Replace failed homeless agency — and failed – Latest News
A federal decide might have compelled the Trump administration to keep funding the LA Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), however the day of reckoning is coming.
The US Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) blocked $241 million in funding to LAHSA in June, citing what it known as “obvious fraud.”
That accusation wasn’t some invention of the Trump White House.
LA County and town of LA had each raised critical questions about mismanagement and conflicts of curiosity at LAHSA.
A federal decide might have compelled the Trump administration to keep funding the LA Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), however the day of reckoning is coming. David Buchan for CA Post
LA County and town of LA had each raised critical questions on mismanagement and conflicts of curiosity at LAHSA. David Buchan for Ca Post
LAHSA has struggled to elucidate what occurred to billions of {dollars} that flowed into its coffers during the last a number of years, together with roughly $1 billion in federal funds.
One factor that LAHSA wasn’t doing: combating homelessness.
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The 2026 homeless rely revealed that the quantity of homeless people within the metropolis of LA rose by 3.4%. The county noticed a rise of 1.2%.
This week, HUD Secretary Scott Turner and US Department of Heath and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. got here to Southern California to drive home the message: LAHSA is a failure.
LAHSA has struggled to elucidate what occurred to billions of {dollars} that flowed into its coffers during the last a number of years, together with roughly $1 billion in federal funds. Jonathan Alcorn for CA Post
Turner famous that whereas homelessness doubled in LA over the previous decade, funding to LAHSA had practically tripled.
There is no excuse — and no cause for taxpayers, at any degree, to be funding the agency.
US District Judge David O. Carter might have blocked the administration from chopping LAHSA’s federal funding.
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But he made clear that he was solely preserving the funding as a result of there was no substitute for LAHSA but.
Kennedy spoke about what a new method ought to appear to be: “treatment first,” as a substitute of “housing first.”
“Housing first” merely spent billions of {dollars} on lodge and motel rooms with out addressing the underlying causes people had turn out to be homeless within the first place.
Those causes typically should do with drug dependancy and mental sickness.
A homeless man leans his head on his knees subsequent to a grocery cart of empty water bottles during an excessive heat advisory on Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Los Angeles, California. (Los Angeles Times) Los Angeles Times by way of Getty Images
In reality, many homeless people who have been merely given housing shortly returned to life on the streets, the place they might discover — and abuse — medication more simply.
Kennedy, who had his own battle with addition a long time in the past, famous that faith-based alternate options just like the Dream Center truly help people get better whereas offering shelter.
The Dream Center helps homeless people get off the road, and back on their toes, for a fraction of the price of the “housing first” coverage that LA, and California, have adopted.
LAHSA should still be right here, however it’s time for LA, and California, to maneuver on — to “treatment first.”
