LOS ANGELES — What started as a calming daily ritual has taken on new meaning for Tiffany Duverney-Smith.

What You Need To Know

About 284 LAHSA employees were notified their positions are being eliminated, including 216 union workers represented by SEIU Local 721

The layoffs follow a decision by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to pull more than $300 million in funding from LAHSA last year

That move followed a series of audits which found the agency failed to properly track taxpayer dollars

The new county-run homeless department is expected to be fully operational by July 1st

“Frankincense, the king of essential oils… and Ylang Ylang, the queen,” she said, walking through the scents she now leans on to manage stress.

But lately, she said, staying grounded has become more difficult.

Duverney-Smith, an employee with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), recently learned she could soon be out of a job. She’s one of nearly 300 workers affected by sweeping layoffs tied to a major overhaul of how Los Angeles County handles homelessness.

“I’m very concerned about my current situation,” she said. “My faith tells me that God didn’t bring me this far to leave me.”

Spectrum News met her inside the home she recently purchased with her husband. They had just a handful of mortgage payments and now she worries about losing it.

Her fear is rooted in lived experience, as Duvernay-Smith herself said she experienced homelessness. 

“I started off living in my car… I lived in someone’s garage without them knowing… I lived on someone’s enclosed porch… I lived in transitional housing,” she said.

Now, she works within a system she once relied on, but that system is undergoing a dramatic shift.

On Thursday, about 284 LAHSA employees were notified their positions are being eliminated, including 216 union workers represented by SEIU Local 721.

The layoffs follow a decision by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors to pull more than $300 million in funding from LAHSA last year, after a series of audits found the agency failed to properly track taxpayer dollars.

Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who led the effort, said in a statement that LAHSA has “too often operated as a ‘black box,’” with commissioners, media and funding partners struggling to obtain clear information about staffing and budgets.

The county is now transitioning services into a newly created, county-run Department of Homeless Services and Housing — with a focus on increasing transparency, accountability and results.

Horvath acknowledged the impact on workers, saying the county has launched an accelerated hiring process and an employment concierge service to help displaced employees find new roles.

At the city level, some leaders are pushing for similar changes.

Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who sits on the Housing and Homelessness Committee, has called on the city to re-evaluate its financial ties to LAHSA, but said those efforts have so far stalled in the committee process.

“Sadly, Mrs. Raman, who chairs the housing and homelessness committee, has sat on my motion to have a plan for us to work our way from LAHSA. She’s obstructed that from getting scheduled for more than 520 days,” said Councilmember Rodriguez.

Meanwhile, workers like Duverney-Smith said they feel caught in the middle of decisions they had no role in making.

“These are not people who are making the decisions that LAHSA is being punished for,” she said. “People have children, they have bills… they’re doing it alone. It’s already hard. People are already paycheck to paycheck.”

Now, as she faces an uncertain future, Duverney-Smith said she’s leaning on her faith, her support system and the small routines that help her stay steady—hoping the stability she worked so hard to build doesn’t slip away.