City Council Fails to Vote on Homeless Funds

    Councilman Richard Alarcon walked out of a Los Angeles City Council meeting today, preventing his colleagues from voting on $18 million to fund the construction of permanent supportive housing for the chronically homeless.
    Amid the unexpected chaos, Councilman Paul Krekorian made a motion to have a police officer order council members to appear at the meeting so that there would be enough members available to vote on the issue.
   The City Council needed 10 members present to vote, but with Alarcon refusing to return, there were only nine members present.
   Krekorian later withdrew the motion to force a vote. By that point, several council members had packed up to leave.
   The vote was continued to next Tuesday's meeting.
   City staff had said it was necessary to approve the funds as soon as possible in order to increase the chances of getting more public funding -- money that other cities are also in a race to capture.
   The money would go toward getting at least 136 affordable homes for the chronically homeless built beyond downtown's "skid row" in various communities across the city.
   Prior to walking out, Alarcon had taken issue with an amendment proposed by Councilwoman Jan Perry to eliminate an incentive to affordable housing developers for building public restrooms, laundry rooms, storage facilities, and other communal structures in the neighborhoods where the homes would be built.
   Alarcon said the incentive should be kept, and that the homeless in his district would benefit from such facilities.
   Perry said such an incentive would make it less likely for some communities to accept permanent supportive housing, further derailing an already sensitive and controversial issue.
   When Alarcon returned briefly to the council chambers, Perry confronted him, asking "why don't you amend my motion ... so that you can get what you
wanted? Why not?"
   "It's not about what I wanted," she added. "I'm trying to meet you half way, so that you can get what you want ... so why don't you go back to the (microphone) and say something?"
   Alarcon responded that his district would actually "lose housing by virtue of being uncompetitive if we lose the incentive."
   After adding that the incentives should still apply for all districts with the exception of Perry's, Alarcon again walked from the chambers.
   Perry later told City News Service that she wanted to get rid of the incentive because "it would make projects much more controversial to locate in communities outside of skid row."
   "That's why there is such a high concentration of housing in skid row and not in other communities," she said.
   Perry said she "couldn't get inside" Alarcon's head about why he took off, but said his actions are "a waste of taxpayer money."
   "You are supposed to stay on the floor and argue and debate your point, and not walk out, (not) once but twice," she said.
   Alarcon was not immediately available to clarify his reasons for opposing the amendment, then leaving the council chambers.
   The non-vote came the morning after mayoral candidates Eric Garcetti and Wendy Greuel vowed during their first debate in the runoff race to end homelessness in Los Angeles.
   Garcetti -- a City Council member -- was not present when the Krekorian item came up. His schedule today indicated he had no public events to attend.
   Garcetti's campaign spokesman Jeff Millman said the councilman and Greuel "have been spending time away from City Hall to meet with L.A.
residents and discuss citywide issues."
   Garcetti's City Council staff keeps "in close contact with the Council President's office to set his schedule so that it does not affect quorum," Millman said. "Eric is also in constant contact with his office so that its policy and constituent services work carries on as usual."
   Garcetti and representatives from his City Council office were not immediately available for comment.
   City Controller Greuel does not take part in City Council meetings, and would not have been able to vote on the issue.
   Council President Herb Wesson and council members Paul Koretz and Bill Rosendahl also were absent from today's meeting.