Rampant homelessness is on the rise again in Los Angeles, and according to Mayor Karen Bass, it’s all President Donald Trump’s fault.
Homeless numbers in the city increased 3.4 percent according to the most recent yearly count, several news outlets reported Friday, with 45,194 people without a stable residence in the city and roughly 72,000 countywide.
This despite some $3 billion spent each year on homeless programs in the city and county to address the problem, the California Post reported.
The 3.4 percent increase includes people living in shelters. When the number of people sleeping outside in tents, encampments or in vehicles, the increase climbs to 7.9 percent from last year.
The increase follows two years of modest declines hailed by the mayor during her primary run for reelection.
Trevor Morgan, 38 years old and homeless, sits with his belongings on S. Beaudry Ave. near Wilshire Blvd. in Los Angeles on Wednesday, July 22, 2026. Morgan has been living on the street for five years. (Hans Gutknecht, Los Angeles Daily News/SCNG)
Evoking a ubiquitous Democratic talking point, Bass blamed President Trump and his administration for driving the city’s numbers higher.
“The Trump Administration has driven up the cost of gas, groceries and rent, pushing more families to the edge, and slashed critical safety net funding,” Bass said in a statement Thursday, according to KTLA.
She claimed the administration cut federal housing assistance by 50% last year, stripping the city of $70 million.
“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,” the mayor said.
Spencer Pratt, her unsuccessful primary opponent, built his campaign on cleaning up the encampments and addressing a problem he alleged had nothing to do with a housing shortage or the price of rents.
“Los Angeles doesn’t have a homelessness problem,” Pratt said repeatedly during the campaign. “We have a DRUG problem. The DEA will tell you that over 90% of the homeless population in LA are hardcore illicit drug users.”
Pratt sarcastically called the new statistics a “shocker.”
Bass, however, has taken a different approach.
According to KTLA:
When she took office in 2022, Bass made homelessness her top priority, launching the $250 million Inside Safe program to move unhoused residents into temporary and eventually permanent housing.
In the years since, however, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has been hit with scathing audits and investigations that found major gaps in oversight and accountability for how the funds are spent.
The mayor didn’t try to defend the shoddy accounting.
“Audits and the courts have now made plain what too many Angelenos already saw: the money wasn’t tracked, providers went unpaid, and public trust eroded,” Bass said. “I’m not going to defend a broken system.”
She continued, “The city must build something better, results-driven, transparent and centered around the people we’re trying to help, not the bureaucracy.”
Bass insists she has made progress, saying 6,000 people have been relocated from the streets to interim housing and more than 120 encampments have been cleared.
The mayor said overall homelessness remains down 11% since 2023.
Several news outlets have reported that the increase could impact Bass’ reelection bid as she faces far-left Los Angeles City Councilwoman Nithya Raman in November’s general election.
Breitbart contributor Lowell Cauffiel is the best-selling author of the Los Angeles crime novel Below the Line and nine other crime novels and nonfiction titles. See lowellcauffiel.com for more
