LACO Briefs: US Mayors Convene in LA to End Homelessness and Fighting Hunger Through Office of Food Equity

U.S. Conference of Mayors’ National Convening in Los Angeles Raises National Momentum To End Homelessness

LOS ANGELES – Yesterday, Mayor Karen Bass, U.S. Conference of Mayors or USCM President Reno, Nevada Mayor Hillary Schieve and the U.S. Conference of Mayors Nov. 10 led a convening of mayors across the country in Los Angeles that raised national momentum to end homelessness. Mayors from across the country discussed ways to build on a national strategy to combat homelessness through legislative, regulatory and budgetary federal action. The convening included a tour of Skid Row and the Hilda Solis Care First Village in order to see the magnitude of the crisis as well as a successful example of eliminating barriers to building housing. Mayor Bass serves as the chair of the U.S. Conference of Mayors’ homelessness task force. 

Watch the press conference here. 

White House domestic policy advisor Neera Tanden announced that the Department of Housing and Urban Development or HUD issued a letter to public housing authorities regarding regulatory flexibilities to support their work to address homelessness, echoing Mayor Bass’s leadership on this important issue throughout cities across the country. Find the letter here.

Among other topics, the mayors discussed the need for additional federal support for housing vouchers, emergency rental assistance, and robust mental health and substance use treatment. In the coming months, the task force will prepare a national advocacy agenda and reconvene at the U.S. Conference of Mayors 92nd Winter Meeting in Washington D.C. in January 2024.

Participating mayors included Houston Mayor Sylvester Turner, Denver Mayor Mike Johnston, Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson, Eugene Mayor Lucy Vinis, San Bernardino Mayor Helen Tran, Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh, Santa Monica Mayor Gleam Davis, West Sacramento Mayor Martha Guerrero, Toledo, Ohio Mayor Wade Kapszukiewicz, Columbia, South Carolina Mayor Daniel Rickenmann, St. Louis Mayor Tishaura Jones, Youngstown Mayor Tito Brown, Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson, and Fontana Mayor Acquanetta Warren.

Supervisors Build on Effort to Fight Hunger with New Office of Food Equity

LOS ANGELES — The LA County Board of Supervisors Nov. 7 approved a motion authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn and co-authored by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath building on the county’s efforts to fight growing food insecurity in the region by establishing a new LA County Office of Food Equity.

Data shows that more than 1 million Los Angeles County households face food insecurity each year, with Black and Latino residents more than twice as likely to experience food insecurity. Food insecurity is also correlated by location with an insufficient number of grocery stores and food assistance programs located in the Antelope Valley, East Los Angeles, Southeast Los Angeles County, and South Los Angeles neighborhoods.

The Office of Food Equity will expand on the efforts of the Food Equity Roundtable created in 2021. The Food Equity Roundtable brought together the major food players – CBOs from the public, private, nonprofit and philanthropic partners in the county and created a strategic plan designed to help end food insecurity through modernizing the regional food system, building a smarter, more connected food system and bolstering nutrition education, among other strategies. 

The Office of Food Equity will lead the county’s share of the work to implement the strategic plan, including everything from updating zoning policies to encourage urban farming, to better supporting local food entrepreneurs, to preventing food waste, to improving access to nutrition assistance programs. Importantly, the Office of Food Equity will work with philanthropy and local nonprofits working outside county government on the larger effort to end hunger. 

The county’s chief executive office will report back to the board in 90 days regarding the new office’s structure, a staffing plan, as well as a public-private cost sharing budget.