At least 17,000 homeless people in Los Angeles to move to hotels

The new mayor of Los Angeles, Karen Bass, said on December 18 that her administration will start moving homeless people from tent encampments into hotels and motels through a new program that launches on December 20.

During an interview on "Meet the Press" Bass told the program's host, Chuck Todd, that her plan to move homeless people into rooms immediately will not "address everybody, but it is going to address, hopefully, a significant number." She said people will not be forced to move, but that sanitation crews will stand by to clean up areas after people have left, CBS News reports.

"But this is not coercing people. This is not ticketing people or incarcerating people. This is moving people from tents to hotels or motels," she said.

On her first day as mayor of Los Angeles, Bass declared a state of emergency on homelessness. She vowed to get people housed and more housing built so that residents can see a real difference, which hasn't been visible despite billions spent on programs to curb homelessness, including $1.2 billion in the current city budget.

Bass, a Democrat and former congresswoman has said she intends to get over 17,000 homeless people into housing in her first year through a mix of interim and permanent facilities.

An estimated 40,000 people are homeless in Los Angeles, a city of nearly 4 million. Homelessness is hugely visible throughout California with people living in tents and cars and sleeping outdoors on sidewalks and under highway overpasses.