Los Angeles politicos are in turmoil over Friday’s latest figures showing an increase in homelessness from last year — and the Trump administration’s top prosecutor in the city is laying the blame on reckless spending over drugs.
The new numbers show 45,194 people are now experiencing homelessness in the City of Los Angeles, a 3.4% increase from last year, despite officials pouring nearly $3 billion a year into shelters, housing and homeless programs.
Even more alarming, the number of people living unsheltered on streets, sidewalks, in parks and in vehicles jumped 7.9%, reversing two straight years of declines.
Bill Essayli, First Assistant US Attorney for the Central District of California, suggested on social media Saturday that he knew where to point the finger.
“Based on what we’re seeing on the ground, the millions Los Angeles City and County are spending on ‘harm reduction’ (aka handing out Narcan and clean needles) are only fueling the crisis,” he wrote.
“The money needs to go to building shelters and residential treatment beds,” he added.
The city has redirected money, around $250,000, into needle distribution and safer-smoking kits in the MacArthur Park area, The Post previously reported.
Overall, since 2020 Los Angeles County has invested more than $25 million in harm reduction to prevent overdose deaths — a move critics say enables addiction.
Essayli himself has seen the drug addiction firsthand. His office has been making it a priority to conduct drug busts at MacArthur Park and other areas, which Esssayli has described as an “open-air drug market.”
Many critics say drug addiction, alongside mental health problems, are the real reason why many stay on the streets.
Mayor Karen Bass has decided to blame President Donald Trump for the increase in homelessness in her city.
“The Trump Administration has driven up the cost of gas, groceries, and rent — pushing more families to the edge — and slashed critical safety net funding,” Bass’s office said in a statement.
The new figures have also sparked a political clash between Bass and her election challenger Councilmember Nithya Raman. Both are Democrats vying for the mayoral seat.
“That is a moral outrage. And it is a failure of leadership,” Raman wrote on how the rise in homelessness portrays Bass.
The mayor fired back: “I’m the Mayor for all of LA — just like Nithya Raman has been the Homeless Committee Chair for all of LA — and no Angeleno should be completely satisfied with our City’s response to this crisis.”
