Supporters say O\u2019Neill has the experience to steer the embattled agency, which is under scrutiny because of oversight and accounting issues. O\u2019Neill served as the L.A. city attorney\u2019s first director of homeless strategies.<\/p>\n
Mayor Karen Bass, a member of the commission, called O\u2019Neill\u2019s \u201cdeep expertise and leadership\u201d a good fit for LAHSA as it navigates the county government pulling its funding<\/a> from the agency. The city has not yet decided<\/a> whether it will do the same.<\/p>\n But some advocates for the unhoused say O\u2019Neill\u2019s appointment sends the wrong message.<\/p>\n Kristy Lovich, a community organizer and former LAHSA employee, told LAist that O\u2019Neill\u2019s experience with the city, helping to craft and enforce policies that penalize unhoused people for sleeping in cars and tents, is incompatible with LAHSA\u2019s mission to serve that population.<\/p>\n \u201cThe signal sent by the city\u2019s leading homeless service agency with O\u2019Neill\u2019s appointment is understood loud and clear: There is a war on the poor,\u201d Lovich said.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill declined to be interviewed for this story.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill\u2019s background<\/p>\n In a statement released by LAHSA, O\u2019Neill said she was honored to step into the role of interim CEO.<\/p>\n \u201cThe challenge of homelessness in our community is immense, and the system is undergoing significant changes,\u201d the statement read.<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill started her tenure with the L.A. City Attorney\u2019s Office 25 years ago, working in the neighborhood prosecutor program and eventually becoming its supervisor. She was assigned to the Police Department\u2019s Pacific Division, which includes Venice Beach and LAX, to prosecute people accused of misdemeanor offenses, including so-called \u201cquality-of-life\u201d crimes, like loitering, drug possession, vandalism, blight, graffiti and public urination.<\/p>\n Authorities said O\u2019Neill was responsible for working with police officers and community members to identify and charge problem offenders. She also oversaw the city\u2019s Homeless Engagement and Response Team<\/a>, a program that helps unhoused Angelenos clear legal citations.<\/p>\n From 2017 to 2023, she worked as the L.A. city attorney\u2019s first director of homeless policies. In that role, O\u2019Neill supported the city\u2019s COVID-19 response and helped develop the city\u2019s first citywide shelter system. <\/p>\n Some activists and community organizers argue thousands of lives were damaged by city policies O\u2019Neill helped design and uphold.<\/p>\n \u201cShe built her career on prosecuting unhoused people for quality of life crimes and creating policies that harm unhoused people,\u201d Venice-based activist Peggy Lee Kennedy told commissioners on Friday. <\/p>\n Between 2016 and 2022, more than 42% of all LAPD misdemeanor arrests were of unhoused people, according to a Human Rights Watch report<\/a>. Unhoused Angelenos represent about 1% of the city\u2019s overall population.<\/p>\n A worker with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority helps a person move a cart with their possessions.<\/p>\n (<\/p>\n Patrick T. Fallon<\/p>\n \/<\/p>\n AFP via Getty Images<\/p>\n )<\/p>\n John Raphling, a former public defender now with Human Rights Watch, said LAHSA has been pressed into supporting criminalization over the years, mostly by City Council members responding to frustrated constituents. Now, the agency will be led by someone who coordinates closely with law enforcement.<\/p>\n \u201cAppointing her is a signal from city and county officials that there is going to be more emphasis on the criminalization side,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n According to LAHSA\u2019s guiding principles,<\/a> published in 2021, the agency opposes efforts to criminalize homelessness.<\/p>\n But critics say the agency violated those principles when it began assigning outreach workers to accompany police officers and sanitation workers on encampment sweeps in 2019. <\/p>\n Lovich worked as supervisor within LAHSA’s access and engagement department until she was fired in July 2020 after she publicly criticized LAHSA for including policing in its outreach efforts. She said O\u2019Neill\u2019s appointment helps align the agency with law enforcement, not services and housing.<\/p>\n \u201cThis radically contradicts research-based best practices, not to mention LAHSA\u2019s very own policies,\u201d she told LAist.<\/p>\n Between 2016 and 2022, LAHSA included offers of shelter or housing in just 3% of all sweeps, according to the Human Rights Watch report.<\/p>\n A transitional period<\/p>\n O\u2019Neill\u2019s appointment comes at a difficult time for the homelessness agency.<\/p>\n A county audit<\/a> and a March report<\/a> found serious oversight and accounting issues at LAHSA. In April, L.A. County leaders voted to strip nearly $350 million<\/a> from the agency\u2019s $875 million budget next fiscal year and administer that homeless services funding within their own new county department. <\/p>\n The homeless services system is staring down a perfect storm<\/a> of local, state and federal budget cuts and reductions. Bass and other local leaders are facing mounting state and federal pressure to cite or arrest unhoused Angelenos for public camping and other crimes.<\/p>\n Last week, President Donald Trump signed an executive order<\/a> that seeks to make cities and states<\/a> who enforce laws against public camping, squatting and illicit drug use priorities for federal grant dollars from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD.<\/p>\n Local leaders said they worry the order could result in the loss of hundreds of millions in federal dollars currently used on programs that prioritize housing and services over punishment. <\/p>\n![\"Three](\"https:\/\/scpr.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/acad9ed\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/1490x990+0+0\/resize\/792x526!\/quality\/90\/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fscpr-brightspot.s3.us-west-2.amazonaws.com%2F4f%2Fa3%2F0937fdb9421ba908d3da3e9be917%2Fscreenshot-2025-05-20-085358.png\")
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