Mayor Karen Bass is scheduled to be in Washington, D.C. Sunday through Friday to help lead a group of mayors lobbying Biden Administration officials and congressional leaders for solutions addressing homelessness.
Bass is making the trip in her role as chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors Task Force on Homelessness. She will be joined by conference President Hillary Schieve, the mayor of Reno, Nevada. Meetings will be held through Thursday. Bass is set to return to Los Angeles Friday.
As part of its agenda, the delegation will lobby to expand veteran eligibility for housing vouchers, lift the cap on project-based vouchers to allow cities to build more affordable housing and urge federal leaders to increase funding for housing choice vouchers.
“In order to make tangible change in the greatest crisis facing Los Angeles and hundreds of cities across the country, we know we must continue to work in partnership with leaders across the country,” Bass said in a statement. “We must continue this fight to get the job done.”
She added, “Thank you to President (Joe) Biden and his administration for their strong partnership on this issue and to the members of Congress on both sides of the aisle who are willing to lock arms with us to save lives.”
The delegation will meet with Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Denis McDonough; Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra, the chair of the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness; acting Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Adrianne Todman; and White House Chief of Staff Jeff Zients; Murray, D-Washington; Brian Schatz, D-Hawaii; Tina Smith, D-Minnesota; Sheldon Whitehouse, D-Rhode Island; and Ron Wyden, D-Oregon; and House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-New York; House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-Louisiana; and representatives Maxine Waters, D-Los Angeles; Pete Aguilar, D-Redlands; Katherine Clark, D-Massachusetts; Tom Cole, R-Oklahoma; and Rosa DeLauro, D-Connecticut.
While in Washington, the mayors will appear at a news conference Tuesday.
Bass recently traveled to Sacramento with eight other mayors from some of the California’s most populous cities. The group called on Gov. Gavin Newsom to continue financially supporting efforts to address the homelessness crisis.