Bass takes charge as Mayor of Los Angeles amid homeless crisis

UPDATE: In a 9 a.m. news conference Monday, newly inaugurated Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass officially declared a state of emergency on homelessness.

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Karen Ruth Bass, a former physician assistant who shattered glass ceilings with her rise to a leadership post in the California legislature and later a prominent spot in Congress, took a ceremonial oath of office Sunday as mayor of Los Angeles.

A progressive Democrat, Bass becomes the first woman and second Black person to hold the city's top job and will formally assume her duties Monday amid multiple crises in the nation's second most populous city.

In her first act as mayor, Bass will declare a state of emergency on the homeless crisis that has plagued the city for years now. She plans to do so first thing Monday morning at a press conference at 9 a.m. 

She was sworn in ceremonially by Vice President Kamala Harris, a longtime friend and former California attorney general. The formal oath was administered privately by the city clerk.

Bass will be tasked with easing rising crime rates, restoring trust in a City Hall shaken by racism and corruption scandals and addressing the issue of over 40,000 people living in trash-strewn encampments or rusty RVs that have spread into virtually every neighborhood.

Striking a tone of unity, Bass said the many, disparate arms of government must come together to confront homelessness.

To move in a new direction "we must have a single strategy" that brings together government, the private sector and other stakeholders," Bass said, speaking in a downtown theater near City Hall.

She said if people link arms rather than point fingers, lives will be saved. She called that "my mission" as mayor.

She also urged residents to become involved in city government, echoing John F. Kennedy's presidential inaugural address in which he said, "Ask not what your country can do for you –- ask what you can do for your country."

"I call on the people of our city to not just dream of the L.A. we want, but to participate in making the dream come true," Bass said.

Bass — who was on President-elect Joe Biden's short list for vice president — claimed the post last month after overcoming more than $100 million in spending by rival Rick Caruso, a billionaire developer and Republican-turned-Democrat who campaigned as a centrist and promised a strong emphasis on public safety.

Caruso would have represented a turn to the political right for the heavily Democratic city. Bass swayed voters by arguing she would be a coalition builder to help heal a troubled city of nearly 4 million.

"We are going to build a new Los Angeles," Bass had promised at an election night rally. "If we just focus on bringing people inside, comprehensively addressing their needs, and moving them to permanent housing with a way to pay their bills, we will save lives and save our city. That is my mission as your mayor."

Bass, 69, ran as the consensus pick of the Democratic establishment and was endorsed by Biden, former President Barack Obama and former first lady and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.

Despite her close ties with the Democratic political community, she has described herself as a change agent who plans to declare a state of emergency on her first day in office to deal with homelessness. She has signaled she will seek to marshal "all of the resources, all of the skills, the knowledge, the talent of the city" to get homeless people into housing.

Details on the emergency order have yet to emerge, though she has said she intends to get over 17,000 homeless people into housing in her first year through a mix of interim and permanent facilities.

Some believe that while the plan reads well on paper, it's much more difficult than it sounds. 

"We are under siege by a tsunami wave of homeless that we alone can't handle," said Andy Bales. "We need to ask for help."

Bale is the President and CEO of Union Rescue Mission, a nonprofit looking to help those experiencing homelessness however possible. 

"This is a FEMA-like crisis and it needs a FEMA-like response," he said. "I was thrilled that she indicated to the federal government, to the state government, to the county government that she will be calling on them for help, because this is gonna take a lot of humility from our mayor and all of us."

By declaring the state of emergency, Bass is now able to acquire federal assistance and cut some steps out of the usual process it would take to get a large amount of people housed. 

"It empowers Karen Bass to say, 'We are facing a humanitarian crisis. We can't use our normal procedures, it's not time for our normal safeguards,'" said Jessica Levinson, Loyola Marymount University Professor of Law.

She warns that the people have good reason to be cautious when it comes to the declaration as well. 

"Whenever our elected officials say, 'I can't go through the normal process, I have to do something that gives me more power,' that's not necessarily inappropriate, but it is something we need to watch and try and not make a habit," she said.

Bales is also cautiously optimistic, noting that he thinks the process could simply take too long. 

"I want to get people inside immediately," he said, stating that the steps to acquire and develop large housing units for the homeless avoids the immediate issues within the crisis — the need for triage, mental health and addiction recovery. 

Still, he said that the step in the right direction is enough to garner his support for Los Angeles's newest mayor. 

"I have hopes because Mayor Karen Bass was out searching for prefab homes, two or three hundred square feet with a bathroom and a kitchen," he said. "If that's the kind of housing placed in recovery communities that she has in mind, that's a good strategy."