The city-county Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has lost a $300 million boon, with the county favoring a new initiative altogether: the County Department of Homeless Services and Housing
On Wednesday, over $300 million in taxpayer funds was officially redirected from the joint City-County Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to a new County administration, Homeless Services and Housing. The move comes after billions of dollars managed by the original organization were said to lack “uniform data standards and realtime oversight” according to independent audits.
Over a year ago, both the city and county began weighing whether to pull their funding from LAHSA. Briefly after the piercing audits were released, which said there was an increased “risk of resource misallocation and limited the ability to assess the true impact of homelessness assistance services,” the County Board of Supervisors voted to redirect its funding of LAHSA to its own oversight, under a new department inheriting the model of the well-received Housing for Health program.
“To engender the public’s trust, we must take action for a more centralized, effective, data-driven strategy to reduce homelessness,” said Supervisor Lindsey Horvath at the time of the initial vote. “I want to be clear that this is not more government, it is better government.”
The new department, led by former Housing for Health head Sarah Mahin, states on its website that it consolidates existing programs to “[make] the County’s response clearer, faster, and more accountable to the people and communities we serve.” Its budget now totals $843 million.
In support of Housing for Health’s approach and the future of HSH, Mahin pointed out that permanent housing, a focus HSH seeks to continue, is highly effective. Those placed in permanent housing remain housed a year on 91% of the time, 83% after two years.
“That’s a reminder when we successfully move people into permanent housing, those placements are lasting,” said Supervisor Janice Hahn after Mahin presented Tuesday.
Still, worries about the change remain. Questions around federal funding for homeless programs call into question any organization’s ability to provide permanent housing even to those already in it. And a year ago, mayoral candidate and City Councilmember Nithya Raman cautioned against gutting LAHSA and was optimistic about its improving data.
“What I fear most is that we are moving money from one bureaucracy to another,” Raman said. A year later, though, she switched her stance and recommended the city also divert its funding elsewhere, calling LAHSA “plagued with scandal.”
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HSH’s efficiency remains to be seen, with data anticipated to reveal its performance in October. Tangible changes visible now are the jobs lost by the gargantuan reduction at LAHSA. County officials insisted they were doing everything possible to find places for LAHSA workers.
“We will continue to assess our capacity to onboard any remaining represented non-county funded workers still slated for layoff,” said County CEO Joseph M. Nicchitta on Tuesday. The county has so far hired 184 and onboarded 169 workers from LAHSA, and said it would provide benefits and resources even to those who refused new offers to work for the county.