L.A. Homeless Crisis Could Dent Mayor Eric Garcetti's Presidential Hopes

Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is openly considering a presidential run — so much so that Politico recently called him “the least coy of any prospective 2020 Democratic presidential contender.”

This week, Garcetti — who was re-elected last year with over 80% of the vote — revealed plans to visit Iowa. But his political ambitions could be held back by one of the most glaring failures of his administration: the recent surge in homelessness on L.A.’s streets.

In his second State of the City” address in 2015, Garcetti promised to “end veterans homelessness in Los Angeles.” He declared a “state of emergency” on homelessness as the city bid (successfully) for the Summer Olympic Games (which it will host in 2028). He pledged $100 million in additional funding to tackle the homelessness crisis. In his third “State of the City” address, delivered the following year, Garcetti vowed: “Homelessness is, and has to be, our top priority — after all, lives are on the line.” He convinced voters to pass Measure H in 2017, which raised sales taxes 0.25% to provide hundreds of millions of dollars per year towards fighting homelessness in the county.

But Garcetti’s efforts have largely failed, as the Los Angeles Times noted in a blistering article on homelessness Thursday:

The growth of a homeless day camp at the halls of civic power speaks to the breadth of Los Angeles’ burgeoning homelessness problem.

The number of those living in the streets and shelters of the city of L.A. and most of the county surged 75% — to roughly 55,000 from about 32,000 — in the last six years.

…

The problem has only gotten worse since Mayor Eric Garcetti took office in 2013 and a liberal Democratic supermajority emerged in 2016 on the county Board of Supervisors.

Tent cities stretch from the Antelope Valley desert to the Santa Monica coast, with stopovers in unlikely communities — even Bel-Air, where a homeless cooking fire was implicated in December’s Skirball fire.