A federal department has halted funding for an agency addressing homelessness in the Los Angeles area, saying it has mismanaged public funds and scrutinizing its performance in light of the major dollars it has received over the years.

The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it was immediately suspending funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority on Thursday, June 11, amid an investigation from the inspector general’s office. LAHSA leads the Los Angeles Continuum of Care — nationwide, Continuums of Care carry out various responsibilities related to addressing homelessness for a specific area.

The Los Angeles Continuum of Care has received more than $944 million since 2021 from the federal department, according to the letter signed by Deputy Secretary Andrew Hughes — with LAHSA receiving and managing “significant” funding from the federal department for years. Despite the funding, the federal department said Los Angeles “remains the epicenter of the nation’s drug-fueled homelessness crisis.”

The letter stated that the federal department determined it can’t “reasonably rely on LAHSA’s ability to operationally and effectively coordinate, manage, distribute, and monitor taxpayer dollars in a responsible manner or to execute” the Continuum of Care Program’s “mission to combat homelessness.”

LAHSA said this move “could put thousands of formerly homeless people back on the street” in a statement.

“After initial review, this appears to be a blatant attempt to pull yet more resources from Los Angeles, a city they have targeted time and again, when it is clear that LAHSA has either corrected or is in the process of correcting nearly all of the issues raised,” the statement said.

After medical setbacks, a family works to escape homelessness

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Johnika Jamison, 38, holding her daughter Everly, 1. Her family has been homeless for more than a year after she and her husband experienced medical troubles that put them out of work. Jamison is struggling to lead her family out of homelessness while tending to their everyday care and needs. Jamison along with her husband and three daughters have been staying in a small hotel room for weeks as they embark on year two of homelessness. Jamison dreams of better days, but tending to her family’s care needs takes up so much of her time she barely has a moment to look for work.

(Jack Gruber, USA TODAY)

The letter points to numerous instances of what it says are examples of LAHSA’s lack of “required financial management, internal controls, and safeguards against conflicts of interest” to administer the federal department’s funds. The suspension comes amid major change for the agency: Los Angeles County’s decision to create a new department on addressing homelessness, redirecting resources away from LAHSA.

In February, Los Angeles County Board of Supervisor Lindsey Horvath’s office described “failures” under LAHSA related to accountability and financial oversight that “were a key reason the Board voted to remove County homeless services funding from LAHSA and return direct oversight to a centralized County department.” LAHSA said it coordinates and manages about $800 million annually in federal, state, county and city funds for homelessness as of 2023.

LAHSA said in its statement that if the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s inspector general “conducts a fair review” of its “current and future practices,” it will “clearly see how our systems now allow us to clearly track the work and investments” that have led to results for the region.

LAHSA said its immediate priority is to explore its options to “ensure that federal funds continue to support the thousands of people who have been housed through LAHSA and our broader rehousing system.”

Paris Barraza is a reporter covering Los Angeles and Southern California for the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at pbarraza@usatodayco.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Why LA homeless agency is suspended from federal funding