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Community groups press Board to fund Market Match, immigrant legal aid, rent relief and TGI housing supports
Summary
During a 75-minute public comment period, dozens of speakers urged the Board to fund Market Match and other food programs, expand Represent L.A. legal services, create a permanent rent-relief program and invest in TGI-targeted homelessness prevention and services.
Hundreds of public commenters joined the Board's June 22 special meeting; the record includes dozens of on-the-record one-minute remarks from community organizations urging budget changes.
Speakers representing Farm Habit, Hunger Action LA, Los Angeles Food Policy Council and other groups asked the Board to fund a package of food and nutrition programs that advocates quantified as roughly $37 million (including Market Match, CalFresh Healthy Living and immigrant food justice vouchers). Commenters warned federal eligibility changes are already pushing residents into food insecurity and said local bridge funding can reduce later health-care costs.
Immigrant-rights groups and the Represent L.A. coalition asked the Board to fully fund Represent L.A. at $8.5 million, create a permanent countywide rent-relief program and consider a guaranteed-basic-income pilot for immigrant seniors excluded from federal assistance.
Trans Latina Coalition speakers and TGI advocates requested $20 million for homelessness prevention targeted to TGI, immigrant and system-impacted residents, and asked for direct funding to community-led organizations and culturally competent services.
County staff and the CEO responded by describing one-time or bridge funding in the final-changes package for some programs and noting that supplemental budget phases offer opportunities to program additional state or grant dollars. The Board did not adopt the full community-requested funding packages at the meeting; supervisors acknowledged the urgency and directed staff to continue evaluating options for the supplemental budget.
