LOS ANGELES—Sprawling homelessness is the primary issue for residents in Los Angeles’s Council District 11, which encompasses the neighborhoods of Venice, Playa del Rey, Brentwood, Pacific Palisades, Mar Vista, Westchester, Ladera, and Sawtelle.
Eight candidates are vying to succeed Los Angeles City Councilman Mike Bonin, who announced in January he wouldn’t seek reelection, citing mental health issues.
Bonin came under fire from some constituents for his handling of homelessness issues in his district, including that he is one of two council members who voted against a new citywide anti-camping ordinance and for embracing what is known as a “Housing First” model, which means providing a homeless person with housing as quickly as possible to help stabilize them before addressing other issues such as drug or alcohol addiction or mental illness.
Traci Park
Currently leading the pack is Traci Park, who has raised just over $350,000 in campaign donations through April 23. Park, who has been a Venice resident since 2015, is a registered Democrat. She’s running on ending encampments and restoring public safety.According to her campaign website, if elected, Park plans to increase mental health and substance abuse services to Angelenos suffering from addiction on the streets, and “adopt a policy of compassionate enforcement.”
Park also says she plans to increase the budget of what she calls “safety partners,” meaning private security teams, across the district.
Keeping track of the homeless, Park says, is critical to making progress on the district’s homelessness crisis, especially with what’s known as “by-name” data, which allows providers to track the homeless based on their personal profiles.
“Like all of us, unhoused people have very different needs. [Such] data lets us know exactly who needs what help, which allows for better planning and realignment of resources to address unmet or underserved needs,” her website reads.
Allison Holdorff Polhill
Candidate Allison Holdorff Polhill’s top issues are also addressing homelessness and restoring public safety.She said if elected, like the other candidates, she would prioritize enforcing local anti-camping ordinances to ensure the safety of residents, while supporting community programs in each neighborhood that will address specific needs of the homeless.
“We need to prevent homelessness by allocating resources and providing opportunities to learn employable skills. We have resources from the federal and state government to address our housing shortage,” Polhill said on her website.
Polhill, who has raised about $275,000 in the race, added that since voters in 2016 passed Measure HHH—a $1.2 billion bond to create 10,000 permanent supportive housing units in Los Angeles—“the city generates hundreds of millions of dollars a year to build housing, but too many projects are stuck in City Hall’s bureaucratic approvals process.”
Cutting regulations and municipal red tape that delay the construction of permanent supportive housing units will incentivize developers to build faster interim units, she said.
To improve public safety, she said she would increase Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) patrol units by “civilianiz[ing] office jobs [putting] hundreds of officers on the street.”
Polhill, who recently served as chief adviser and district director to the vice president of the Los Angeles Unified School District, has been endorsed by more than a dozen elementary school teachers from Walgrove Elementary School, Topanga Canyon Elementary School, and Playa del Rey Elementary School.
Greg Good
Attorney Greg Good, who also is president of the city’s Board of Public Works, is prioritizing housing, public safety, and mental health.Good, a Democrat, plans to hire a “Chief of Homelessness” for the district who would conduct quarterly homeless counts.
He also supports enforcing anti-camping ordinances around schools, parks, and the Ballona Wetlands.
To streamline mental health services, Good said he will ensure that the city and the county—which oversees the city’s mental health services—are working together so the city can receive more addiction services.
He additionally proposes paying the LAPD overtime for responding to drug dealing and trafficking calls.
In the Venice area, he said he would “advocate equally strongly for six to eight additional Park Rangers to be hired and assigned to Venice Oceanfront Walk and surrounding CD11 park communities.”
Mike Newhouse
Business owner, attorney, and 26-year Venice resident Mike Newhouse runs his own law firm, which represents small businesses in the area. His top issues in the race include homelessness and transportation.“On Day 1 of taking office, January 9, 2023, we will issue 30-Day notices to clear ALL encampments in the entire District,” his website reads. “During the month-long period of intensive and constant outreach to move people off the streets and into shelter, interim or permanent housing we will clearly communicate that all no-camping ordinances will be enforced at the end of that time.”
He says “excessive use of personal vehicles” causes hours of traffic, and that he’ll work to improve road congestion and would invest in more options for public transportation, such as protected bike lanes, trains, buses, or trams.
He has raised just over $180,000, according to the most recent campaign filings.
Jim Murez
Venice Neighborhood Council President Jim Murez, who has raised just over $100,000, according to the most recent data available, also is running on addressing homelessness and public safety.Murez believes “Housing First” policies “have shown time and time again to not prevent people from occupying our public spaces.”
“This has cost taxpayers tens of millions of dollars, and we see the results today, that our city is in shambles,” his website says.
As an alternative, Murez says he plans to enforce anti-camping laws and create what are known as Transitional Service Centers, which he defines as locations away from residential neighborhoods and retail commercial corridors where homeless people can camp legally.
Erin Darling
Civil rights attorney and Venice resident Erin Darling is running on a progressive platform to expand affordable housing and opposes anti-camping ordinances.He has received just over $55,000 in donations, according to campaign filings.
Darling supports the “Housing First” model to address homelessness in the district by increasing renter protections and speeding the development of permanent supportive housing units.
Like Newhouse, Darling also is an advocate for creating alternative transportation options to reduce personal vehicle usage across the district.
Mat Smith
Westchester native and Army veteran Mat Smith is the only conservative on the ballot, running on returning “conservative values to CD 11.”Smith is running on expanding homeless shelters and providing housing to those who “earn it.”
“We’ll ... start the process of building low cost, transitional shelters to be located away from residential neighborhoods and near industrial and appropriate commercial zones,” his website says.
About public safety, Smith says he seeks to “refund” LAPD officers and expand patrolling units across the district.
Midsanon ‘Soni’ Lloyd
Midsanon “Soni” Lloyd, a teacher for nearly two decades, refers to himself as an “anti-imperialist activist.”His website touts “tax the billionaires” and “invest in the people.” He supports the expansion of permanent supportive housing, “economic justice,” and “reparations for communities targeted by racist governance.”
He has no campaign filings listed as of May 16.
The primary election is on June 7. A candidate that receives more than 50 percent of the vote will automatically win the seat. Otherwise, the two top vote-getters will advance to the November general election.
