“Get me out of this entertainment hell.”
That’s what Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez told the Housing and Homelessness Committee in a fiery opening statement Wednesday as Los Angeles leaders grappled with a big question: should the city finally break away from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA)?
LA pours more than $1 billion a year into homeless programs — and the problem continues to spiral out of control.
“We still have a broken and dysfunctional system without a single organization directing our work on homelessness,” Rodriguez said.
Rodriguez, who has been on the committee for seven years, said the city’s response has become a chaotic field – with tasks split between the mayor’s office, council offices, the Department of Housing and LAHSA.
“It’s like a receptionist taking everyone’s place in a restaurant with no tables,” said Rodriguez.
After hours of debate, the committee postponed a decision until next week while staff prepared additional reports outlining possible ways forward.
Rodriguez presented a proposal that the city explore consolidating its response to homelessness under one department back in 2023. That report took ten months to produce.
Los Angeles County has already begun withdrawing from LAHSA and creating its own department of homelessness and housing, forcing City Hall to grapple with whether it should remain tied to the county agency.
Rodriguez wants a 30-day report outlining a five-year plan to build the Bureau of Homelessness at the Los Angeles Department of Housing, including staffing, overseeing contracts and coordinating with the county.
But the committee faces a political and operational crisis. The committee is chaired by Councilor Nithya Raman who has led the committee since taking office and has been nominated for the mayoralty.
Raman said the issue is more complicated than simply cutting ties with LAHSA.
The agency still applies for federal homelessness funding, conducts an annual homeless count and manages the county’s data tracking services.
At the same time, Raman acknowledged that the city spends more than $1 billion a year on homeless programs while not having a clear framework for measuring results.
“We have to be able to say who is to blame,” Raman said.
City analysts have outlined several ways forward: strengthen the city’s relationship with LAHSA, contract directly with Los Angeles County, or create a new city-run system that can manage homelessness programs on its own.
There are no easy ones.
Creating a new door can take hundreds of workers and years to build. Communicating with the region will require complex negotiations. Staying with LAHSA will require very strong vigilance.
Mayor Karen Bass called for hiring. In a statement Wednesday, Bass warned that cutting ties with LAHSA immediately could disrupt services for vulnerable residents.
“Withdrawing from LAHSA so quickly, without a plan and without capacity, will undoubtedly create unintended consequences that will leave more Angelenos dying on our streets,” Bass said.
Bass also warned that the county’s move to build its own department has opened a $300 million gap in the county’s homelessness program while state and federal funding is shrinking.
For Rodriguez, however, the biggest risk is the delay. “We wasted precious time,” he said.
