Rep. Katie Hill (D., Calif.) commented on Los Angeles homelessness during an appearance on Fox 11 News on Tuesday, saying the government programs put in place "are working."
"We knew homelessness is a huge problem that's been decades in the making and it's not going to be solved overnight, but we have to do something. I think about it in the same way that I think about climate change and wildfires. We have to deal with the problem that we're facing right now which is people, tens of thousands of people who are sleeping on the streets, but we also have to address the systemic factors that are causing homelessness and we have not really been able to address those problems," Hill said.
Hill cited measures taken by the city to address immediate needs, but noted "massive issues related to overall housing affordability, to income inequality, to the fact that people are living just a paycheck away from losing their housing, and that more people are becoming homeless than we're able to get out of homelessness."
"So I think that hopefully it's a wake up call to people that, yes, the programs we've put in place are working, we are housing more people than we ever have before, but we have to do more and part of that needs to be commitment coming from our federal government," Hill continued.
.@RepKatieHill reacts to new #'s showing homelessness up 16% in L.A. city & 12% in L.A. County.
"This is hopefully a wake up call that our programs are working and we're housing more people than ever before. But we have to do more!"
Hill once ran the non-profit @pathpartners. pic.twitter.com/8ggQ0NPVOR
— Elex Michaelson (@Elex_Michaelson) June 5, 2019
Host Elex Michaelson asked if the homelessness crisis represents a failure of Democratic politics given that California, Los Angeles County, and the city of Los Angeles are controlled by Democratic politicians.
"No, not at all," Hill replied. "I have to give so much credit to our political leaders right now in the city and county of Los Angeles who have taken this on. It takes a lot of courage. We knew from the very beginning that taking on the issue of homelessness, no matter what you do, it doesn't matter how much money you put into it, you will not solve homelessness in a short period of time."
The number of homeless people in the city of Los Angeles jumped by 16 percent in the past year. It increased by 12 percent in Los Angeles County.