Los Angeles City Council members indicated a willingness Tuesday to amend an agreement with the county for the use of its health services, as the city has been taking on some of the county’s homeless responsibilities.
Councilman Mitch O’Farrell said the city is currently evaluating a contract it has had with the county since the 1960s for public health services.
“Past is prologue. It has been my experience, after more than seven years on this council, that this agreement that we have with the county just isn’t working out,” O’Farrell said. “I don’t expect that we could expect any change from the county’s position.”
O’Farrell’s comments came after the county contacted the city in August about a forecasted budget shortfall this year in its Measure H projected revenue, which is funded by property taxes, according to the office of the Los Angeles City Administrative Officer.
The shortfall is currently expected to be below the pre-COVID-19 projection of $373 million to $353 million, the CAO reported.
The county asked for $14 million, and the City Council voted Tuesday to fund about $8 million, enough for three months of projects related to homeless prevention for adults, landlord incentives, employment resources and for the county’s criminal record-clearing project.
The council also voted for a report to be completed by the CAO’s staff on how the continued funding of these services reduces homelessness.
Calls and emails to the county’s Department of Public Health and Board of Supervisors were not immediately returned.
When O’Farrell asked CAO representatives if this funding would be a one-time expense, representatives said it’s hard to say because all governments are trying to figure out where their revenues will be in the near future.
O’Farrell said the city should receive 62% of the funding from Measure H as it is home to that percent of the county’s overall homeless population. He also said the services from the county are still not adequate for homeless people, as Measure H was passed in 2017.
The city of Los Angeles does not have its own health department, as those duties are primarily the county’s, but the city has been funding much of its own homeless housing and shelters through its own ballot measure, Proposition HHH, which was passed in 2016.