Los Angeles County supervisors voted 4-0 on Tuesday to lock in exactly how $69.5 million will be spent on housing assistance, jail diversion, job training and other programs designed to keep people out of custody. The money touches everything from motel vouchers for people facing homelessness to a long-promised step toward closing Men’s Central Jail.
The report lists figures including $12.1 million for housing assistance such as motel and other housing vouchers, $11.6 million for jail diversion including housing and services, and $10 million for job training. Community-based youth development programs and community-based restorative justice programs each received $8.3 million, while $4 million went to the Justice, Care and Opportunities Department’s rapid diversion program. The county also set aside $4.4 million for the Office of the Public Defender to run a court-based program connecting defendants with social workers and mental-health workers, and $2.6 million for the Department of Public Health’s substance-abuse prevention efforts. The listed figures, including $11 million toward the eventual closing of Men’s Central Jail, add up to $72.3 million, exceeding the stated $69.5 million total. The funding decision was initiated by Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer Joseph Nicchitta, according to the same report.
Measure J’s Rocky Road to This Vote
The spending plan exists because of Measure J, the 2020 ballot measure that 57% of county voters approved, according to the Los Angeles Times. The measure requires that at least 10% of the county’s locally generated, unrestricted revenue be steered toward alternatives to incarceration, covering investments in housing and jail diversion.
That requirement nearly vanished. The Times reports that ballot language tied to a 2024 measure, Measure G, had the unintended effect of repealing Measure J. County officials have since moved to fix the error through Measure E, which the Times notes would ensure Measure J remains in effect. Accounts differ on how supervisors first acted to protect the funding: LA Public Press reported that four supervisors voted in favor of the July motion and Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstained, while LAist reported a 4-0 vote on a measure meant to continue uninterrupted the county’s commitment to community investment and alternatives to incarceration.
Supervisors Defend the Approach
First District Supervisor Hilda Solis said the plan puts care first and jails last into practice by connecting people to treatment instead of custody, per the Daily News report. The outlet also noted that Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell raised concerns that a large amount of care-first, jails-last funding had gone unspent in the past…