As officials investigate what caused Los Angeles’ devasting fires, I know the answer. It was the homeless. The LA Fire Department reports that 54% of fires in 2023 were started by homeless. They responded to almost 14,000 fires that year alone related to homelessness!

Regardless of whether the Pacific Palisades fire was directly started by a homeless person, the extent of the destruction from the fire can be attributed to the homeless. A few months ago, a LA City Council person reported to me that she spends 80 percent of her time on LA’s homeless problem. Eighty percent! That does not leave much time to focus on the basic needs of the average tax paying LA resident, such as water, power, sanitation, safety, security, roads, sidewalks, traffic, parks, beaches, schools, firefighting and fire prevention. And when the mayor feels free to jet off to Ghana for a presidential inauguration on the other side of the globe, we cannot assume the other twenty percent of time is well spent.

In addition, the Council passed a budget for this year providing $1.3 Billion for homeless-related expenses. The same budget cut spending on the fire department by $17 million!

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The LA city council consists of about two thirds’ Democrats, one third Democrat Socialists of America (DSA), and zero Republicans. It uses the homeless problem as an excuse to implement its far-left agenda, which includes rent controls, tenant eviction protections, mansion taxes, free basic income, reparations, sanctuary laws, and free housing for all.

For the City’s leaders, basic services that most Angelenos care about, like firefighting, are at the bottom of their list of priorities.