LOS ANGELES, CA – As new data show homelessness rising in Los Angeles, local activist John Alle said Mayor Karen Bass has neglected her responsibility to address the issue and witness firsthand the crime, drug use and deteriorating conditions in some of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority released its 2026 annual homeless count Friday, finding overall homelessness increased 3.4% in LA and 1.2% across the Los Angeles Continuum of Care following two consecutive years of declines, though LAHSA said “neither change is considered statistically significant.”
The count estimated 45,194 people were experiencing homelessness in LA and 73,040 across the Continuum of Care, which excludes Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale.
“She doesn’t get it. She doesn’t see it,” John Alle, a Santa Monica business owner and co-founder of the Santa Monica Coalition who owns properties across Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital in an interview last month.
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“We’ve invited her numerous times to ride along with us through Alvarado, Third Street, Park View, MacArthur Park and Westlake. Come drive with us. Have a police officer follow behind for security. And she refused.”
The report also found street homelessness rose 7.9% in Los Angeles and 3.3% countywide, with an estimated 29,115 people living on the streets in the city. LAHSA said funding cuts affecting Time-Limited Subsidies and other economic factors reduced the number of people permanently housed by about 5,100 from the “record high of 28,625 people housed permanently in 2024.”
In a press release Thursday responding to the data, Bass argued funding cuts “at the federal and state levels” contributed to the rise, adding the Trump administration had “driven up the cost of gas, groceries, and rent — pushing more families to the edge — and slashed critical safety net funding.”
“For two years straight, we drove down homelessness by historic margins — but as expected, last year our efforts ultimately couldn’t keep up with policies and funding cuts at the federal and state levels that pushed more people onto the streets,” she said.
Bass also admitted in a May interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson that she did not fulfill her promise to end street homelessness in the city by 2026 because she “didn’t anticipate some of the bureaucratic barriers” her administration would face.
Alle said crime has “gotten so bad” in neighborhoods including Little Bangladesh, which Bass has previously described as one of “LA’s most vibrant communities.”
“In Little Bangladesh, the crime is so bad that we’re finding people on the streets unconscious,” he said. “We’re having handymen pick up needles and dispose of them.”
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Pointing to his tenants’ experiences, Alle said he sees the impact of the crisis every day on the “mom-and-pop” renters who live in his apartment buildings and pay thousands of dollars a month, saying “it doesn’t sit well with me.”
“From people overdosing outside the gated apartment buildings I own, to people attacking each other, murders, and calling 911 only to be put on hold for sometimes an hour, and then being told, ‘Well, you’re lucky. Sometimes it’s two hours,’” he said.
Alle accused Bass of ignoring neighborhood conditions despite living nearby at Getty House, the mayor’s official residence in Windsor Square.
“The streetlights are out,” he said. “The rubbish isn’t collected. The streets are dirty. It’s one thing to complain about copper wire theft, but we’re just talking about normal streetlights and replacing the bulbs.”
But it’s not just residents who are affected, according to Alle, who said small businesses are being forced to close early to avoid crime and making it harder to stay in the city.
“When I see them having to leave work at four o’clock, I see them having to close their businesses at four o’clock during the winter and at dusk during the summer,” he said. “That’s not good. I want them to succeed. If they don’t succeed, they can’t afford to stay in LA. I feel for them, and their problems are my problems.”
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Multiple studies have found that a large portion of homeless individuals in Los Angeles County aren’t originally from there and Alle has been vocal about how his coalition partnered with an artificial intelligence company to create an AI-powered hotline that has helped more than 40 homeless people return to their home states over the past year.
“They’ve called us from shelters,” he said. “They’ve called us from parks. The people calling aren’t entrenched with the drugs or the gangs. They came here for noble reasons.”
Additionally, Alle said his coalition collaborates with local law enforcement, paying for bus, plane or train tickets to help homeless people voluntarily return home, where they can reunite with family or enter treatment programs.
“We’re not gonna put them behind the slammer,” he said.
Alle said the most “heartbreaking” part is watching families embrace loved ones returning home, with many looking “completely different” after recovery.
“It’s a long road ahead, but they’re trying because they’ve seen hell in LA,” he said.
While acknowledging the program won’t end all homelessness, Alle said helping even a small number of people rebuild their lives is a victory.
“One person saved is great. Fifteen percent, and the 40 people we’ve saved, is tremendous,” he said.
Bass will face off against progressive City Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who has her own ties to the homeless crisis as chair of the Los Angeles City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, in her bid to win another term as mayor in November.
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