Bass leads summit addressing poverty & affordability across Los Angeles
Los Angeles Mayoral Candidate Karen Bass yesterday joined more than 200 leaders from government, philanthropy and community organizations at the 2026 Making LA Affordable for All: A Summit on Equity, Access, and Economic Stability, hosted by the City’s Community Investment for Families Department (CIFD).
The summit’s purpose was to promote solutions addressing poverty, housing instability, and economic inequity across Los Angeles. More than 600,000 Angelenos live in poverty and Bass is committed to creating a more coordinated and accessible system to deliver services more effectively to Angelenos in need.
“For too long, poverty has limited opportunity for hundreds of thousands of Angelenos,” said Bass. “Housing instability, food insecurity, and widening wealth gaps are interconnected, and our response must be just as connected. This Summit is about bringing together strong partnerships to turn commitment into action. Together, we will take decisive steps to expand opportunity and make Los Angeles more equitable for all.”
The Summit focused on policy reform, homelessness prevention, tenant protections, and promoting economic development and living-wage job pathways. At Bass’ direction, the CIFD, the Youth Development Department, the Department of Aging, and the Economic and Workforce Development Department will work together as a new Community Investment Department to create a more accessible system for Angelenos.
Nithya Raman touts single citywide system of unarmed crisis legislation
Los Angeles City Councilmember and mayoral candidate Nithya Raman (D-all or parts of Silver Lake to Los Feliz to the Hollywood Hills, Sherman Oaks to Encino, and parts of Studio City, Van Nuys, Reseda) touted in her weekly newsletter legislation that she introduced last March to create a single citywide system of unarmed crisis response that would result in greater usage, more calls being diverted, cost savings to our public safety system, and a safer Los Angeles.
A recent study shows that unarmed crisis response teams provided more appropriate care to people in crisis and freed up thousands of hours of LAPD time to focus on traditional law enforcement work, including impactful investigative work targeting crime rings, Raman wrote.
Right now, there are two separate unarmed response programs covering parts of the city: CIRCLE and UMCR, and these programs have demonstrated their effectiveness. In this last budget cycle, the City expanded UMCR, however, many parts of the City are still left without this coverage and the City is still operating two similar programs rather than one unified program that operates city-wide. In practice, this means that large parts of the City still have no unarmed response coverage whatsoever, and because these programs are fragmented, many residents don’t even know they exist or how they work!
“I am pleased to report that my motion was approved unanimously in full Council last week! The City Administrative Officer, with assistance from the Chief Legislative Analyst, has now been instructed to report back on the optimal pathway to create a single city-wide program for unarmed crisis response, including an evaluation of how a consolidated program could impact emergency dispatch operations, response times, service coverage, and overall system effectiveness, as well as expected budgetary impacts, including potential cost savings,” wrote Raman.
Elhawary floats legislation to protect access to lifesaving care
Assemblymember Sade Elhawary (D-South and Downtown Los Angeles), in collaboration with Voters of Tomorrow California, announced yesterday new legislation (AB 2318) aimed at establishing clear accountability standards for law enforcement’s management of emergency medical access.
AB 2318 seeks to amend Section 832.11 of the California Penal Code to require law enforcement officers to facilitate timely access to emergency medical care once a scene is secure. The bill establishes clear protocols for officers, accountability measures when care is denied or delayed, and training requirements to prevent avoidable injury or death while an individual is under law enforcement control.
“Far too many individuals have died at the hands of ICE in this year alone. We saw what happened to Renee Nicole Good and how medical treatment was consistently denied for no logical reason. This bill is a critical step in increasing transparency regarding access to medical treatment at the scene of incidents, while making it easier for medical professionals to provide lifesaving interventions,” said Elhawary.
“Renee Good’s killing was a sobering moment of reckoning for America. It exposed not only the fear and harm that current immigration enforcement practices have inflicted on our communities, but also a profound failure of our system,” said Dzian Tran, co-executive director of VOT CA. “For critical moments, Renee Good did not receive medical attention. That must never happen again. It is time for states to act and to send a message that no authority operating on our soil can deny lifesaving care with impunity.”
Learn more about AB 2318 here.
Irwin, Harabedian urge immediate federal disaster aid for LA County fire recovery
Assemblymembers Jacqui Irwin (D-Thousand Oaks, Calabasas, Agoura Hills, Hidden Hills, Westlake Village) and John Harabedian (D-Pasadena, Altadena, Sierra Madre, Monrovia) yesterday announced the introduction of Assembly Joint Resolution 27 (AJR 27), calling on the President of the United States and Congress to act swiftly to deliver critical federal disaster relief funding for communities devastated by the 2025 Palisades and Eaton fires.
AJR 27 calls upon the President to immediately submit a supplemental disaster funding request to Congress to unlock long-term recovery resources. The resolution also calls on Congress to approve supplemental aid for Los Angeles County, regardless of whether the President submits a formal request.
While initial federal assistance was made available following a major disaster declaration by then President Joeseph Biden, and California committed more than $2.5 billion in bipartisan state relief signed by Gavin Newsom, the scale of destruction requires substantial supplemental federal support to fully rebuild homes, schools, businesses, and infrastructure.
In February 2025, Governor Newsom formally requested nearly $39.7 billion in federal disaster funding, later revising the request to approximately $33.9 billion to reflect costs already covered. Those funds would support debris removal, housing and infrastructure repair, business assistance, tax relief, fire mitigation, and other essential recovery efforts.
Fire survivors are now facing the expiration of mortgage forbearance periods, adding urgency to the need for federal action.
“American families who were devastated by the Palisades and Eaton fires are facing the end of mortgage forbearance and the long road to rebuilding and recovery deserves certainty, support, and immediate action,” said Irwin. “Assembly Joint Resolution 27 makes clear that the people of Los Angeles County can wait no longer for the federal support they need to recover. These unprecedented disasters destroyed thousands of homes, displaced nearly 192,000 residents, and deeply impacted entire communities. California has stepped up with significant emergency funding, but the scale of this destruction requires a true federal partnership. We call on the President to immediately submit a supplemental disaster funding request to Congress and ask that Congress approve this critical aid without delay or conditions.”
AJR 27 reflects the unified support of California’s bipartisan congressional delegation and underscores the Legislature’s commitment to ensuring Los Angeles County receives the federal resources necessary for a full and equitable recovery.
