The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted to effectively pull out of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA.) Conan Nolan reports for the NBC4 News at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, April 1, 2025.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors Tuesday voted to effectively pull out of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a massive agency that the city and county have been sending tax revenue to administer the effort to end homelessness.
After audits indicated a lack of transparency in the financial accounting of services provided, the board voted 4-0 to set up the county’s own homeless services department, with Supervisor Holly Mitchell abstaining.
“The status quo isn’t working,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said during a meeting Tuesday, saying the county’s own homeless agency would receive better oversight with improved efficiency and results.
“All my cities are in favor of us going forward,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger said, echoing the need to break up with LAHSA.
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The decision was met by opposition from Los Angeles city officials with city councilmembers crossing the street from LA City Hall to speak up against the vote during the board meeting.
While some councilmembers said they are no fans of the homeless agency with Councilmember Monica Rodriguez saying LAHSA “is really good at cashing (LA’s) checks,” others said the timing is not right for the county government to quit LAHSA.
“When the federal government is taking everything away, we need to be united,” said Councilmember Katy Yaroslavsky who represents the West LA district.
Mayor Karen Bass and Councilwoman Nithya Raman also wrote a letter to board members asking them to reject the proposed new county department, insisting that progress has been made in the fight against homelessness in the past two years through the coordinated city-county agency, and “we must keep building on this and confronting our challenges, together.''
The county's vote came on the day the countywide sales tax increased by a quarter-cent to provide additional funding for anti-homelessness programs.
The increase was approved by voters in November with passage of Measure A, a half-cent sales tax for homeless programs that will be in effect in perpetuity. The tax replaced a previous voter-approved quarter-cent sales tax that was set to expire in 2027.
The new county agency is expected to be in place by Jan. 1, with some $300 million pulled from LAHSA and transferred to the new county department by July 1, 2026.
