Tomorrow, mayors across the United States will gather in Los Angeles for the U.S. Conference of Mayors National Convening, an initiative to spotlight and address the national homelessness crisis. Mayor Karen Bass of Los Angeles and Mayor Hillary Schieve of Reno, leaders of the initiative, are making efforts to align strategies and share best practices in tackling this nationwide problem, according to the Mayor Karen Bass official website.
Mayor Bass, the Chair of the Homelessness Task Force for the U.S. Conference of Mayors underlined the power of collaboration, stating, “When mayors unite around a common issue affecting all our cities, we can drive national change.” Reno Mayor and USCM President Hillary Schieve supported these sentiments, advocating for housing to become a top national priority.
The convening brought together mayors, nonprofit leaders, federal officials, and researchers working to comprehensively understand homelessness's complex dimensions. The White House Domestic Policy Advisor, Neera Tanden, will also be present at the event.
Mayors will also tour Skid Row to see the magnitude of the crisis and visit the Hilda L. Solis Care First Village to see a successful example of eliminating barriers to building temporary housing.
Tom Cochran, USCM CEO and Executive Director, asserts, “It's overdue for America to tailor a flexible national solution to meet local homelessness and housing insecurity needs.” He emphasizes that the government needs to allocate federal resources to develop and implement local solutions.
