Mayor Eric Garcetti has backed off his pledge to get every homeless veteran off city streets by the end of this year, his spokeswoman said Monday.
"A significant change in the scope of the problem" forced the mayor to put off his goal, spokeswoman Connie Llanos said. "The mayor's commitment to housing homeless veterans is stronger than ever."
The L.A. region has long had the largest concentration of homeless veterans in the country — 4,343, two-thirds of whom live in the city, according to the official count in January.
The delay was first reported by the Los Angeles Daily News, which said the mayor told its editorial board that fulfilling his commitment could take until "the beginning of the summer" of 2016.