L.A. City – Four candidates challenge Eunisses Hernandez in L.A. District 1, arguing over homelessness strategies, costs, and Inside Safe transparency.
A battle over homelessness policy is at the center of the L.A. City Council District 1 race, where Eunisses Hernandez faces four challengers arguing she has not delivered enough progress.
Across the district. the challengers say Hernandez’s approach has fallen short on efforts to reduce visible homelessness and improve safety in neighborhoods such as Chinatown and Lincoln Heights.. Robledo. one of the challengers. criticized what he described as a lack of meaningful movement on encampments. and also said he would work to end the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. the city-county agency overseeing shelter and interim housing programs.
This matters because District 1’s homelessness agenda has become a proxy for a wider debate in Los Angeles over whether interim housing and encampment clearings are the right first steps, or whether the city should shift resources and governance to target underlying causes.
Hernandez, a longtime incumbent, counters with a record she says focuses on housing placement and service expansion.. She has emphasized a state grant she helped secure to support housing for people living in or near the Arroyo Seco riverbed. and she points to efforts tied to additional interim housing in parts of the district.. She also cites work to expand services near MacArthur Park.
At the heart of the campaign is Inside Safe. Mayor Karen Bass’ city program aimed at clearing encampments and providing services.. Hernandez supports Inside Safe but says she wants greater clarity on how program funds are spent.. The other challengers who back Inside Safe say the program is too costly and needs changes. while Claros is the only candidate who opposes it outright and argues it should not receive additional funding.
The disagreement over Inside Safe reflects a larger question voters are likely to weigh: not just what policies exist, but how they are evaluated, priced, and adjusted when results do not satisfy residents.
The candidates also draw lines on what should be targeted and who should be responsible.. Calanche supports Inside Safe but argues that it does not address root causes of homelessness. including mental health and drug addiction.. In her view. those areas fall largely under county responsibilities. and she has called for the city to create its own public health department similar to models in other Southern California cities.
Another issue dividing the field is Municipal Code 41.18, a city rule that prohibits homeless encampments near schools and daycare centers.. Grande, Robledo, Claros, and Calanche back 41.18 and its framework for creating protected “zones” around sensitive locations.. Hernandez, by contrast, has long opposed 41.18 and has voted against many proposed zones in the past.
For voters, the race may come down to competing definitions of accountability: whether success is measured by clearing encampments, expanding interim beds, strengthening public health capacity, or restricting where encampments can persist.