The foundation, by this point, had been a local city contractor for years, doing youth intervention and homelessness work. It was poised to run the new shelter under a $500,000 contract the City Council unanimously approved<\/a> in May.<\/p>\n Learn the ins and outs behind L.A.’s housing crisis.<\/p>\n Sign up for Building Your Block, a seven-issue newsletter course from LAist that explains the obstacles around housing development in L.A. and what you can do to make things better.<\/p>\n The shelter had a dozen beds, meant for young adults at transitional age, who had recently exited the foster care system or juvenile justice and needed special help, like counseling, financial management, a schedule and a place to sleep. But that work never started.<\/p>\n In late October, the city says, it notified the April Parker Foundation that it wouldn\u2019t be signing with them because of concerns about how the foundation billed for some of its prior work.<\/p>\n Since 2023, Long Beach had contracted the foundation to provide rapid rehousing services for homeless people. Then last summer, it stopped paying them. Officials later explained that invoices were coming in late, inadequately filled out or missing required documentation to justify the expense.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re not making any accusations of fraud or even breach of contract,\u201d Deputy City Attorney Nick Masero said, but the timing of the invoices \u201cwas not consistent with their contractual requirements, and the supporting documentation wasn\u2019t provided to substantiate all the amounts on the invoices.\u201d<\/p>\n Masero said the city has sought to resolve the issue with the April Parker Foundation, but added that \u201cwe\u2019re not obligated under the contract to make payment until they\u2019ve provided all the necessary information and documentation.\u201d<\/p>\n April Parker, founder of the April Parker Foundation, alleges the city is manufacturing an excuse not to pay her. She said she has sent over hundreds of documents and receipts detailing every transaction tied to the program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe delivered binders to them, binders that contain 100% documentation on every invoice, every transaction, everything,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n After providing those, Parker said communication with the city largely stopped, save for some correspondence through her attorneys. She remains unsure of what the city thinks her staff did wrong.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the second time recently that Long Beach has cut off a homelessness contractor over billing concerns<\/a>, as a long-running audit of the city\u2019s homelessness programs<\/a> inches closer to being finished. Parker said she was informed about the audit, but \u2014 despite her repeated texts and calls to city health officials \u2014 was never told if it found any problems within her organization.<\/p>\n Parker said she was blindsided by the city withholding payments across all its contracts with her, some as early as March 2025, as she was ramping up to run the new youth shelter.<\/p>\n The shelter is in West Long Beach, near the city\u2019s Multi-Service Center in a warehouse district west of the Los Angeles River.<\/p>\n (<\/p>\n John Donegan<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n Long Beach Post<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n \u201cI do not know what is wrong with anything I\u2019ve ever submitted because they\u2019ve never told me what\u2019s actually wrong, nothing,\u201d Parker said. \u201cSo how can I fix something that I don\u2019t even know what\u2019s wrong? I gave them everything, and they\u2019ve never come back and said, \u2018Well, this is wrong, or that is wrong.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n On the city\u2019s assurance that she would be running the shelter, she said, she hired staff, rewrote policies, updated insurance and hosted an open house at the facility. The foundation was even invited to the ribbon ceremony.<\/p>\n Then, in a reversal, she said, the city told her they planned to \u201ctake the shelter in-house.\u201d Without any written notice or further explanation, city officials, she said, assumed control of the shelter and denied access to her staff.<\/p>\n Parker has since filed multiple legal claims against the city, alleging they improperly withheld payments for her nonprofit\u2019s work on the youth shelter, rapid rehousing and gun violence intervention. They say the city owes Parker more than $1 million.<\/p>\n She said those costs have crippled her nonprofit, forcing it to cut its youth shelter staff, reduce its administrative team and close its 36-bed transitional shelter. Parker said she had to take out a line of credit and stop paying herself a salary to save her organization.<\/p>\n Her next step may be to sue. The city has denied the legal claims and sought to reopen the youth shelter with a new operator.<\/p>\n At a City Council meeting this week, Homeless Services Bureau Manager Paul Duncan blamed the delayed opening on faulty plumbing. In December, months after the decision to kick out the April Parker Foundation, crews discovered cracked, clogged and faulty underground pipes that were causing toilets to back up.<\/p>\n Renovations, which are under warranty, Duncan said, are expected to conclude soon. When the shelter opens next month, it will be run by Jovenes, Inc., an LA-based nonprofit. The City Council approved a one-year contract<\/a> with the organization at its meeting Tuesday.<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/1776704249_665_.jpeg\")
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