LA needs to clean up its homeless mess before the Olympics. But City Halls plan should alarm everyone

If spending gobs of taxpayers’ money on homelessness — with little to show for it — were an Olympic sport, LA would take the gold.That reality doesn’t seem to bother the City Council, though.Last week, it voted to double down on failed approaches as a way of “doing something” about the homeless crisis before the 2028 LA Summer Games.Morning Report delivers the latest news, videos, photos and more.

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Never miss a story.The council’s plan calls for more of what hasn’t worked: spending exorbitant sums of other people’s money on “services” that entrench the status quo while tucking some homeless people into hotels and other housing — with no requirements for sobriety or treatment.Even outgoing Mayor Karen Bass (belatedly) called this approach — which at last count brought an increase in homeless people — “naive.”As LA prepares to host the Olympics in just 20 months, it needs better than naivete on homelessness. The city needs vision, change and coordination with the International Olympic Committee.

It also needs enduring solutions for Angelenos — and not just a temporary spiff-up for visitors.Mayor-elect Nithya Raman and the 15-member council would do well to concede the failing status quo and devise a fresh approach that can work.They’d do well, too, to recognize that the Games provide a rare investment opportunity that can unlock long-term improvement for LA and its residents. As the Olympics bear down, what is the city’s actual plan to get the homeless off the streets and into sober, productive lives?LA needs more than more of the same.City Hall already spends several hundred million dollars a year on homeless services. Yet this year’s official count found the number of homeless people in LA had climbed by 3.4% — to nearly 45,200 humans.It should be obvious that Olympic ...