The L.A. City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to explore withdrawing from the troubled agency tasked with serving the unhoused just one week after L.A. County supervisors voted to end hundreds of millions of dollars in annual funding.
County supervisors voted last week to pull nearly $350 million a year in funding from the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, following a series of scathing reports on accountability and transparency.
The City Council had previously voted to explore defunding the agency, but that has taken on new urgency in the wake of the county’s decision. Council members who previously supported the city and county staying with LAHSA now say they need to also withdraw or be taken advantage of.
The city currently provides more than $300 million to LAHSA each year, which the agency uses to provide homeless services across the county. LAHSA is overseen by a commission appointed by city and county elected officials.
“As far as I am concerned, LAHSA is effectively ended,” L.A. City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson said before the vote Tuesday.
The city’s chief legislative analyst and city administrative officer will now report to the council within 30 days on options for separating from LAHSA.
“LAHSA has continued to show themselves to be a very big part of the problem,” said Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who added that cities such as Glendale and Long Beach have done a better job at managing homelessness with their own agencies than LAHSA has in greater Los Angeles.
The vote came hours after the Department of Justice announced it was forming a federal task force to investigate potential fraud, waste and corruption in Los Angeles County when it comes to spending federal funding on homelessness. On Friday, the…
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