Amidst her campaign for reelection, Mayor Karen Bass is still keeping her promise of fixing the homelessness crisis plaguing Los Angeles with her latest project. On April 2, Bass unveiled a new 53-unit housing project in West LA near the VA medical center.
“When I took office, it could take years just to approve an affordable housing project in Los Angeles,” said Bass. “A maze of bureaucracy and years of inaction by past city leaders left far too many Angelenos and too many veterans sleeping on our streets. We never hesitate to fund war, but when those young Americans come home, too often we fail them — and that’s unacceptable.”
Under Bass’ Executive Directive 1, more than 40,000 affordable housing units are in the pipeline, with 6,000 under construction — including the site of the event.
Army veteran David Sinatra said he lived in his truck for two years, but now, “I finally have a place to call home and have my life back. I’m just one veteran who fell on hard times, but there are so many more like me… after two long, painful years living out of my truck. Thank you to Mayor Bass, the VA, HACLA, and all the property owners and developers who are helping us get a fresh start.”Sinatra said in a statement.
Bass’ House Our Vets initiative has placed more than 750 veterans and their families into homes, officials said, part of a 17.5 percent reduction in street homelessness, according to the 2025 point-in-time homeless count.
“For a long time, it felt like the system just didn’t work,” Simon Aftalion, principal at Passo, the development firm leading the project, said in a statement. “Then Mayor Bass took office and changed that. What you see here today — this construction site — is proof of that leadership. In just nine months from now, it will deliver 53 new homes right here in the heart of West LA, built specifically for veterans.”
While the veterans are appreciative of Mayor Bass’s efforts, it still seems like her work is not having a permanent effect. According to data, 40 percent of homeless people who participated in the Inside Safe initiative have returned to living on the streets.
“It’s critically important that we look at the people who left, why they left [and] what we need to do to strengthen the interim housing that we have,” Bass said. “I have my opinions about it, but the opinions have to be based on science.”
Some community members also criticized the program’s rules, such as its ban on guests, while nonprofit leaders who help run Inside Safe sites told the media these rules are in place to keep participants safe.
Jonathan Torres, an Inside Safe participant, said the restriction on guests feels “unfair.”
“It’s nobody’s fault but my own, but I just feel it’s unfair,” he told the Los Angeles Times. “In the real world, you’re allowed to have people come over. You have visitors. That’s part of keeping your sanity, you know?”