A meeting meant to decide whether Los Angeles County should take over key administrative duties for the region’s homelessness programs fell apart Friday after lasting only about two minutes, with no vote taken. The abrupt end prompted Mayor Karen Bass and four City Council members to call for the city to keep a direct role in overseeing those services.
The Los Angeles Continuum of Care general membership meeting was cut short because organizers had not prepared for the size of the crowd that showed up, according to a joint statement from Bass and City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson along with Councilmembers Ysabel Jurado, Tim McOsker and Imelda Padilla.
“Today’s meeting broke down just two minutes after it began because the Board did not plan adequately for a large audience,” the officials said. “Angelenos want a voice in the future of homelessness services, and they were silenced today.”
At issue was a proposal to shift key administrative responsibilities away from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and hand them to Los Angeles County, which is working to consolidate homelessness programs under its newly created Department of Homeless Services and Housing.
The Continuum of Care is the body that coordinates regional homelessness efforts, including tracking housing placements, managing data and applying for federal grants. County officials want those administrative functions moved under their control as part of a larger restructuring of how the region handles homelessness.
Bass and the four council members argue the city cannot afford to lose its say in the process, especially when it comes to deciding who gets placed into housing that the city itself helps pay for.
“The City must be able to help the people on our own streets by placing them into the housing that we build and fund in order to solve the homelessness crisis,” the officials said.
City leaders say Los Angeles puts hundreds of millions of dollars into homelessness housing but currently has limited authority over who ultimately moves in. They are calling for a shared city-county oversight model instead of the county-only administration recommended by the Continuum of Care’s board.
“The current proposal for County-only administration, recommended by the LA CoC Board, leaves no room for those voices to be heard,” the officials said. “Without collaboration and transparency, management of this complex issue will continue to falter, and worse, our unhoused neighbors will continue to suffer.”
The dispute is unfolding against a backdrop of years of criticism directed at LAHSA, the joint city-county agency created in 1993 to manage homelessness programs across the region.
No new date has been set for the Continuum of Care to reconvene. City officials are urging residents, business owners, advocates and service providers to turn out whenever the next meeting is scheduled.
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