A federal judge is ordering the city of Los Angeles to prove that it provided more than 2,600 rental subsidies for unhoused people, evidence that L.A. is complying with long-standing agreements to create more shelter.
U.S. District Judge David O. Carter made the order at the end of a hearing held to determine whether the city is fulfilling its legal obligations in a lawsuit with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a downtown business group that sued the city.
Los Angeles is required to create 6,000 new beds for unhoused people under a 2020 deal known as the Roadmap agreement. The city has been counting rental subsidies in compliance reports submitted to the court.
But Carter said in an amended order issued Thursday that he had “serious concerns about the accuracy” of the numbers. He required city representatives to provide evidence about the rental subsidies by next week.
The judge is expected to make a decision by the end of the month on whether L.A. has breached its legal obligations, as laid out in the agreements, and if control of the city’s homelessness spending should be handed to a third party.
Why it matters now
Several witnesses, including the city administrative officer and deputy mayor for Homelessness and Community Health, testified during the federal court hearing, which lasted more than a week in downtown L.A.
Part of the evidence focused on what are known as time-limited subsidies, which are a means to get unhoused people into apartments and other rental units on the private market, typically for up to two years.
The regional Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, has said the subsidies support people experiencing homelessness by helping them access permanent housing quickly.
According to his order, Carter is…
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