LA voters criticize Karen Bass’ policies without knowing they’re hers: ‘A Band-Aid on the problem’

Many Los Angeles voters criticized the effectiveness of Mayor Karen Bass’ homelessness and policing policies when presented with her proposals, without being told which mayoral candidate supports them.

Bass faces widespread public dissatisfaction ahead of the November 3 mayoral election, when voters will choose between her and socialist challenger Nithya Raman. 

Angelenos expressed skepticism about whether the city should continue spending hundreds of millions of dollars moving homeless people off the streets and into temporary hotels while they wait for permanent housing, as part of Bass’ signature “Inside Safe” program. 

“I just don’t think a hotel is the proper place for homeless people,” said Val Villanueva. “A lot of them are dealing with mental issues. They’re going through withdrawals when they’re in these environments.

“I think we need to give them something a bit more structured… where there are support services readily available. More of like a recovery center or something like that. Something more focused on rehabilitation.”

Bass’ handling of homelessness is one major reason Villanueva is voting for mayoral challenger and LA City Councilmember Nithya Raman. 

“She’s not really handling the homeless situation. She’s just kind of moving them from place to place and doing so very violently. Police raids on homeless encampments. Just police generally harassing homeless people when, you know, they’re sleeping.”

He added, “I think the city’s become quite complacent. And it is just gradually on a decline.”

Adrian Guess said he supports spending taxpayer money on housing the homeless, if it also comes with “services like mental health, addiction, financial literacy education, because if you only give them housing, but you don’t do the other side, then you’re just putting a bandaid on the problem.” Guess is still an undecided voter. 

Amy Zhao opposes pouring money on the problem the way Bass has done. “I think that’s a lot of money to be spending, especially because I pay a lot taxes myself,” she said. “So I think there are better ways to manage the homelessness issue. I think throwing money at it is not necessarily the best way to go about it.” Zhao isn’t voting this year. 

When asked whether the next mayor should eventually expand the police force by around 1,000 or so officers — without knowing Bass is behind the plan — some Angelenos also felt it might be slapping a bandage on existing problems. 

“I don’t think right now the police force is being used efficiently. I feel like right now I’m seeing a lot — at least in the area that I’m at —

really a large misuse of how the police are like even just being placed,” Villanueva said. 

“I’m noticing a bit of aggression from them a lot of the time, which I think wouldn’t be remedied by, you know, adding 1,000 plus police officers. I don’t think we necessarily need more untrained officers. We need better trained officers.”

Caitlene Navalta said the city should focus on addressing the root cause of incidents requiring police presence, instead of only punishment. 

“For example, let’s say, like, you have some youth that are going through some problems that prompt people to call the police for,” she said. “You also got to think about, okay, well, why is the youth doing this? Like, do they have other resources they can turn to with their time?” Navalta declined to disclose who she’s voting for. 

Other Angelenos were generally supportive of investing in public safety, with strings attached. “I think the most important thing is just to have respect for everybody,” said Morgan Huang. 

“I think if they’re being responsible about how and who they’re hiring, I think there could be benefit in that,” Zhao chimed in. 

Guess added, “I support safety for sure and I think that police are part of that safety, but I do support where police are also paired with like mental health workers, homeless workers, like social services and such. So if you are going to expand with police, you also should expand in the other areas as well.” 

Voters we spoke to were generally more supportive of a couple policies we proposed from Raman, without knowing she was behind them – around increasing housing density and maintaining Airbnb restrictions in the city.  

When asked whether Los Angeles should allow duplexes, triplexes, and fourplexes in neighborhoods traditionally reserved for single-family homes, Lucas Robles said, “I think it might be a good idea because overpopulation in the world is a very common trend right now. I think we should probably build more vertically instead of horizontally.” Robles still hasn’t decided who he’s voting for. 

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Zhao added, “I can’t afford a house. So, like, honestly, if it brings down, like, the price of some of those properties, like, sure. I mean, I don’t see a problem with that.”

When asked whether Los Angeles should maintain restrictions that generally prohibit homeowners from using second properties as short-term rentals on platforms like Airbnb, Villanueva staunchly agreed. 

He said that greed is causing Airbnb to drift too far from its original mission: helping people rent out a spare bedroom. 

“It is kind of evolving into something very different where people are buying a bunch of houses and then they’re remodeling them for cheap and then they are just renting them out for so much,” he said. 

Guess agreed. “I feel like with the Airbnb housing, it does jack up the prices for people who live in the city,” he said. “You’ve got people turning more housing into more tourist spots and taking them away from local people who live here.”

However Robles disagreed. “I feel like if you have ownership over another home, I think you should be able to do what you want with that home. If that means renting it out to an Airbnb, I think you should be able to have power to do that,” he said.