L.A. Will Pick Who Gets Its Homeless Housing Under New Deal With the County
As LAHSA's core systems move to the county, the city gets its own matching for city-funded units and more data access, ending a threatened court fight.
For years, Los Angeles city leaders have complained that the housing and shelter beds the city pays for are filled through a regional system the city doesn't control. That is about to change. Los Angeles County has agreed in principle to let the city decide who gets placed in city-funded shelters and housing, heading off a possible legal fight over the region's homelessness systems.
The county Board of Supervisors approved the deal Tuesday, after the City Council signed off Friday, the Los Angeles Times reported. The council vote was 10-0, on a motion by Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, according to LAist.
"For the first time, the city of Los Angeles will finally be able to house people from our own streets, not from other cities," Mayor Karen Bass said, calling the agreement "a historic opportunity for the city of Los Angeles to be completely in control of building a system that can end street homelessness."
What the City Gets
The agreement grows out of the breakup of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA, the joint city-county agency that has run the region's homelessness database and the coordinated entry system that matches unhoused people with available housing.
Both of those systems are moving to the county's new Department of Homeless Services and Housing. On Monday, the L.A. Continuum of Care, the regional planning body that controls those federal roles, voted 253-43 to make the county the lead for the database and 219-38 for the matching system, LAist reported. The city had applied to run them too, but the county was chosen.
Under the side deal, the county keeps oversight of both systems, but the city gets expanded access to data about homeless people within city limits and will handle the matching for specified city-funded housing units, under a contract with the county. A county staff report to the supervisors said the agreements are meant to "resolve potential litigation with the City" and help preserve roughly $240 million in federal funding for homeless services in the region. The final contracts still have to be written and signed.
Supervisor Kathryn Barger, who negotiated the terms with Bass, said in a statement that the vote was "a positive step toward a more coordinated and accountable regional response to homelessness."
A Judge Is Watching
The handoff is happening under the eye of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter. In June, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended LAHSA, citing alleged financial mismanagement and conflicts of interest. LAHSA sued, and Carter put the suspension on hold while ordering the region to find replacements for the agency's four federal roles: the database, the matching system, the annual homeless count and the region's federal funding application.
On Tuesday, Carter kept the suspension on hold, which lets federal money keep flowing while the case is settled. First Assistant U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told the court, "In terms of a settlement agreement, we are 90% there," LAist reported. The Times reported that Essayli also agreed in principle to the new city-county arrangement and that Carter extended the stay to Nov. 13 so the parties can finish the remaining details.
Carter also made clear that the city-county side deal can't override his rulings. "It's essential to this court that we have a centralized authority, one place of accountability," he said in court. "We don't want a decentralized LAHSA situation again."
What Changes for People Seeking Help
Not much, at least right away. LAHSA will keep running the database and the matching system for now, and HUD's lawyers said those two functions will move last, no later than the end of 2027. LAHSA's leadership plans to run the next homeless count in January, LAist reported.
Running the systems costs a fraction of the federal money at stake. The county report says LAHSA budgeted about $24.2 million this fiscal year to run all four federal functions, including $12.3 million for the database and $5.8 million for the matching system. The city pays about $2.4 million and $812,000 of those two costs, respectively.
One sticking point in the federal settlement talks is harm reduction, such as programs that hand out clean syringes or pipes. Essayli said that going forward, "federal dollars can no longer be used for harm reduction," while the Continuum of Care's attorney argued that HUD's existing rules already cover the issue.
Once the contracts are signed, Los Angeles will, for the first time, decide who moves into the housing it pays for, and Carter will be watching to make sure the region's systems still answer to one accountable authority.
