Mayor Bass Joins Inside Safe to Bring Angelenos Off the Streets and Into Safe, Stable Housing During Koreatown Encampment Cleanup

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LOS ANGELES - This week, Mayor Karen Bass was on site for a successful Inside Safe operation in Koreatown that helped more than 25 unhoused Angelenos transition off the streets and into safe, stable housing. In close partnership with Councilmember Heather Hutt, City teams engaged directly with people in the encampment, connecting them to medical care and social services, and clearing tents and debris from the sidewalk outside Joohyang Presbyterian Church and nearby apartment buildings. B-roll and photos from the operation can be found here.

Mayor Karen Bass speaks with an encampment resident during the Koreatown operation.

"Every time I join an Inside Safe operation, I'm reminded how essential this program is to reducing homelessness in Los Angeles after so many years," said Mayor Bass. "I spent years working in the emergency room and saw the consequences of allowing people to live and die on our streets. That experience drives my commitment to change this-and we are making progress. Street homelessness is down nearly 18%, and we have more than 40,000 units of affordable housing in the pipeline. There is still a lot of work ahead, but these numbers reflect real, systemic change."

The Koreatown operation-the 127th since the launch of the Inside Safe initiative just three years ago-builds on Mayor Bass' efforts to bring tens of thousands of Angelenos indoors and sustain a two-year decline in homelessness, including a nearly 18% reduction in street homelessness. Under her leadership, Los Angeles has also seen its first recorded decline in homeless deaths. To date, Inside Safe has moved more than 5,800 people off the streets and connected them to lifesaving medical and social services.

The story of Mark Wilson, an unhoused Angeleno assisted during today's operation, puts a human face on these numbers and illustrates how quickly a single devastating event can upend a life and lead to homelessness.

"I did construction work, but after a serious injury, I haven't been able to use my left hand the way I once could," Mark Wilson said. "Everything has been different since then. I'm trying to find a place to live and, you know, just make things better in my life."
Amy Armstrong, who has lived at the Koreatown encampment for just over two months, echoed a similar desire for change in her life, saying, "I'm very hopeful. Just being able to be inside, to be clean, to be able to go to job interviews now. It will just open a lot of doors for me."
Beyond moving people off the streets, Mayor Bass is also focused on preventing individuals and families from becoming unhoused in the first place. Here's how her administration is tackling every stage in the fight to end homelessness:

• Rolling out the city's first-ever encampment strategy, which has reduced overall homelessness for two consecutive years, cut street homelessness by nearly 18%, and achieved the first recorded drop in homeless mortality.

• Cutting red tape to accelerate the construction of affordable housing units across the city, with more than 40,000 currently in the pipeline.

• Signing into law the first update to Los Angeles' Rent Stabilization Ordinance in 40 years.

• Implementing a research-proven eviction and homelessness prevention program through the Mayor's Fund.

• Promoting innovative housing through LA4LA and creating more opportunities to build affordable housing on City-owned land.

For more information on the Inside Safe program, visit https://mayor.lacity.gov/InsideSafe.