A “fireside chat” between USC President Carol L. Folt and Mayor Karen Bass reinforces the university’s collaborative work with the city in a united quest to care for the unhoused, whose numbers have increased since COVID.

By Emily Gersema and Leigh Hopper

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, left, and USC President Carol L. Folt spoke before more than 260 people attending Friday’s California Street Medicine Symposium. (USC Photo/Gus Ruelas)

With more than 76,000 people living on the streets of Los Angeles and neighboring cities, homelessness looms large in the region’s public consciousness.

“The homeless population is probably something that everyone in this room thinks about every morning that they wake up,” USC President Carol L. Folt said, nodding at L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and more than 260 medical professionals and advocates attending the 5th annual California Street Medicine Symposium on Friday.

Folt and Bass met for a “fireside chat” at the symposium, which also drew more than 160 virtual attendees. Their joint appearance symbolized a growing collaboration between the city — as Bass works intensely to house and provide services to the unhoused — and the university, whose Street Medicine teams are providing daily, mobile care to thousands of homeless people and training other teams around the state.

“We really must set the pathway for ending homelessness,” Bass said. “That has to be our orientation.

“I drive down a street and I see a tent and I think I have no right to think that I can’t move forward and I can’t do things,” Bass said.

Folt noted the mayor’s background in health care. Bass, a former physician’s assistant and nurse, has encountered the tragic realities of daily life in L.A. in the emergency room.

“Working in the emergency room, you have a different viewpoint,” Bass said, noting that her constant exposure to medical emergencies give her confidence that it is possible to solve homelessness. (…Read More)