Los Angeles voters voiced sharp doubts about Mayor Karen Bass’ approach to homelessness and public safety after reviewing her policy proposals without being told which mayoral candidate had endorsed them.
Bass is heading into the November 3 mayoral election amid broad public discontent. She will face socialist challenger and Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman.
Several Angelenos questioned whether the city should continue spending hundreds of millions of dollars to move unhoused residents from encampments into temporary hotel rooms while they await permanent housing through Bass’ signature “Inside Safe” initiative.
“I don’t believe a hotel is the right setting for people experiencing homelessness,” Val Villanueva said. “Many are dealing with mental health challenges, and some may be going through withdrawal in those environments.
“We need something more structured, with support services available right away—possibly a recovery center or another setting focused on rehabilitation.”
Bass’ record on homelessness is a central reason Villanueva plans to support Raman in the mayoral contest.
“She isn’t really resolving the homelessness problem. She’s moving people from one place to another, and doing it in a very aggressive way. There are police raids on encampments, and homeless people are often confronted by police while they’re trying to sleep.”
Villanueva added that Los Angeles has become “complacent” and is slowly moving in the wrong direction.
Adrian Guess said public funding for homelessness can be justified when housing is paired with mental health care, addiction treatment and financial literacy programs. “If you provide housing without addressing those other needs, you’re only putting a bandage over the problem,” he said. Guess has not yet decided how he will vote.
Amy Zhao opposed the scale of Bass’ spending on homelessness, arguing that taxpayers deserve a more effective strategy. “That’s a significant amount of money, especially for people like me who pay substantial taxes,” she said. “There have to be better ways to address homelessness. Simply throwing money at the issue doesn’t seem like the best solution.” Zhao does not plan to vote in this year’s election.
Voters were also asked whether the next mayor should increase the Los Angeles Police Department by roughly 1,000 officers. At the time, they were not told that Bass supports the proposal. Some said a larger force could merely mask deeper problems.
“I don’t think the police department is being used effectively right now,” Villanueva said. “In the part of the city where I live, I see a lot of—at least in the area that I’m at—
a serious problem with how officers are deployed.”
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Villanueva said he has also noticed what he considers unnecessary aggression from officers, adding that hiring more than 1,000 additional police would not solve it. “We don’t necessarily need more officers who aren’t properly trained. We need officers with better training,” he said.
Caitlene Navalta said Los Angeles should look beyond punishment and examine the conditions that lead to situations requiring police intervention.
“If young people are getting into situations that cause someone to call the police, we also need to ask why,” she said. “Do they have other resources, outlets or constructive ways to spend their time?” Navalta declined to say which candidate she supports.
Other residents expressed more support for investing in public safety, though they said accountability should come with it. “The most important thing is making sure everyone is treated with respect,” Morgan Huang said.
Zhao said additional funding could help if city officials are careful about recruitment and hiring. “If the city is responsible about how it hires and who it brings in, I think there could be a benefit,” she said.
Guess said police are an important part of public safety, but argued that expanding the force should happen alongside investments in mental health professionals, homelessness outreach workers and other social services. “If you’re going to add police, you also need to expand those other services,” he said.
Voters we spoke to were generally more supportive of a couple policies we proposed from Raman, without knowing she was behind them – around increasing housing density and maintaining Airbnb restrictions in the city.
When asked whether Los Angeles should allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes in neighborhoods traditionally reserved for single-family homes, Lucas Robles said, “I think it might be a good idea because overpopulation in the world is a very common trend right now. I think we should probably build more vertically instead of horizontally.” Robles still hasn’t decided who he’s voting for.
Zhao added, “I can’t afford a house. So, like, honestly, if it brings down, like, the price of some of those properties, like, sure. I mean, I don’t see a problem with that.”
When asked whether Los Angeles should maintain restrictions that generally prohibit homeowners from using second properties as short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb, Villanueva staunchly agreed.
He said that greed is causing Airbnb to drift too far from its original mission: helping people rent out a spare bedroom.
“It is kind of evolving into something very different where people are buying a bunch of houses and then they’re remodeling them for cheap and then they are just renting them out for so much,” he said.
Guess agreed. “I feel like with the Airbnb housing, it does jack up the prices for people who live in the city,” he said. “You’ve got people turning more housing into more tourist spots and taking them away from local people who live here.”
However Robles disagreed. “I feel like if you have ownership over another home, I think you should be able to do what you want with that home. If that means renting it out to an Airbnb, I think you should be able to have power to do that,” he said.