REPORT: Los Angeles Spends More on the Homeless Than Firefighters and the Homeless Start One-Third of Fires

The wildfires in California at the beginning of the year woke up a lot of people in the state to the backwards priorities of their current leadership. When the fires broke out, the mayor of Los Angeles wasn’t even in the country at the time, opting instead to attend an event in Africa.

Now we are learning that the state spends more on the homeless, who start a third of fires in the state, than they do on firefighters.

California spends so much money on its always growing homeless problem with no results, that a U.S. attorney is now investigating the spending.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to spend more money on firefighters?

KABC 7 in California reports:

Nearly a third of LA’s fires last six years involved homeless people, new report shows

The 7 on Your Side Investigates Team has reported in the past how the Los Angeles Fire Department’s response times don’t always meet national standards.

Now a new memo from Interim LAFD Chief Ronnie Villanueva says a surge in calls to help the homeless shows even more just how strapped the department is for resources.

The memo that was supposed to be discussed at Tuesday’s LAFD Commission meeting is filled with numbers.

In fiscal year 2024/2025, the city allocated about $961 million to homelessness, while the total LAFD budget for that same fiscal year was well under that – at about $837 million.

The union president for the firefighters calls that shocking.

“We don’t want to criminalize homelessness, but we need additional resources strictly for homelessness,” said Freddy Escobar, president of United Firefighters of Los Angeles. “We need more funding.”

See the related video report below:

33% of fires the past six years in Los Angeles were started by the homeless. Now, think of the $2 billion that went to homeless services in LA that can’t be accounted for while LAFD got their budgets cut. @RickCarusoLA @SteveHiltonx @TheKevinDaltonpic.twitter.com/rDplkvT18j

— T Wolf (@Twolfrecovery) April 16, 2025

Meanwhile, California Governor Gavin Newsom is concentrating on hosting a podcast. Why do taxpayers in California put up with any of this?

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