LA County Takes Bigger Role In Homelessness System As LAHSA Loses Key Duties

LOS ANGELES, CA — Los Angeles County will take over data management for the region's homelessness response, replacing the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority amid an ongoing legal battle between the city-county agency and the federal government, it was announced Monday.

The L.A. Continuum of Care general membership voted Monday afternoon to award the county two remaining administrative roles — oversight of the Homeless Management Information System and the Coordinated Entry System.

The Los Angeles CoC is a collaborative body consisting of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, cities, the county, service providers and other entities, and is responsible for coordinating regional homelessness programs and federal funding. It excludes Long Beach, Glendale and Pasadena, which have their own distinct CoCs.

General membership is broadly defined as anyone who works for the county, municipalities, service providers, unhoused people and others who are working to reduce homelessness across the region.

"Today's decision marks another important moment for our region, where the actions we take signal our unity around a goal we all share: to relentlessly pursue an end to homelessness in every city and unincorporated area across L.A. County," Carter Hewgley, chief strategy officer at the county's Department of Homeless Services and Housing.

"...We commit to working in partnership with all cities and unincorporated areas, including our partners in the city of LA, as well as service providers, people with lived expertise, and all other CoC members across the region to support a coordinated, effective and equitable response to homelessness," Hewgley added.

L.A. city officials made an appearance to express their support of the decision to award the county with the roles, which comes after both parties were able to come to an agreement on data sharing last week.

Mayor Karen Bass and some City Council members had waged an effort to take on the roles for HMIS and CES, arguing that the city needs more say over who gets placed in its homelessness programs and housing initiatives.

City Council members recently directed top officials to explore legal options, if necessary, and to explore plans to stand up their own continuum of care.

"I strongly believe that our system is best served by a shared governance model. I'm grateful to our county partners for their engagement in a process to define the city of L.A.'s ongoing role in this process," L.A. Housing Department Homelessness Oversight Bureau Director Kimberly Farnham said.

"The city has asked not just for direct access, but inclusive data management and system development. The city of L.A. and other jurisdictions are integrally included as decision makers in system design and data reporting. We need to be able to regularly validate data accuracy and ensure excellence in data input," Farnham added.

The L.A. CoC said it would allow the county to move forward with its data-sharing agreement.

Following the CoC vote, county Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she supported their pursuit of all four key roles because she believed the county is well-positioned to serve the region, particularly given the investments made to establish the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing.

"This is an opportunity to strengthen accountability in administering federal funding and coordinating services for people experiencing homelessness. But regional leadership requires collaboration. The agreement reached with the city of Los Angeles on data sharing and housing placement priorities reflects that commitment. Today's vote is a positive step toward a more coordinated and accountable regional response to homelessness," Barger said in a statement.

Earlier this month, the general membership awarded the county with two other major administrative roles, appointing it as the collaborative applicant and lead for the annual point-in-time homeless count. In that role, the county would submit a single application for the region to receive federal funding for homelessness programs and initiatives.

A final determination about the four roles will be resolved during a court hearing Tuesday.

During Friday's City Council meeting, Councilwoman Ysabel Jurado thanked departments for negotiating with the county on the issue.

"You know we had conceded and we agreed that the county should be the collaborative applicant and conduct the PIT count. But really, what was at issue between us and the county was the matching program and the data that undergrids our huge homelessness governance system," said Jurado, who chairs the council's Homelessness and Health Committee.

Each of the four administrative roles are led by LAHSA, but due to ongoing litigation between the federal government, LAHSA and the L.A. CoC, the responsibilities needed to be awarded to another organization.

U.S. Housing and Urban Development officials had suspended LAHSA from accessing millions of federal dollars, citing allegations of fraud and misuse of taxpayer funding. LAHSA sued HUD to overturn the suspension, and the case is ongoing.

City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo told the council that staff members were working on a data use agreement with the county, with the goal of ironing out further details in binding agreements.

Under the proposed agreement, the city would have access to all data related to persons experiencing homelessness within the city. Additionally, under the proposed agreement, the city would have proportional representation on any body, working group, or other process-making or other decision on reporting that contains city data.

"Everyone that currently has access, many of your staff have access, that they will continue to have, and we will also be able to incorporate access to input data as well," Szabo said.

County officials agreed to fund and provide regular training to city staff and city-funded service providers on HMIS, as well as technical assistance to city teams. The county also agreed to fund and maintain modifications to HMIS based on reasonable requests by the city.

On the topic of the Coordinated Entry System and matching, the county will contract with the city to manage the process for all city-funded resources.

"This is an agreement that there would be local preference for city persons experiencing homelessness for city housing," Szabo added.

Councilman Tim McOsker raised concerns about enforceability of the agreement, and the provision on proportional representation.

"We should not be rewarding parts of the county that drive homelessness into the city of Los Angeles, and provide no alternatives for the homeless folks that they just drove into the city of Los Angeles," McOsker said.

Jurado said the proposed agreement is an "increase from what we've had before."

"It's giving us access to the current HMIS data that we have right now, in addition to the raw data that undergrids it, so we can create our own reports, our own dashboards and adjust strategies to accommodate our needs in real time," Jurado said. "That's something we've never had."

By Jose Herrera, City News Service