I served as Los Angeles City Councilwoman for the residents of District 9 which includes Downtown, Little Tokyo, and South LA. During my 12-year tenure I led catalytic projects such as LA Live, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, and the new Police Administrative Building. I brought in $15 billion in investment, $52 million in net new tax revenue for the City of Los Angeles, and approximately 90,000 full-time jobs.
For nearly two decades, from inside and outside the system, I’ve continued to push for more housing. I’ve been the voice that said we’ve got to build more, we need to move faster to get people off the street and into emergency, transitional and permanent housing. As councilwoman, I built 5670 units with great urgency. I have the knowledge to continue to respond in the midst of a crisis that is still ongoing. I can do much more.
I have always seen the homeless challenge as multifaceted. It is a public health, mental health service, human resource, housing, and a basic human rights challenge both for the homeless and those coping with the issue.
Most importantly it is a countrywide issue. For us to impact the homeless population it is going to take a huge effort that must include full government engagement in the issue. As one of the greatest examples of expedited construction, The Star Apartments, was built on top of an existing county building. Site control was made quicker. Through means of traditional and non traditional construction techniques the building was constructed and ready for occupancy in record time. Portions of the building were constructed offsite in a modular fashion and then brought to the location at 6th and Wall and put in place.