The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors gave qualified approval Tuesday to a proposal to study the creation of a new county department that would administer billions of dollars in homeless services funds.
The 4-0 vote calls for the county’s chief executive to report within 60 days on the creation of a department that would combine the homeless-related programs of more than a dozen other departments and the billions of dollars currently managed by Los Angeles Homeless Services. Authority.
“Change and structural change are difficult,” said the organization’s author, board chair Lindsey Horvath. “It is time to take strong but necessary steps to restore transparency and accountability for homelessness by creating a regional department where we have direct oversight.”
Supervisor Holly Mitchell declined, saying she didn’t think creating a new organization would solve the problems auditors and service providers were experiencing in the system.
Recondal “Rick” Wesco, 60, has been homeless for 21 years and was waiting for a Section 8 voucher.
(Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times)
When the study was voted on, Supervisor Janice Hahn expressed her doubts and pressed the district’s chief executive officer to give the pros and cons of the report and not treat it as a “done deal.”
“For me, I want to know how this department is going to fix what’s broken,” said Hahn. “How can this do a better job in fixing this problem. I want to take the last vote with my eyes open.”
In the back and forth with Hahn, CEO Fesia Davenport refused to commit to making policy recommendations in the report.
“I’m just being asked how we were going to do it,” he said. “My report will say yes it is possible, or no, it is not possible.”
He added that it could be analyzed how to avoid repeating the issues that appeared in the homeless authority audit released last week and previous audits.
A recent audit found that LAHSA, the city’s joint power agency, failed to return all but $2.5 million of the $50.8 million that had been advanced to service providers, failed to establish formal agreements on how and when the advances were to be returned and could not provide an accurate inventory of all contracts and their effective dates.
In his proposal, co-authored by Supervisor Kathryn Barger, Horvath cited research and the inclusion of new homelessness funds that would come from the voter-approved Measure A sales tax.
But he expressed a broader view of the need for change, saying that since his 2022 election he had “put himself at every decision-making table” to “understand and act.”
LAHSA, a joint energy authority created in 1993 as part of a settlement between the city and county, has expanded the homelessness problem “without a deliberate conversation about whether that makes sense,” she said.
Both Mitchell and Hahn questioned the conclusion that the study found improper use of homeless funds.
“I’m concerned that it’s leading to misrepresentation of our suppliers,” said Mitchell.
“It was about LAHSA’s business practices,” Hahn said. “It was not the fault of the suppliers. I’m glad we made those cash payments. I think it was very important to get money out of providers to help people on the street. “
LAHSA CEO, Adams Kellum, did not take sides with this proposal but read a long statement reviewing his efforts to deal with problems in the audit, which he knows well as the head of the St Joseph Center when he takes this job in 2023.
“I think we should have written another audit report a few years ago,” he said. “These are old problems.”
The proposal approved Tuesday requires the district’s chief executive to provide three reports: a potential report in 60 days, an analysis of what plans the district and LAHSA will receive from the new department in 90 days and a financial and staffing plan in 120 days.
Then a new vote is needed to continue.
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