Proposed L.A. County budget adds mental health workers, homelessness funding

Los Angeles County’s proposed budget for next year is about $1.4 billion less than last year, but it adds more mental health workers and increases funding to combat homelessness.

County Executive Fesia Davenport said Tuesday at the Board of Supervisors meeting that her $45.4 billion budget ensures the county can provide crucial security services while remaining financially solvent.

The budget recommends spending $728.2 million under Measure H to hire more homeless outreach workers, purchase motels and hotels, and lease entire buildings to quickly house residents who are transitioning out of the street.

Supervisor Janice Hahn said it was the largest amount the county has ever dedicated to “turning this crisis around.”

Justice advocates pushed back on the county’s funding priorities Tuesday, arguing that too much money goes to the Sheriff’s Department, whose recommended budget is nearly $4 billion.

These advocates and county leaders have been at odds for four years over how much the county should spend on Measure J, a 2020 criminal justice reform measure requiring money to be set aside for social services.

“While you have all proudly shared that the budget represents the values ​​of the board, I want to remind you all that you represent the people, and that the people have come forward time and time again to demand” that the money be withdrawn from law enforcement. and allocated to community programs, said Megan Castillo, policy and advocacy manager at the social justice nonprofit La Defensa.

Los Angeles County will potentially have to pay more than $3 billion to resolve about 3,000 claims of sexual abuse that allegedly took place in its foster homes, children’s shelters and camps and probation halls dating back to the 1970s. The state statute passed in 2019 extended the statute of limitations, opening the door to such claims.

There is no money in the proposed budget to pay those claims because the county is still evaluating when and how it will address the issue, Davenport said.

The budget could increase if there is money left over from the current fiscal year or if additional funds come from other sources later in the year.

Last year, officials presented a $43 billion budget, which was ultimately increased to $46.7 billion. The previous year, the proposed budget was $38.5 billion and increased to $44.6 billion.

That trajectory, however, is not guaranteed in the event of a dramatic financial downturn, county officials said.

Over the next two months, the county will hold public hearings on the budget, where supervisors can propose changes before voting on it in June.

If the proposed budget is approved, LA County will create 835 jobs for a total of 116,159 positions.

The county has negotiated new contracts with the majority of its unions, and represented employees will see a cost of living increase, Davenport said. No layoffs are expected.

More than half of the new jobs – 452 positions – will go to the county Department of Mental Health to manage the new CARE Court program, which allows families and others to seek care for people with mental health disorders. schizophrenic spectrum, and to increase numbers for the homeless. outreach teams and in county clinics.

Maria Macias shows a copy of the petition she filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court in Norwalk to provide a treatment plan for her husband, whose schizophrenia and drug use have put his life in danger and separated them.

(Mel Melcon / Los Angeles Times)

The agency has seen increased interest from applicants after struggling in recent years to attract those applicants to clinics known for their high numbers of seriously ill patients. The department offered money to pay student loans and other incentives that helped recruit more people, leaders said.

“I’m happy to see that we have 452 employees that are going to be brought into the mental health department, but we know that we could probably use 1,500,” said Supervisor Hilda L. Solis. “That’s probably what we really need.”

Davenport said the budget represents a set of choices, “sometimes very difficult,” made over the past several months after receiving thousands of individual requests and meeting with all 38 county departments.

County leaders asked for $2 billion of whatever money Davenport’s office could find to fund, she said. Its proposed budget recommends that the county fund $833 million of the requests in future fiscal years, leaving the remainder unfunded.

Property taxes make up about 20 percent of the county budget and can be used for essentially any purpose the supervisors deem appropriate. But much of the rest of the budget is limited by state and federal laws to specific programs, Davenport said.

“We cannot use, for example, Medicare dollars to fill potholes in our unincorporated areas, and we cannot redirect state funding from Project Homekey to support county commissions, which regardless of the magnitude of the need,” Davenport said.

As is often the case at county budget hearings, the decision not to fund raised several questions from supervisors.

Hahn said she was disappointed that the chief executive’s office declined to fund a request from the public defender’s office for 10 additional public defenders and 20 psychiatric social workers.

At the Hollywood Mental Health Courthouse, public defenders said they were assigned at least 500 cases each and were allegedly told by their boss to stop raising doubts about the capacity of their disordered clients. mentally ill to stand trial, according to a complaint filed by the union. Last year.

Hahn said that without more support, public defenders cannot identify clients with serious mental illnesses for diversion programs.

“What’s important about this request is that it clearly constitutes a net within our county’s safety net,” Hahn said.

Supervisor Lindsey P. Horvath said she wants to see $3 million added to the county budget to fund legal aid centers, which have brought outreach to thousands of tenants facing eviction.

Paralegal Alejandra Patlan, left, checks on Olga Sanchez, who is seeking legal services at the legal aid clinic at the Martin Luther King Jr. Outpatient Center in Los Angeles. Alongside them is lawyer Sheyda Joolharzadeh, on the far right.

(Jason Armond/Los Angeles Times)

“This is $3 million well spent for all the people we are able to prevent from falling into homelessness,” Horvath said.

But those requests have not been funded, in part because the county’s economic outlook is “challenging,” Davenport said during a press briefing Monday.

County officials expect property tax revenue to decline as interest rates climb and real estate transactions slow, Davenport said.

Four years into the COVID-19 pandemic, some Los Angeles commercial buildings remain empty as employees continue to work from home. It could also result in fewer taxes coming into county coffers, Davenport said.

California faces a budget shortfall of at least $38 billion, and Los Angeles County could lose $127 million due to the state’s deficit.

Another financial unknown is how much Los Angeles County will pay to address deplorable conditions in its jails. In the coming year, a judge could require the county to spend more money on mental health care and other services in the jails.

The county also must spend hundreds of millions to upgrade about 33 concrete buildings, including the Kenneth Hahn Hall of Administration, which is the supervisors’ headquarters and houses offices for several county departments.

Measure H’s quarter-cent sales tax approved in 2017, a major funding source for homeless services, will expire in 2027. If not extended or replaced, the county will lose millions .

Times staff writers Rebecca Ellis and James Queally contributed to this report.