Following the release of an audit evaluating interim housing and shelter bed data that found quality issues make it nearly impossible to find available resources, City Controller Kenneth Mejia Wednesday reiterated that data entry must be improved to better service the unhoused population.
“Overall, we found that the data is lacking. LAHSA (Los Angeles Housing Services Authority) and its partners, contracted service organizations who operate shelters, do not have a functional or accurate way to track shelter bed occupancy,” Mejia said during a Wednesday morning news conference at City Hall East.
LAHSA in a statement thanked the controller for his continued collaboration to increase the agency’s accountability and transparency while also improving the rehousing system’s efficiency.
Mejia recommended LAHSA reevaluate and redesign its Bed Reservation System, used for tracking bed availability, and do more to monitor and improve the quality of data entered by shelter operators.
According to Mejia, LAHSA’s Bed Availability System is not functional — the agency has spent years attempting to bring it online. The audit showed that LAHSA resorted to using emails and phone calls to communicate bed availability, which the controller said was an “insufficient” method for addressing the city’s homelessness crisis.
The controller noted the issue was apparent last winter when the city experienced an extreme winter weather event.
“As the controller, I cannot require LAHSA or any of the relevant stakeholders to act, but with this information, we can help ensure that existing problems and their causes are understood,” Mejia said.
Sergio Perez, chief of accountability and oversight for the controller, emphasized the audit is not meant to “beat up” on LAHSA and other stakeholders, but rather to help “shine a light” on a potential sets of paths that can be taken to correct the situation and better meet the need on the streets of Los Angeles.
He also noted LAHSA assisted the controller in gathering the data.
On Tuesday, the controller’s office released its first full audit, which highlighted that LAHSA’s data systems are lacking — regarding data entry related to participant enrollments and exits, and bed attendance data.
Additionally, the audit showed that LAHSA did not “follow up” with interim housing providers on their point-in-time sheltered homeless count data despite “red flags” indicating potential data quality issues. Shelters reported low bed utilization rates, meaning that available beds may not be used efficiently.
Mejia’s office also encouraged LAHSA to develop and implement a plan to monitor, evaluate, and enforce its requirements on shelter program operators to enter bed availability and bed attendance data.
In addition, the audit recommended for LAHSA to follow up with all shelter program operators participating in the Annual Homeless Count that report bed utilization rates below 65% or more than 105%, and require them to correct their count of people experiencing homelessness in their shelter or provide an explanation for low or high bed utilization rates.
Concerns regarding LAHSA’s data quality is not new, as the L.A. City Council has introduced several motions and requested reports back from LAHSA to address issues surrounding homelessness data, such as the number of interim beds available, entry and exit data, and more.
Mejia recognized that the audit while significant is not current, as it took his team several months to complete. He acknowledged LAHSA has taken steps to address these issues.
According to the LAHSA, the audit came at a time when it’s “already working’ on the next generation of its bed availability system — which is set to launch by the end of next year, Dec. 31, 2024.
The new system will encompass detailed tracking of sites, buildings, units and beds, as well as provide current occupancy rates, unit/bed availability in real-time, and visibility to service providers on multiple programs in the same building.
In addition, the agency is working on a new client portal within the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, to better communicate with clients and help them get resources faster. The HMIS has long been a point of frustration for city leaders and the agency.
These changes will list all shelters and access centers, direct messages with case managers, view upcoming appointments and issue alerts during an emergency or severe weather.
“Data collection and dissemination are at the core of LAHSA’s purpose, and we are making significant improvements so we can offer the information that maximizes our interim housing system and move into permanent housing faster,” LAHSA said in a statement. “We look forward to continued collaboration with the city of Los Angeles as we move forward on these projects.”
The controller’s office also launched a demo interim housing availability map, an incomplete tool, that is intended to serve as an example of what could be accomplished with more coordinated efforts.
More than 350 interim housing sites in the city were contacted by Mejia’s team to collect data, and highlight information on population served, requirements for entry, referral processes, current bed availability and daily reporting practices for all sites.
“Unfortunately, it is incomplete because we lacked the necessary data collection and handling to keep it up to date,” Mejia said. “We hope LAHSA and others will step up and help create an accurate and sustainable map.”