The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday gave qualified approval to a proposal to consider creating a new county department to manage the multibillion-dollar homeless services fund.
The 4-0 vote gives the county executive a report within 60 days on the creation of a department that would consolidate hundreds of millions of dollars currently managed by Los Angeles Homeless Services with more than a dozen other departments’ homelessness-related programs. I am asking you to do so. authority.
“Change and structural change is hard,” said board chair Lindsay Horvath, who authored the motion. “The time is now to take difficult but necessary steps to create a county department with direct oversight and double down on transparency and accountability on homelessness.”
Supervisor Holly Mitchell abstained, saying she did not believe the creation of a new entity would resolve the problems auditors and service providers found with the system.
Recondar “Rick” Wesco, 60, has been homeless for 21 years and is waiting for a Section 8 voucher.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
While voting in favor of the study, Supervisor Janice Hahn expressed her reservations and urged county commissioners to present the pros and cons in the report and not treat it like a “done deal.” It approached.
“For me, I want to know how the department is going to fix what’s broken,” Hahn said. “Will this do a better job of solving this crisis? I want to go into the final vote with my eyes open.”
In an exchange with Hahn, CEO Fethia Davenport resisted making policy recommendations in the report.
“People just ask me how to do it,” she says. “My report will say yes, it’s possible, or no, it’s not possible.”
She added that there may be an analysis of how to avoid a repeat of the problems that came up in the Homeless Authority audit issued last week and in previous audits.
A recent audit found that LAHSA, a joint city-county authority, failed to collect all but $2.5 million of the $50.8 million in advance payments made to service providers, and that LAHSA, a joint city-county authority, failed to collect all but $2.5 million of the $50.8 million in advance payments made to service providers and did not provide formal guidance on how and when the advance payments would be repaid. It turned out that an agreement could not be established and no method of repayment of the advance payment could be provided. Accurate list of all contracts and their execution dates.
In a motion co-authored with Supervisor Kathryn Berger, Horvath cited the audit and the infusion of new homeless funds from the voter-approved Measure A sales tax.
But she articulated a broader view of the need for change, saying she has “put herself at every decision-making table” since the 2022 election to “understand and take action.”
LAHSA is a joint power agency created in 1993 as part of a lawsuit settlement between the city and county, but it has expanded with the homelessness crisis “without an intentional conversation about whether it makes sense.” she said.
Both Mitchell and Hahn questioned the audit’s conclusion that it revealed improper use of homeless funds.
“I’m concerned that this is leading to a mischaracterization of our service providers,” Mitchell said.
“It was about LAHSA’s business practices,” Hahn said. “This is not an indictment of providers. I’m glad we got the cash advance. I think it was very important to get cash to providers to help people on the street.”
LAHSA CEO Adams Kellum took a neutral stance on the motion, but read a lengthy statement reflecting on efforts to address the audit issues. She knew it well as director of the St. Joseph Center when she took the job in 2023.
“I think I could have written part of an audit report a few years ago,” she says. “These are long-standing issues.”
The motion approved Tuesday requires county commissioners to submit a feasibility report within 60 days, an analysis of which counties and LAHSA programs will be absorbed into the new department within 90 days, and a financial plan within 120 days.・We are requesting the submission of three reports: staffing plans.
A new vote will then be required to proceed.
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