Mayor Bass Signs Executive Directive to Find Buildings that can be Used for Housing

Mayor Bass signed an executive directive ordering city officials to prepare a list of unused buildings in Los Angeles within the next three weeks. 

It is the first step in her plan to maximize the usage of city-owned property to house homeless individuals. 

The directive gives city officials 20 days to identify vacant, underused, and surplus city-owned buildings. 

What’s in the Directive?

Following the list, the city will analyze whether the site has the potential to be used for housing those experiencing homelessness. 

This will be done by Mercedes Marquez, the mayor’s chief of Housing and Homelessness Solutions. The assessment will likely take a month. 

After that, the mayor will begin to designate properties to house people. To accelerate the process, the directive waives approval steps. 

In the future, Mayor Bass plans to ask the Port of Los Angeles, Los Angeles World Airports, and the Department of Water and Power for similar information. Although, there will likely be more rules on how their property can be used. 

According to Mercedes Marquez, the city has had constructive conversations with Metro about utilizing land to build temporary, permanent, and affordable housing. 

Mayor Bass has stated that she plans to get 17,000 homeless individuals into housing in her first year in office. Thus far, the city has moved just over 200 people in two months via the Inside Safe Program. 

While she is a long way to go toward her goal, this directive is one step closer to reaching it. 

We’ll make sure to update you after the assessment takes place on the potential for the city-owned property to be used for housing the homeless. 

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