The Los Angeles City Council voted 13-0 Tuesday to allocate about $2.04 million for food and rental assistance for residents in the First District, along with neighborhood beautification efforts.
Councilwoman Eunisses Hernandez, who represents CD1, encompassing parts of downtown and northeast Los Angeles, set aside $300,000 for emergency rental assistance and $500,000 for food assistance for her constituents. Another $700,000 and $538,529 will fund beautification services provided by the Los Angeles Conservation Corps and the Koreatown Youth and Community Center.
Council members Curren Price and John Lee were absent during the vote.
“Year after year, we have invested in rental and food assistance because keeping people housed and fed is among the most fundamental responsibilities of government,” according to a statement from Hernandez. “At a time when rising costs and ICE raids are destabilizing entire communities, this $800,000 renewal provides direct relief CD1 working families can actually feel. Our constituents are under attack and we are going to keep using every dollar and tool available to fight for their stability.”
During Tuesday’s vote, Hernandez emphasized that she and her team looked under “every rock and every shoe box” within and outside the city to find money to continue services for her constituents.
“We have nine clean teams that service our district. We’re moving funds that keep that going,” Hernandez said. “We have a district that’s impacted by a lack of available jobs and income. We have immigrant communities. Food accessibility has become very difficult because of how expensive food is.
“But that’s always been the case for some of my neighborhoods, and so today, we’re renewing the money that has been going to feeding our communities,” she added.
Hernandez also said the emergency rental assistance will continue helping prevent families from falling into homelessness. Previous funding has helped 30 families in her district remain housed.