Caruso used an inaccurate statistic: L.A.’s homeless population is now at its lowest point in five years.
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A fact check reveals the city’s homelessness count is up since last summer, and its rate has leveled off. But a number of homeless residents have been newly added to the city’s homeless population in the past few months, meaning the number of homeless people in Los Angeles is still at an all-time high.
But that’s just the beginning of the story. When Garcetti made his remarks last month, the homelessness rate in Los Angeles was about to jump.
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In fact, over the past five years, the homelessness rate in Los Angeles has been static