LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Today, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a motion authored by Chair Holly J. Mitchell to create a plan for expanding the County’s Care First, Jails Last vision by addressing the crisis of a rising jail population with serious mental illness and substance abuse dependency and the disproportionately high rate of Black and Latinx residents within the County’s justice system. The motion directs the Chief Executive Office to report back with a cost analysis for expanding the Office of Diversion and Re-entry’s (ODR) Housing Program to include 500 additional beds so that a total of 2,700 beds will be available for individuals in our jails that desperately need treatment for serious mental illness.

“Currently, there are nearly 13,000 people in the County’s jail system and a little under half of our jail population is suffering from mental health challenges. This urgent crisis requires an intentional response that includes a timeline and commitment to expand the ODR Re-entry Housing Model that has been proven to effectively serve incarcerated people” said Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly J. Mitchell, representing the Second District. “The Board’s support on the condition of accepting amendments at Tuesday’s Board meeting brings us back to the status quo. Removing a timeline to fix the problem puts thousands of lives in limbo and weakens the mandate for strong, decisive action.”

Since its establishment, ODR has removed more than 7,000 individuals from the County jails and connected them to community-based treatment and supportive housing. The programming has proven successful with A RAND Corporation study of ODR’s Supportive Housing Program finding that 91% of its clients had stable housing after six months. The ODR Re-entry Housing has not been able to accept new patients since April of 2021 due to a lack of ongoing funding that leaves too many stranded in jails with inadequate mental health treatment and essential support.

“We shouldn’t be treating one of our most effective solutions to a human rights crisis in our jails with cynicism or delayed resolve. The critical motion presented by Supervisor Mitchell today aimed to address those barriers” said Mark Anthony, Executive Director, Dignity and Power Now. “While the Board took an important step today to sufficiently resource ODR, the approved amendments run the risk of falsely pitting historic reforms against each other.”

To read the full motion, click here.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly Mitchell provided the following statement on why she voted no on the motion to support the recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness and the importance of declaring LA County a Housing First County in helping to end the homelessness crisis:

My votes today reflect the best practices across the country of putting resources and time towards what works in addressing our homelessness crisis. Last year, I voted no on the motion to form the Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness – this entity was formed to discuss and address the issues of Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s governance.

I did not vote to support the formation of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness because doubling down on governance will not solve our housing and homelessness crisis. Even before the six-month process to create the commission with $1 million of taxpayer money, the County had plenty of studies, and over 500 interviews with stakeholders – who agreed that the increased governance was not the issue here.

Today, I voted no on the motion that will require the County to move forward with all seven of the recommendations by the Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness without the option to vote separately for each recommendation. All seven of the recommendations do not uphold public transparency on decision making and the usage of our limited homelessness funds. Without the option to bifurcate the vote on the recommendations that do make sense, as a whole I could not support the motion.

Our constituents and taxpayers have been clear. We need action now to close the gap in housing, services, and funding. I refuse to support a blank check of taxpayer funds to setting up more committees which do not focus on the long-term solutions of creating the housing, health facilities and corresponding services that have been proven to bring people off the streets and into homes.

The solutions to homelessness are known, simply put it comes down to homes and services. The crisis has grown in scope and scale across the 88 cities and unincorporated areas that make up LA County. Our geography, history of racial discrimination and diverse jurisdictions further complicate this issue. Solving it requires aligned policies across all jurisdictions that will:

1) Increase capacity to build the diverse housing needs such as board and care and permanent affordable housing,

2) Intentionally address systemic racial and economic inequities that lead to poverty and becoming unhoused and

3) Provide consistent long-term funding to meet the challenge of scope and scale of wrap around services to keep residents housed.

I will continue to emphatically support the Housing First model and policies which center the creation and preservation of housing along with wrap around services. I am not alone in seeing the value of Housing First and want to thank my co-author Supervisor Solis and my colleagues Supervisors Hahn, Kuehl for supporting my motion declaring LA County a Housing First County. I am proud to have also supported Supervisors Hahn and Barger’s motion accepting the County’s Measure H Strategy Reassessment and Homelessness Framework, which provides actions for improving the system of care for our unhoused residents.

I voted yes on the two motions listed above that keep us focused on real solutions for the most impacted residents, allow us to significantly close the disparity of Black people and communities of color experiencing homelessness and tackle the challenge of stopping the rising numbers of young people, seniors, and justice system involved residents from re-entry into homelessness.

LOS ANGELES, Calif. — During Sheriff Villanueva’s livestream on Tuesday, April 26, he attacked and insulted political opponents including the Inspector General, and threatened to investigate LA Times reporter Alene Tchekmedyian for allegedly leaking a video that revealed a Sheriff Deputy kneeling on a handcuffed individual’s head. Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Chair Holly J. Mitchell provided the following statement in response to the Sheriff’s remarks:

“Sheriff Villanueva’s actions are dangerous and erode community trust which is essential for true public safety. I am calling on Sheriff Villanueva to issue an apology to reporter Alene Tchekmedyian for threatening to allocate valuable County resources towards investigating her for upholding her journalistic responsibility to the public to report the truth. Disrespect and threats to journalists or anyone will not be tolerated and is incompatible with the Sheriff’s responsibility to protect the safety of all residents. I will continue to work with the Board to pursue structural changes that will ensure appropriate oversight over the Sheriff’s Department and I am calling on Attorney General Bonta to investigate any potential violations of the law.”