Top L.A. city and county leaders are promising to fix long delays in reimbursing nonprofits that provide the bulk of local homeless services after they warned of possible cuts to staff and services.
The issue was front and center at Tuesday’s meeting of L.A. County supervisors, who acknowledged the problem and convened a two-hour public discussion with officials who oversee the payments and five leaders of major nonprofit providers. They spoke of months-long delays in getting reimbursed by the city and county’s joint Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), which were confirmed by officials.
“We’ve collectively reached the breaking point and can no longer carry the system,” said John Maceri, CEO of the nonprofit provider The People Concern, calling it “a perfect storm.”
He and other nonprofit leaders said providers are struggling to make payroll for their staff and are taking out private loans to cover the gaps. That can mean hundreds of thousands of dollars a year just in interest payments, which are not reimbursed by the government, they said.
Maceri said it often takes three months or longer for providers to get reimbursed for their costs, which often are millions per month. At supervisors’ request, LAHSA officials presented data showing $48 million in past due reimbursements to providers as of Friday.
“The greatest impact will be felt in the next seven days, when [the nonprofit] LA Family Housing will be unable to process” $1.2 million due to landlords for over 565 households in permanent housing, said Kimberly Roberts, the group’s chief program officer.
Another $1.5 million will be needed to continue temporary housing, “placing 1,000 households — households that make up over 3,000 men, women, and children — at risk of…
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