The Los Angeles City Council approved a resolution Tuesday formally opposing the Trump administration’s decision to suspend federal funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority over allegations of fraud and widespread mismanagement.
In a 14-0 vote, the council supported the resolution, which was introduced by Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson, and seconded by his colleagues John Lee, Heather Hutt, Katy Yaroslavsky, Tim McOsker and Ysabel Jurado.
Councilman Curren Price recused himself from the vote.
“This resolution condemns the action and commits the city to fighting back on behalf of our homeless neighbors,” Harris-Dawson said.
The council president noted LAHSA has faced a lot of well-documented criticism.
“You don’t solve that by kicking houseless people out on the street,” Harris-Dawson said. “If you really want to deal with fraud, you deal with the people you think are carrying out fraud.”
He said the homeless crisis is complex, and includes struggles with L.A. County over services and funding, but those issues should not be “debated and struggled over on the backs of people who are the most vulnerable in our society. This motion asks us to go on record denouncing the action, asking HUD to pull back and to reconsider, and again, leave our people housed,” Harris-Dawson said.
At the same time, however, the council is taking steps to separate itself from the troubled homelessness agency.
In 2024, Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez introduced a motion to have the city establish its own homelessness department — proposed legislation that has been stalled in committee since then. Rodriguez has criticized LAHSA, and has called for more reporting and transparency around the use of taxpayer funds on homeless-related services and programs.
“I’m just going to continue to remind us that the conversation around separating ourselves from LAHSA is a two-year conservation, and when there were certain people that were leading the charge to beg the county to stay invested in it — that should have been our sign to actually take action, but that action has been punted, squatted on and not moved,” Rodriguez said.
She said members have a responsibility to address the needs of people who are unhoused, and to make sure the city has a functional system.
“Currently, we are still tethered to a system, where the county still has legislative input in how LAHSA functions, and it’s imbalanced because they pulled out all of their money,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez also took a jab at Councilwoman Nithya Raman, who is running against Mayor Karen Bass in November. Raman serves as the chair of the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee.
“This is a moment for us to actually take this as a sign for action and a call to action, and stop allowing people to wait for a promotion before they actually do their job,” Rodriguez said.
Councilman Tim McOsker supported the resolution, and also acknowledged the troubles with LAHSA.
“This not a full-throated endorsement of LAHSA. This is a full-throated commitment to caring for the people who are our residents and need to be cared for,” McOsker said.
The councilman added that the council’s Budget and Finance Committee will be discussing a motion he introduced with Jurado to carefully, if not speedily, remove the city from LAHSA. On Monday, the LAHSA Commission convened for a closed session to discuss HUD’s action.
“The LAHSA Commission did not report any action from yesterday’s closed session. LAHSA continues to weigh all possible options to ensure thousands of formerly homeless Angelenos keep their homes,” according to a statement from the agency.
Last week, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced it had suspended federal funding to LAHSA in the wake of an investigation.
HUD Secretary Scott Turner said in a statement that HUD had “uncovered evidence of LAHSA’s false statements and its irresponsible actions and failures,” including a lack of financial management and lack of safeguards against conflicts of interest.
The Los Angeles Continuum of Care, led by LAHSA, has received nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars over the last five years. Despite federal assistance, L.A. remains the epicenter of the nation’s “drug-fueled” homeless crisis, according to Turner.
HUD stated in a letter to LAHSA that suspension of funding will be final if the agency does not contest the notice by requesting a hearing. LAHSA must file a written hearing request within 30 days of receipt of the notice.
LAHSA officials pushed backed on the federal government’s claims, stating that its actions could put thousands of formerly homeless people back on the street.
“LAHSA received a letter from HUD announcing a suspension of CoC funding. After initial review, this appears to be a blatant attempt to pull yet more resources from Los Angeles, a city they have targeted time and again, when it is clear that LAHSA has either corrected or is in the process of correcting nearly all of the issues raised,” according to a statement from LAHSA.
The organization maintained that local oversight actions have already resulted in strong repairs and reforms to LAHSA’s internal controls, which officials said are “accountable and viewable to the public.”
“If HUD’s Inspector General actually conducts a fair review of LAHSA’s current and future practices, they will clearly see how our systems now allow us to clearly track the work and investments that have resulted in L.A. outperforming the nation by reducing homelessness over the last two years,” LAHSA said in its statement.
“While the review plays out, our immediate priority is to explore all available options to ensure that federal funds continue to support the thousands of people who have been housed through LAHSA and our broader rehousing system,” the statement continued.
Bass and County Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Hilda Solis also issued statements criticizing HUD’s decision.
Bass recently said that she directed city officials to “move away” from LAHSA, but she previously worked to maintain the relationship between the city and the joint city/county agency. She appointed herself as a member of the LAHSA Commission, which oversees the agency, in 2023 for a three-year term expected to end this month.