Mayor Karen Bass announced she will be stepping down as a member of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commission, the governing board overseeing the agency’s budgetary, funding, planning and program policy decisions, it was reported Tuesday.
In an interview last week, Bass told KFI’s Gary and Shannon she would be leaving the LAHSA Commission due to scheduling conflicts and other time constraints.
“I am going to be stepping down because I just — in terms of time and all,” Bass said during a live radio interview Friday.
A representative for the Mayor’s Office did not respond to a request for comment.
Bass faced criticism last week after LAist reported that she skipped more than half of LAHSA Commission meetings since she appointed herself to the board in 2023.
Bass missed 13 out of 21 LAHSA meetings held over a year, which was above four absences that could trigger removal under LAHSA’s bylaws, according to LAist.
The mayor had appointed herself for a three-year term on the commission that expired June 30, but she remained on as a member as of Tuesday.
LAHSA has come under scrutiny from city and county elected officials. LA County earlier this year launched a homelessness department and moved $300 million in taxpayer dollars away from LAHSA to support its new agency.
LAHSA has been criticized for its alleged failure and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. The Trump administration has attempted to suspend LAHSA from tapping into millions of dollars from the U.S. Housing and Development.
The Los Angeles City Council and Mayor Bass are exploring a potential plan to separate from LAHSA.
Bass told KFI that she joined the LAHSA Commission to learn much more about homelessness and the agency.
“And I came to the conclusion that the city needs to have its own system,” Bass said during the KFI interview.