The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has received notice that it will have to compete for its job, likely foreshadowing the breakup of a joint city-county agency that has been the center of local homeless services since the 1990s.
A long obscure board that oversees L.A.’s federal homelessness funds has published a request for qualifications seeking new applicants for the four federally-mandated functions that make up LAHSA’s core work.
The solicitation, prepared in response to a federal court ruling, seeks applicants to run the homelessness database and housing matching system, conduct the annual homeless count and submit the annual application for U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development funds on behalf of dozens of service providers. The board of the Los Angeles Continuum of Care scheduled a vote on it Wednesday but did not have a quorum. A new date has not been set, but it must be held before an Oct. 13 deadline set by the court.
In response to the item, Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath released a statement Wednesday saying the county would apply to take over those functions. Winning that competition would complete the county’s separation from LAHSA. Last year the supervisors voted to divert more than $300 million in Measure A sales tax funds from the agency to a new county homelessness department.
“LAHSA failed to deliver the collaboration and accountability our communities need,” Horvath’s statement said. “We need one regional response — that is mindful of each community’s unique needs — with clear accountability for outcomes, and Los Angeles County is best positioned to lead.”
The Los Angeles City Council is also considering pulling back its funding from the joint powers authority.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass issued a statement Wednesday saying the city “intends to apply for some or all the roles related to the CoC administrative functions.”
Bass stepped down from LAHSA’s 10-member board on Wednesday and is now working to find a new appointee to replace her.
“The mayor’s firsthand experience at LAHSA reinforced her understanding that our current system is broken and in need of major overhaul, which is why she is developing a transition plan to build a city-led homelessness response system committed to delivering results for the City of Los Angeles,” said Bass spokesperson Paige Sterling.
At a news conference Wednesday, City Councilmember Nithya Raman, Bass’ challenger in the November mayoral election, said the city should also join the competition to take over LAHSA’s duties.
“It must compete for control over those processes and those data systems that actually determine how much accountability we have over the entire system,” Raman said. “It determines who gets access to beds, it determines how we are able to respond to the crisis on our streets.”
LAHSA released a statement Wednesday saying it “is reviewing the draft materials released by the LA CoC Board this week and will evaluate next steps as the process moves forward.”
Last month U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter ordered the Continuum of Care, the oversight body that has routinely appointed LAHSA to manage federally-mandated functions, to conduct a nationwide application for its 2027 contract and send him a report by Oct. 13 “summarizing its evaluations of all entities that have applied.”
The agenda item for the Continuum of Care board meeting Wednesday said applications would be due Sept. 24. A special meeting is scheduled Oct. 7 to discuss them.
The order followed a move by the Trump administration to take over the funding of local homelessness agencies. In June, citing audits critical of LAHSA’S financial practices and news reports of alleged conflicts of interest, HUD suspended the agency and notified the Continuum of Care that it could not submit an application due Aug. 26 on behalf of local service providers. Instead, HUD said, providers should apply directly to it.
LAHSA filed a complaint in federal court arguing that HUD’s allegation of malfeasance was a pretext for imposing Trump’s will on local agencies that do not adopt his policy of shifting funds from permanent supportive housing to transitional housing.
The case went before Carter, who also oversees a six-year-old case in which the city and county are accused of inadequately addressing homelessness. Though LAHSA is not a party to that case, Carter has harshly criticized the agency’s performance in providing data demanded by the court.
Carter issued a split decision in which he ordered HUD to accept LAHSA’s 2026 application and distribute $241 million under the local priorities but set the stage for LAHSA to be replaced in 2027.
Formed in 1993 as part of the settlement of litigation between the city and county, LAHSA grew dramatically after 2016 when city voters approved a $1.2-billion homeless housing bond and the following year county voters approved a quarter-cent sales tax for homeless services, including in the growing inventory of supportive housing. In addition to managing contracts with more than 100 homeless service agencies, LAHSA fields teams of outreach workers.
As it has grown, LAHSA has been buffeted by increasing criticism of its financial and data management practices in city and county audits. An audit of city homeless programs ordered by Carter in a related case described services provided by LAHSA as disjointed and lacking adequate data systems and financial controls to monitor contracts for compliance and performance, leaving it open to waste and fraud.
LAHSA has acknowledged shortcomings but said it has taken steps to improve.
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