Skyscrapers and Jails, or Homeless Housing?

This ego-driven funding could instead be spent to house 10,000 homeless people quickly.

Public money will be spent to build a $2 billion L.A. County Jail containing the largest mental health facility in the known universe. Instead, the County could pour $1 billion into homeless mental health programs, and still build plenty of cells.

Elected Los Angeles leaders are in the wrong era. They refuse to change as the homeless humanitarian crisis spreads to every neighborhood, ravine, park and alleyway.

JusticeLA says L.A. needs “a moratorium on jail construction and expansion in order to fully realize the promise of diversion and re-entry.” Including humane treatment programs for the mentally ill, not jail. We second that emotion.

Here’s the math:

Take away half of the $2 billion for the jail. Dump the plan for a $1 billion city municipal luxury office tower. Carry the one. That’s $2 billion, enough to build the 10,000 homeless units promised by the City Council and mayor — and go far beyond that number.

How do we get our elected officials to think outside the box? Look to other cities.

About 5 percent of NewYork City’s homeless lack shelter. In L.A., 75 percent are left on the streets. In Utah, the chronic homeless were cut from 2,000 to 200 – they call it Housing First.

In L.A., housing is not first. Not one unit of homeless housing has been built since voters approved Prop. HHH, 20 long months ago. The city said the cost would be a staggering $432,000 for each homeless unit. Now they’re saying $476,000.

We can’t even build 6,000 units at that cost. We have 34,000 homeless. You do the math.