Rep. Bass Secures Millions to Combat Homelessness, Support Community Safety Efforts, and Strengthen Public Health in Los Angeles

Sentinel News Service

Last week, President Joe Biden signed legislation into law that include millions of dollars secured by Rep. Karen Bass to combat homelessness, support community safety efforts, and strengthen public health in Los Angeles.

"I'm proud to announce that help is on the way for Los Angeles," said Bass, "These investments to combat homelessness, improve community safety and assist families with the increasing costs of living in our congressional district are coming at a crucial time. Now that we have these new allocated funds on the federal level, we have to ensure that they reach our communities as soon as possible."

Bass secured more than $5 million for programs and service-providers, drug treatment services, and violence prevention in Los Angeles. Those include:

* Ward EDC King Solomon Village Interim Housing: Funding secured to offer long-term shelter for unhoused Angelenos including those with pets.

* St. Joseph Center Workforce Development Training Programs for Low Income Adults: funding secured to support job training and career development programs for people experiencing homelessness or who are at risk of losing their housing, including those living in interim or supportive housing

* Asian American Drug Abuse Prevention (AADAP): Funding secured to allow families to remain together in AADAP's treatment program - preventing children from being placed in foster care.

* People Coordinated Services of Southern California, Inc.: Funding secured for residential and out-patient wrap-around counseling and drug treatment services for individuals and their families.

* Brotherhood Crusade and 2nd Call: Answering the Second Call, A Holistic, CulturallyResponsive, TraumaInformed Re-Entry Program: Funding secured for programs to reduce recidivism by assisting individuals who are returning from incarceration. Services include peer mentoring, employment support, counseling and community reintegration.

* Urban Peace Institute and Chapter TWO South Los Angeles Peace Ambassadors: Funding secured to strengthen and expand the South Los Angeles Peace Ambassadors program where people with lived experience intervene in conflicts and prevent the cycle of violence through deep community engagement.

* A New Way of Life - Safe Homes, Women's Reentry and Economic Development Initiative: Funding secured to assist women returning from incarceration to heal from trauma and substance abuse, exit parole, and successfully transition back to their families and their communities.

* Jenesse Center Healthy Family and Community Project: Funding secured to allow the creation of a 24-hour drop-in center and expand proven programs for preventing domestic violence (DV) and aiding DV survivors.

* YWCA of Greater Los Angeles Sexual Assault Response Team Project (SART): Funding secured will support the sexual violence prevention and intervention programs throughout Los Angeles County, including at the Rosa Parks Rape Crisis Center located in South Los Angeles. The free services include a 24-hour rape crisis hotline, counseling, community awareness, prevention education, advocacy and victim accompaniment services.

Bass secured the following funds to create jobs and promote tourism:

* Destination Crenshaw: Funding secured to support the development of cultural tourism and economic development along Crenshaw Boulevard.

She also advocated for an overall $4 billion funding increase to housing programs compared to last year.

* Rental Assistance - Enough funding is provided to renew all existing contracts provided through Housing Choice Vouchers ($27.4 billion) and ProjectBased Rental Assistance ($13.94 billion), and the bill provides $200 million to expand rental assistance vouchers to an additional 25,000 households, including individuals and families experiencing or at risk of homelessness, survivors of domestic violence and veterans.

* Community Development Block Grants - CDBG ($4.84 billion) received an extra $1.37 billion).

* Public Housing - The public housing capital program ($3.39 billion) was provided a $446 million increase, and the public housing operating program ($5.06 billion) received a $200 million increase.

* The HOME Investment Partnerships program (HOME) ($1.5 billion) and the Choice Neighborhood program ($350 million) each received increases of $150 million compared to FY21.

* Homeless Assistance Grants ($3.2 billion), Section 202 Housing for the Elderly ($1.03 billion), and Section 811 Housing for People with Disabilities ($352 million) received increased funding as well;

* The bill provides boosted funding for Tribal block grants ($772 million), Tribal competitive funds ($150 million).

* Housing for Persons with AIDS ($450 million) received a $20m increase; and

* Fair Housing programs ($85 million) saw a $12M increase.

In addition, Bass advocated for investments to:

* Honor Our Promise to Veterans: funding benefits, bolstering the VA's health care system and reducing backlog

* Deliver Justice for Women and Girls: cracking down on gender-based violence with a long-overdue reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act;

* Confronting the Climate Crisis: through a renewed focus on environmental enforcement, pioneering funding for environmental justice, and historic investments in clean energy and climate science; and

* Strengthening Public Health: by rebuilding our health care infrastructure, establishing funding for President Biden's new cancer research initiative, and confronting urgent health crises - including maternal health, mental health, substance misuse, and gun violence.

* Infrastructure Jobs: provides funding for projects authorized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law.

The omnibus will also provide $13.6 billion in assistance for the people of Ukraine, as they face Russia's unprovoked, pre-meditated war.