Mayor in troubled LA wants more spending for homeless, LAPD

LOS ANGELES (AP) — In a city struggling with rising crime and a homeless crisis, Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti is proposing boosting spending for police and funneling a record amount into housing and other programs to help those those living on the streets. In a proposed budget, Garcetti says he wants to spend $1.2 billion on homeless programs. He says that would be about 20 times the amount directed at homelessness when he took office in 2013. The proposal comes at a time when makeshift encampments have spread in virtually every neighborhood. The spending blueprint also calls for hiring hundreds of officers at the Los Angeles Police Department.