Los Angeles County

regulators increased the pressure on Tuesday

Head of the

the county’s homeless initiative and other county leaders to take faster action in clearing RV camps and rehousing those residents.

The Supervisory Board in January

passed a homelessness emergency proclamation

and demanded that key departments come together to urgently address a crisis that has only become worse and more complicated. The move followed a similar statement from Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass.

But it was clear on Tuesday that supervisors felt department heads had not acted with a sense of urgency. They were openly dismayed by reports of department leaders still operating in silos, a longstanding struggle of the vast bureaucracy charged with governing America’s largest county.

Board Chair Janice Hahn pointed to Hurricane Hilary and how city and county officials had set up a “war room” at the emergency operations center and were sending hourly updates. All staff were on high alert if the worst happened, she said.

The January proclamation, Hahn said, was intended to signal to county leaders that supervisors wanted the same sense of urgency to address homelessness.

“If 70,000 people were displaced because of one

floor, flood,

… a hurricane, an earthquake, a hurricane quake, it would be all hands on deck until all those people had a roof over their heads,” said Hahn, whose 4th District includes Long Beach and several cities in southeast L.A. District .

Last September, supervisors asked several departments to develop a 36-month plan to address RV encampments in LA County. Supervisors wanted county workers to move at least 500 people into RVs annually and dismantle at least 900 non-functioning RVs during the pilot program.

But it took 11 months for county employees to do so

reach their first encampment

. In August, as part of the county’s new Pathway Home housing program, county workers went to an RV camp in unincorporated Lennox to clean it up and house its 59 residents.

County Chief Executive Fesia Davenport, who oversees the county’s $44 billion budget, said one reason these things take so long is a matter of authority. Even if supervisors create a homelessness initiative with an executive director, that person does not have the authority to direct department heads to act.

“So what happens is they meet again and again [with department heads]and it becomes a negotiation, and I understand that collaboration is helpful and necessary, but sometimes you need the decision maker to make the decision,” Davenport said.

Cheri Todoroff, who has served as executive director of the county’s Homeless Initiative for about two years, said finding vacant lots

for house

Once residents’ RVs are persuaded to leave them, it has been a huge challenge.

But supervisors responded that they did not want the campers to be rescued.

Supervisor Kathryn Barger, whose 5th District includes Santa Clarita and the Antelope Valley, said that when supervisors previously called for action against RV camps, they did not want those vehicles transported to a tow yard where someone could buy and rent them. again, citing the increasing issue of “vanlords” renting out RVs to the homeless.

Barger asked if the county could offer gift cards to purchase RVs from residents who did

claim that their camper is worth something, and

doesn’t want to move

of it

.

“We have to come up with creative solutions so we can tow them away and destroy them,” Barger said.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell said her second district, which includes the beach cities of Inglewood and Compton, has the most RVs (2,000) of the estimated 7,000 in the county.

Other supervisors’ districts have cities

That

“

WHO

are dealing with the situation very simply by posting “no parking” signs,” prompting RV residents to move to unincorporated areas like East Gardena in Mitchell’s district.

This has created significant waste and sanitation issues that residents and business owners have had to deal with for too long, Mitchell said.

“I am clear that my community is at a very dangerous tipping point,” Mitchell said.

Supervisor Hilda Solis agreed she heard the same thing

talk.rhetoric.

“I’ve never seen so much disgust” from residents, Solis said.