LOS ANGELES –  The Los Angeles City Council voted Wednesday to place a $1.2 billion bond measure before voters to raise money to fight homelessness.

The council voted 14-0 to put a measure on the November ballot to provide a decade’s worth of money for shelters, permanent housing, drug and alcohol treatment and mental health services to the homeless. It also would provide affordable housing to poor people in danger of becoming homeless, ranging from the elderly to battered women and their children.

Los Angeles is struggling to deal with a surging homeless population, now estimated at 27,000.

“Every night in Los Angeles, tens of thousands of Angelenos — men, women, children, veterans, and seniors — sleep on our streets,” Mayor Eric Garcetti said in a statement praising the council decision. “This crisis is pervasive, it endangers public health and stifles economic prosperity.”

“As we continue working on regional solutions with state and county officials, we must seize this moment — and we’ll need everyone’s help,” the mayor said.

The cost of repaying the bonds would fall on property owners, who on average would pay an extra $40 to $80 a year in taxes, according to city estimates….read more here