LOS ANGELES, CA – As new data show homelessness rising in Los Angeles, local activist John Alle said Mayor Karen Bass has neglected her responsibility to address the issue and witness firsthand the crime, drug use and deteriorating conditions in some of the city’s hardest-hit neighborhoods.

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority released its 2026 annual homeless count Friday, finding overall homelessness increased 3.4% in LA and 1.2% across the Los Angeles Continuum of Care following two consecutive years of declines, though LAHSA said «neither change is considered statistically significant.»

The count estimated 45,194 people were experiencing homelessness in LA and 73,040 across the Continuum of Care, which excludes Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale.

«She doesn’t get it. She doesn’t see it,» John Alle, a Santa Monica business owner and co-founder of the Santa Monica Coalition who owns properties across Los Angeles, told Fox News Digital in an interview last month.

KAREN BASS GRILLED OVER BROKEN HOMELESSNESS PROMISE, BLAMES BUREAUCRACY FOR SLOWED PROGRESS

«We’ve invited her numerous times to ride along with us through Alvarado, Third Street, Park View, MacArthur Park and Westlake. Come drive with us. Have a police officer follow behind for security. And she refused.»

The report also found street homelessness rose 7.9% in Los Angeles and 3.3% countywide, with an estimated 29,115 people living on the streets in the city. LAHSA said funding cuts affecting Time-Limited Subsidies and other economic factors reduced the number of people permanently housed by about 5,100 from the «record high of 28,625 people housed permanently in 2024.»

In a press release Thursday responding to the data, Bass argued funding cuts «at the federal and state levels» contributed to the rise, adding the Trump administration had «driven up the cost of gas, groceries, and rent — pushing more families to the edge — and slashed critical safety net funding.»

«For two years straight, we drove down homelessness by historic margins — but as expected, last year our efforts ultimately couldn’t keep up with policies and funding cuts at the federal and state levels that pushed more people onto the streets,» she said.

Bass also admitted in a May interview with CNN’s Elex Michaelson that she did not fulfill her promise to end street homelessness in the city by 2026 because she «didn’t anticipate some of the bureaucratic barriers» her administration would face.

Alle said crime has «gotten so bad» in neighborhoods including Little Bangladesh, which Bass has previously described as one of «LA’s most vibrant communities.»

«In Little Bangladesh, the crime is so bad that we’re finding people on the streets unconscious,» he said. «We’re having handymen pick up needles and dispose of them.»

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Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass prepares to leave the scene where city workers clear a large homeless encampment behind a public storage facility along the San Diego (405) Freeway at the end of Oxnard Street in Van Nuys on July 31, 2025 (Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images)

Pointing to his tenants’ experiences, Alle said he sees the impact of the crisis every day on the «mom-and-pop» renters who live in his apartment buildings and pay thousands of dollars a month, saying «it doesn’t sit well with me.»

«From people overdosing outside the gated apartment buildings I own, to people attacking each other, murders, and calling 911 only to be put on hold for sometimes an hour, and then being told, ‘Well, you’re lucky. Sometimes it’s two hours,’» he said.

Alle accused Bass of ignoring neighborhood conditions despite living nearby at Getty House, the mayor’s official residence in Windsor Square.

«The streetlights are out,» he said. «The rubbish isn’t collected. The streets are dirty. It’s one thing to complain about copper wire theft, but we’re just talking about normal streetlights and replacing the bulbs.»

But it’s not just residents who are affected, according to Alle, who said small businesses are being forced to close early to avoid crime and making it harder to stay in the city.

«When I see them having to leave work at four o’clock, I see them having to close their businesses at four o’clock during the winter and at dusk during the summer,» he said. «That’s not good. I want them to succeed. If they don’t succeed, they can’t afford to stay in LA I feel for them, and their problems are my problems.»

HOUSING FIRST IS A DISASTER. I SAW SACRAMENTO’S HOMELESS CHAOS FIRSTHAND

A homeless encampment near Venice Beach in Los Angeles. Residents have called for stronger oversight of nearby supportive housing programs and improved public safety. (Jill Connelly/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

Multiple studies have found that a large portion of homeless individuals in Los Angeles County aren’t originally from there and Alle has been vocal about how his coalition partnered with an artificial intelligence company to create an AI-powered hotline that has helped more than 40 homeless people return to their home states over the past year.

«They’ve called us from shelters,» he said. «They’ve called us from parks. The people calling aren’t entrenched with the drugs or the gangs. They came here for noble reasons.»

Additionally, Alle said his coalition collaborates with local law enforcement, paying for bus, plane or train tickets to help homeless people voluntarily return home, where they can reunite with family or enter treatment programs.

«We’re not gonna put them behind the slammer,» he said.

Alle said the most «heartbreaking» part is watching families embrace loved ones returning home, with many looking «completely different» after recovery.

«It’s a long road ahead, but they’re trying because they’ve seen hell in LA,» he said.

While acknowledging the program won’t end all homelessness, Alle said helping even a small number of people rebuild their lives is a victory.

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«One person saved is great. Fifteen percent, and the 40 people we’ve saved, is tremendous,» he said.

Bass will face off against progressive city councilwoman Nithya Raman, who has her own ties to the homeless crisis as chair of the Los Angeles City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee, in her bid to win another term as mayor in November.

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, is calling for Anthony Fauci to be held in contempt, prosecuted for perjury and sent to jail after the former White House COVID-19 advisor pleaded his Fifth Amendment right more than 100 times during a Senate hearing Wednesday.

«Years from now, they’ll look back and say, ‘What collective madness overtook this country?’» Cruz told Fox News Digital.

«I think Anthony Fauci has had contempt for Congress and contempt for the American people for decades,» he said. «His diary shows that he deliberately lied to the American people over and over and over again.»

FAUCI PLEADS FIFTH WITH ‘ZERO LEGAL JUSTIFICATION’ AS CRITICS ERUPT AND DEMAND CONTEMPT CHARGES

Cruz made the comments after Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee Chairman Rand Paul announced he will seek contempt charges against Fauci after Fauci dodged self-incrimination by refusing to answer any questions throughout the entirety of the hearing.

«Dr. Fauci ought to think about what it says about the end of his career, that what he will be remembered for the most is pleading the Fifth more than 100 times,» Cruz said.

«He’s been the most damaging bureaucrat in the history of America.»

RAND PAUL SEEKS CONTEMPT CHARGES AFTER FAUCI INVOKES FIFTH AMENDMENT MORE THAN 100 TIMES

Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas., is calling for Anthony Fauci to be held in contempt and sent to jail after his Senate hearing on Wednesday for his alleged dishonesty about COVID-19 to both Congress and the American people. (Nicholas Ballasy/Fox News Digital)

Cruz and Fauci have had a longstanding feud, similar to his relationships with other GOP senators like Paul, over Fauci’s handling of the outbreak and claims he was dishonest about the origins of COVID-19 to both Congress and the American people.

«In his diary, he wrote early on that it was clear that the COVID virus did not come from the wet market in Wuhan, and then he turned around and said exactly the opposite thing on national television,» Cruz said.

The released private diaries expose that Fauci considered possibilities about how the virus originated that he later downplayed to the public. He wrote that scientists considered the possibility of a deliberately inserted laboratory origin worthy of further expert review, while his later statements suggested the opposite to the public.

LEGACY MEDIA IGNORES MASSIVE ANTHONY FAUCI DOCUMENT RELEASE ALLEGING HE MISLED CONGRESS ON COVID ORIGINS

The Texas senator also accused Fauci of pushing for the lockdown of schools. Fauci wrote in his diary that he convinced both New York and California government officials to lock down their state’s school systems. This was, again, contradictory to what he said publicly, when he claimed multiple times in interviews and testified to the House Oversight Committee that he «did not close the schools.»

«In his diary, he brags about convincing Democrats in New York and California to shut schools down, and yet he goes on TV and says, ‘Oh, I wasn’t for shutdowns,’» Cruz said.

«The school shutdowns, which Fauci bragged that he was responsible for, may well be the single most destructive public policy step we’ve seen in decades. That learning loss will stick with those kids the rest of their lives when they’re 90 years old.

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«They will still be suffering the consequences of Anthony Fauci’s corrupt and dishonest shutdowns.

«The fact that he knew he was lying to the American people — he should be held in contempt, he should be prosecuted for perjury, and he should go to jail.»

David Cifaldi y dos de sus amigos llevaban unas siete horas subiendo la montaña más alta de Montana, Estados Unidos, el 20 de julio cuando él resbaló en una roca y se cayó. Vio uno de sus bastones de senderismo en el suelo, pero el segundo no aparecía por ninguna parte.

Luego se dio la vuelta. Algo no estaba bien.

“Oh”, recordó. “Tengo esta cosa clavada y me sobresale del cuerpo”.

Cifaldi, de 32 años, se había empalado con el bastón. De inmediato entró en modo enfermero: Cifaldi es enfermero especialista en heridas en el Hospital Regional St. Vincent en Billings, Montana.

El bastón estaba clavado en ángulo en su músculo lateral izquierdo, debajo de su axila, y salía por su espalda. No sentía dolor, no había sangre, podía respirar profundo y podía sentir el bastón de senderismo a través de su piel. Estaba entre unos 3 y 4,8 kilómetros de la cima del pico Granite, a una altitud de unos 3900 metros.

Los tres amigos habían comenzado su ascenso a las 2 am con planes de acampar por la noche en la meseta Froze-to-Death y luego coronar la montaña. Cifaldi había llegado a la meseta varias veces, pero nunca a la cima. Su amigo Jesse Ross, quien ya había llegado a la cima con éxito en ocasiones anteriores, guiaba a Cifaldi y a otro amigo, Brad Reich, montaña arriba.

Llegaron a la meseta al amanecer.

“Cuando llegas ahí, te sientes como si estuvieras en El señor de los Anillos o algo así“, dijo Cifaldi en una entrevista el lunes. “Son solo montañas y verdor”.

Todos avanzaban a buen ritmo en ese momento. El clima era perfecto –alrededor de 18 grados Celsius y soleado, sin viento– y la cima estaba al alcance. Entonces Cifaldi perdió el equilibrio.

Mientras un amigo enviaba una señal de auxilio por medio de un teléfono con GPS, el otro tomaba fotografías de la herida para que Cifaldi pudiera evaluarla.

“Estaba bastante seguro de que no estaba en mi pecho ni en el pulmón”, dijo.

Con la esperanza de evitar un costoso rescate de la montaña en helicóptero, caminó un poco y descubrió que no estaba mareado, y les dijo a sus amigos: “Creo que podemos salir de aquí”.

Y así lo hicieron.

Con los equipos de búsqueda y rescate a la espera, los tres amigos emprendieron con lentitud el descenso de la montaña, y tardaron unas seis horas en llegar al inicio del sendero en Mystic Lake. Ross iba adelante para advertir a cualquier excursionista que Cifaldi bajaba por el sendero con una herida de aspecto “espantoso”, pero para asegurarles que por lo demás estaba bien. Reich iba muy de cerca vigilando la punción después de que Cifaldi le diera un curso intensivo de medicina de urgencias.

Cruzaron campos de rocas y tramos de nieve, y tomaban descansos de vez en cuando. A las 3:30 pm, después de caminar unos 16 kilómetros, Cifaldi estaba en una ambulancia de camino al hospital más cercano.

Incluso herido, Cifaldi se sentía a salvo: tenía a dos amigos “firmes como una roca” que nunca titubearon, dijo. Supo que iba a estar bien cuando se detuvieron a la mitad del descenso para comer algo y “empezaron a hacer chistes sobre el shish kebab”, dijo Cifaldi. “Al final, me llamaban ‘Bob’ mientras salíamos”.

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Para cuando Cifaldi llegó a un pequeño hospital cerca de la montaña, el bastón había estado dentro de él durante siete horas. Le suplicó a una enfermera especializada que se lo sacara, pero ella le dijo: “Si sangras, no puedo ayudarte”.

Así que lo trasladaron a un hospital que conocía bien: el suyo. Rechazó ir en ambulancia e hizo que sus amigos lo llevaran allí en auto.

Cuando llegó a la sala de emergencias, dijo Cifaldi, era “un tipo muy popular”. Se pusieron a trabajar en él rápidamente, le hicieron radiografías y análisis de sangre. Sus médicos querían programarlo para cirugía, pero al haber otro caso de traumatismo antes que él, tendría que esperar dos horas.

“En ese punto yo estaba harto”, recordó. “Yo decía: por favor, que alguien solo me quite esta cosa”.

Así que los médicos lo indujeron a una sedación consciente, en la que el paciente está despierto pero totalmente anestesiado, y le sacaron el bastón. Mientras lo retiraban, los médicos le insertaron un tubo para drenar el área.

“Cuando volví en mí, esa fue la primera vez que sentí dolor”, dijo Cifaldi. Estaba decidido a volver a trabajar al día siguiente, pero los médicos le ordenaron descansar durante una semana.

Cifaldi volvió al trabajo el lunes, un poco adolorido, un poco cansado, pero agradecido. Habló con un terapeuta sobre el accidente para que le ayudara a procesarlo todo. Tres centímetros más adentro “y estaría muerto, o al menos en grave peligro”, dijo.

Su mayor lección tras el calvario: tener una manera de contactar a los servicios de emergencia.

“No soy un excursionista aficionado. Estoy en forma y soy activo”, dijo. “Estaba entrenando para correr un maratón cuando pasó todo esto. Y simplemente fue un accidente extraño”. Tener una forma de comunicarse con un equipo de búsqueda y rescate “hizo toda la diferencia del mundo”.

Además de adolorido, Cifaldi se siente mal de que sus amigos no hayan llegado a la cima.

“Íbamos a lograrlo, al 100 por ciento, no había duda. Todo era perfecto”, dijo. “Espero que el año que viene pueda decir: oigan, regresé y lo logré”.

Por Remy Tumin, reportero del Times que cubre noticias de última hora y otros temas.