The City Council Tuesday will consider a motion calling for an analysis of homelessness spending and the creation of a public database for related programs.
If approved, council members would instruct relative departments in coordination with the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority to report within 60 days and quarterly thereafter on a comprehensive breakdown of L.A.’s homelessness budget, including reimbursable costs, committed funds, expenditures, and underspending on programs and contracts related to homelessness.
The analysis would examine spending under Inside Safe, LAHSA contracts, safe parking, street medicine teams, among other things.
City Council members would also look to Controller Kenneth Mejia and his team to build an online database to publish and regularly update homeless spending data.
Council members Nithya Raman, Katy Yaroslavsky and Hugo Soto-Martinez introduced the motion March 14. The Housing and Homelessness Committee later advanced the proposal as well.
In the past two fiscal years, the city has allocated a significant amount of funding to address the homelessness crisis. In FY 2023-24, the city spent a combined total of $1.28 billion on homelessness.
City officials contend their investments have resulted in the first decrease in homelessness in the city in recent years and are on track to continue that trend. Recent data from the 2024 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count found a 10% decrease in unsheltered homelessness and a 17% increase of unhoused people entering shelters.
“Currently, there are multiple council committees through which reports about spending on homelessness programs are reviewed and analyzed, but the council lacks a comprehensive resource to guide and inform budgeting and spending throughout the fiscal year,” the motion reads.
Raman noted that a court-ordered audit by Alvarez & Marsal highlighted a need for centralized financial oversight and real-time monitoring. Their audit analyzed city financial and contracting data with LAHSA from June 1, 2020 through June 30, 2024.