Bass says tools from 2022 order now permanent; Inside Safe, ED1 to continue without special powers
Mayor Karen Bass on Tuesday formally ended the city’s local emergency on homelessness, nearly three years after declaring it on her first day in office, citing two straight years of reduced street counts and the codification of key programs.
In a letter to the City Council, Bass wrote that the Dec. 5, 2022, declaration is no longer needed because its main tools — expedited contracting, the Inside Safe interim-housing program and Executive Directive 1 (ED1) — are now embedded in city operations or on track to become permanent ordinances.
The move takes effect immediately. Council File 22-1545, which tracks the emergency, will be updated to reflect the change.
Bass pointed to federal homeless counts showing a 17% drop in unsheltered homelessness citywide since 2023, the first back-to-back declines in decades. More than 30,000 affordable and homeless-housing units are now in the ED1 pipeline, she wrote.
The mayor emphasized that day-to-day operations will not slow: outreach teams will continue clearing encampments and RVs, and Inside Safe sites will keep accepting new residents. She added that she retains the option to reinstate the emergency if progress stalls.
The declaration had allowed the city to bypass standard bidding rules and environmental reviews for certain projects. ED1, which streamlined approvals for 100% affordable developments, is scheduled for a final council vote next month to become permanent law.
