Two City Council members are expected to testify in federal court Wednesday in a hearing to examine the number of shelters for the homeless in the city.
Mayor Karen Bass, and council members Monica Rodriguez and Traci Park have been subpoenaed to testify in the hearing Wednesday and Thursday. Bass is expected to take the witness stand in a hearing Thursday.
The L.A. Alliance for Human Rights filed a complaint in March 2020 against the city and Los Angeles County accusing them of not doing enough to address the availability and access to shelter for the homeless.
A judge signed off on a settlement in September 2023 that the county agreed to supply an additional 3,000 beds for mental and substance abuse treatment for the end of 2026 and 450 new subsidies for board-and-care beds.
“The new resources come on top of $293 million the County pledged in a separate agreement over the course of this three-and-a-half-year lawsuit to provide 6,700 beds for people experiencing homelessness near freeways as well as for unhoused seniors,” a statement by the coalition read in 2023.
An audit in March 2025 was unable to verify the number of homeless shelter beds the city claims to have created.
The hearing is scheduled to run through Friday.