Councilmember Rodriguez says emergency order has not increased housing production; votes no on quarterly report

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez (Seventh District) criticized Los Angeles's homelessness emergency order and voted against the mayor's quarterly report on its outcomes during the City Council meeting on Wednesday.

Rodriguez said the emergency declaration has not improved the city's ability to construct housing and that structural barriers remain. "Declaring it an emergency hasn't resolved in any expedited fashion what is at the root of some of the challenges that we face as a city," she said, adding that the city's housing shortfall "has grown by 5%." She urged a comprehensive departmental analysis of the emergency order's actual impact.

The comments were delivered during the council's consideration of the quarterly report about homelessness operations under the emergency order. Rodriguez argued that some programs the council has supported, such as CARE and vehicle-dwelling operations, were organized independently of the emergency order and that presenting their results as outcomes of ED1 overstates the declaration's effect.

"We have not created an environment that incents greater investment in housing development in the city of Los Angeles," Rodriguez said. She noted that ED1 allows expedited permits for temporary shelters and affordable housing but that rising construction and land costs, limited subsidy access and long project timelines continue to impede production. Rodriguez thanked Councilmembers McCosker and Grama for introducing a motion calling for a comprehensive analysis of city departments to determine what the emergency order actually delivers.

After discussion, the roll call on the quarterly report registered five ayes and one no. The clerk announced the vote as recorded.

Rodriguez said she will "continue to vote no on today's quarterly report" until the requested analysis is completed and informs whether the emergency order should remain in effect. She asked the Homelessness and Housing Committee to schedule a deep review of the order's impacts.

The record shows the council heard the report, received public comment earlier in the meeting, and recorded the roll call tally; no immediate policy change to ED1 was made on the floor that day.

Council President Marquis Herastas presided during the item and called the roll. The clerk and city departments were asked to provide the full analysis promised in pending motions.

Looking ahead, Rodriguez said she expects follow-up committee hearings to probe the emergency order's effects and to consider alternatives to simply renewing or "rubber stamping" the declaration.