For more than a decade, Los Angeles County’s response to the exploding population crisis on its streets has been led by a 33-year-old federal authority that collects millions from county, city and state governments and uses the funds to manage homeless programs such as shelters, permanent housing and outreach.
But after years of criticism that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority lacked proper oversight of its programs, the county last year voted to shift most of its funding from the authority and turn the programs into an internal department.
That move, which takes effect July 1, leaves the city as LAHSA’s primary sponsor and poses an important question: Will the city stay with the embattled agency or will it, like the county, jump ship?
No decision has been taken yet. But other ideas shape that thread in half – not abandoning the agency or taking full command of it, but it is gradually taking more control from the millions it uses to get people off the streets.
Mayor Karen Bass, who came out against the county’s decision last year, cited the recent decline in the homeless population in her bid for re-election and has warned the city of the risk of reversing that progress if it withdraws too soon from LAHSA.
At the same time, he said that change is needed.
In a letter this month to the City Council, Bass and Council members Tim McOsker and Ysabel Jurado laid out a series of proposed changes.
It included renegotiating the joint power agreement with the county to give the city a majority on LAHSA’s governing board and directing city departments to work with LAHSA to “guide and standardize” the agency’s process for contracts, payment plans, data collection and performance tracking.
The city will then look to take over those administrative functions from LAHSA when “feasible,” to ensure “continuity of services while increasing city control and efficiency.”
On April 15, the powerful Harbor Committee on Housing and Homelessness approved proposals supported by Bass.
“As we move LAHSA in a responsible manner, we ensure that people are not put back on the street, and we are increasing oversight and accountability for LAHSA in the meantime,” Bass spokeswoman Ilanna Morales said in an email.
The Housing and Homeless Committee also passed a series of LAHSA reform measures to Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who chairs the committee and is challenging Bass for mayor.
Among Raman’s approved proposals was to “shift the administration of eligible City-funded programs away from LAHSA” for the coming fiscal year.
“Los Angeles can’t afford another ten of the same broken roads,” Raman said. “We have an opportunity to build something that really works — and I think we owe it to everyone who’s been waiting for this program to work responsibly to take this opportunity seriously.”
McOsker, in an interview, said he doesn’t see much of a difference between Bass and his proposal to consolidate some administrative functions of LAHSA to the city and Raman’s ideas to remove some programs from LAHSA.
Both of those ideas will require further study to be completed, and any differences can be worked out later.
McOsker and Raman voted to approve all proposals, as did Jurado. Raman called the entire package “a controlled transformation that keeps what works, fixes what doesn’t, and ultimately gives the City the direction needed to ensure that public dollars produce real results.”
The measures now head to the city’s Budget and Finance Committee, before going to the full City Council.
If they finally pass the council and are signed by Bass, other actions such as ordering city departments to negotiate more city control over the LAHSA Commission would begin within 30 days.
McOsker said it is important to move quickly, because on July 1 the city will become the main sponsor of LAHSA but the seats on the LAHSA Commission will still be split 50-50 between the city and the county.
Some actions will take longer.
Raman’s proposal to remove some programs from LAHSA for the fiscal year that begins July 1 requires a report on whether it is “strategic and cost-effective” for the city to take over LAHSA-run programs or whether it makes sense to contract with the county or another entity.
Even if the city were to remove all of the programs it funds from LAHSA, the agency would still be slated to receive large amounts of federal dollars to fund permanent housing subsidies, as well as data systems that allow providers to coordinate care across a variety of homeless programs.
The organization continues to face questions about its management and last week announced the layoff of more than 250 workers.
On Friday, the LAHSA Commission approved the audit for the 2025 fiscal year, about one month past the deadline. The study also found that LAHSA had “significant deficiencies in internal control over financial reporting.”
