LA officials cut $300M homeless housing deal

City will provide 6,700 beds for homeless population living around freeways

Tents in Los Angeles, California (Credit: APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)
Tents in Los Angeles, California (Credit: APU GOMES/AFP via Getty Images)

Los Angeles city and county officials have finally reached a deal to house thousands of homeless people who live around the area’s freeways.

The city agreed to create 5,300 to 6,000 beds by April 2021 and another 700 by the end of next year in exchange for $300 million in funding from the county, according to CBS.

The county will pay the city up to $60 million per year for five years and another $8 million if the city can open 5,3000 beds within 10 months.

The deal has emerged as a response to a federal lawsuit that accused the city and county of negligence in protecting people from the coronavirus pandemic. Around 67,000 people were living unhoused in L.A. County as of January.

Sign Up for the undefined Newsletter

A group of service providers, businesses and other stakeholders mostly based in Skid Row filed the suit in March.

Around 15,000 people were considered particularly vulnerable to coronavirus. The city and county housed around 5,750 in hotel rooms with the help of state and federal funding, but that program is now winding down because of uncertain funding.

The city-county deal was laid out in a binding term sheet filed in federal court on Tuesday. The judge presiding over the case previously said that in-fighting and time-wasting hampered efforts to come to an agreement. [CBS]Dennis Lynch