Challengers say Hernandez has failed to make meaningful progress on homeless camps in Chinatown, Lincoln Heights and other parts of the district.
“People feel like they don’t have safe and walkable streets,” Robledo said. “People are disappointed, and so am I.”
Robledo, 67, wants to close the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the city-county agency that oversees social services in the city’s hotels, motels and other interim housing.
hernandez Touting a $6.3 million state grant, he helped house homeless people living along or near the Arroyo Seco River. She is bringing a new 65-bed interim housing facility to Cypress Park and has worked to improve services near MacArthur Park.
“I’m not focused on what people are saying about us not providing services,” Hernandez said. “I know that in my district we are doing work.”
Hernandez supports Mayor Karen Bass’s Inside Safe program, which has cleared encampments across the city, but wants more transparency on how its money is spent.
GRANDE And Robledo also favors Inside Safe but says it is too expensive and needs reworking. Claros Is the only candidate in the race who explicitly opposes the program, and says he will vote against any additional funding to keep it going.
“When we look at it now and we just look at the numbers, it has failed,” Claros said. “We absolutely have to take the right step and move away from that.”
Kalanchoe, 57, supports Inside Safe but believes it is not addressing the root causes of homelessness, particularly mental health and drug addiction. These issues, he said, are the responsibility of the county government, which has its own public health and mental health agencies.
Calanche said that to make real progress on those issues, the city should create its own public health department, similar to those found in Long Beach and Pasadena.
“A different approach is needed to address this issue,” he said.
Calanche, Claros, Grande and Robledo support Municipal Code 41.18, which prohibits the homeless from living within 500 feet of schools and daycare centers. That law allows the council to create 41.18 zones around “sensitive use” locations such as public libraries and freeway overpasses.
Hernandez is a longtime opponent of 41.18, calling it ineffective and inhumane. He has voted against dozens of 41.18 zones created by his colleagues in the San Fernando Valley, the Westside and South Los Angeles.
