For more than a decade, the response to the growing humanitarian crisis on the streets of Los Angeles County has been directed by a 33-year-old joint powers authority that collects millions from the county, city and federal and state governments and uses the money to operate homeless programs such as shelter, permanent housing and outreach.
But after years of criticism that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority lacked proper oversight of its programs, the county voted last year to remove most of its funding from the authority and move the programs to an internal department.
The move, effective July 1, leaves the city as LAHSA’s primary funder and raises a key question: Will the city stick with the embattled agency or, like the county, abandon ship?
No decision has been taken. But some ideas are taking shape that offer a middle ground. — Neither leaving the agency nor taking full control of it, But it is gradually taking more control of the millions being spent to get people off the streets.
Mayor Karen Bass, who came out against the county’s decision last year, has touted the recent decline in unsheltered homelessness in her re-election bid and warned that the city risks reversing that progress if it withdraws from LAHSA too quickly.
He also said that there is a need for change.
In a letter to the City Council this month, Bass and council members Tim McCosker and Ysabel Jurado laid out a series of proposed changes.
These included renegotiating a joint powers agreement with the county to give the city a majority on the LAHSA oversight board and directing city departments to work with LAHSA to “streamline and standardize” the agency’s contracting process, payment system, data collection and performance tracking.
The city will then consider having LAHSA take over those administrative duties where “feasible” to ensure “continuity of services while increasing city control and efficiency.”
On April 15, the city’s influential Housing and Homelessness Committee approved the Bass-backed proposals.
“As we lead the transition away from LAHSA in a responsible manner, we are ensuring people do not end up back on the streets, and are increasing oversight and accountability at LAHSA in the interim,” BAS spokesperson Ilana Morales said in an email.
The Housing and Homelessness Committee also passed a series of LAHSA reform measures from Council Member Nitya Raman, who chairs the committee and is challenging Bass for mayor.
One of the approved Raman proposals was to “transfer the administration of appropriate city-funded programs away from LAHSA” in the upcoming fiscal year.
“Los Angeles cannot afford another decade of the same broken path,” Raman said. “We have an opportunity to build something that actually works – and I think we owe it to everyone who has been waiting for this system to work with accountability to take this opportunity seriously.”
MacOskar said in an interview that he did not see much difference between Bass and his proposal to integrate some LAHSA administrative functions into the city and Raman’s ideas of moving some programs away from LAHSA.
Further study will be required to finalize both of those views, and any differences can be ironed out later.
MacOskar and Raman voted to approve all resolutions, as did Jurado. Raman called the entire package “a managed change that preserves what worked, fixes what didn’t, and ultimately gives the city the direct oversight needed to ensure that public dollars produce real results.”
The measure now goes to the city’s Budget and Finance Committee, before going to the full City Council.
If they ultimately pass the council and are signed by Bass, some actions such as directing city departments to negotiate for more city control over the LAHSA commission would begin within 30 days.
McOscar said it was important to move quickly, as the city will be LAHSA’s primary funder as of July 1, but LAHSA commission seats will still be split 50-50 between the city and county.
Other actions will take more time.
Raman’s proposal to move some programs away from LAHSA in the fiscal year starting July 1 requires a report on whether it is “more strategic and cost-effective” for the city to take over LAHSA-run programs or whether it makes more sense to contract with the county or another entity.
Even if the city removed all the programs it receives from LAHSA, the agency would still receive large amounts of federal dollars for permanent housing subsidies, as well as data systems that allow providers to coordinate care across a variety of homeless programs.
The agency is also facing questions over its management and last week announced layoffs of more than 250 employees.
On Friday, the LAHSA Commission approved the required federal audit of its 2025 fiscal year finances, nearly a month before the deadline. The audit also found that LAHSA had “significant deficiencies in internal controls over financial reporting”.
