Karen Bass, Hilda Solis, Holly Mitchell, Lindsey Horvath, Janice Hahn and Kathryn Barger

Mayor Karen Bass had scarcely been sworn into office two years ago when she declared a state of emergency in Los Angeles. The city needed a “sea change” in how it tackles homelessness, she said at the time.

After beating real estate tycoon Rick Caruso to become the first female mayor of America’s second-largest city, Bass has made “red tape” her new enemy in a series of executive actions aimed at addressing homelessness, her No. 1 campaign issue. Those sweeping directives put Bass on shaky legal footing at first, but a Superior Court judge upheld the declaration this spring.

And, by the end of last year, the mayor’s fast-track approach to getting folks off the streets seemed to be working, with some 21,600 people in 2023 moved into group shelters or makeshift villages of tiny homes, while another 1,900 were placed in motel rooms with meals and social services provided on site.

But the city is in the early stages of addressing its dearth of affordable housing, and that’s something Angelenos will need to get serious about to comply with state law, which mandates 456,643 new units in L.A. by 2029.

Meanwhile, L.A. County’s five members of the Board of Supervisors, who oversee a $36.1 billion budget and an area with more residents than 40 states, are doing their part to save Downtown L.A.’s office market.

In August, Commercial Observer reported the county made an all-cash offer to buy the troubled Gas Company Tower for $215 million, which seems like a lot of money until you consider the 1.4 million-square-foot tower’s $632 million valuation just three years ago. Of course, that was before former landlord Brookfield went into default and handed it to a special receiver last year.