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Amid a 5% loss in overall funding this budget year, the top homeless services agency for the Los Angeles area announced Friday it would reassign or lay off employees within the next few months.<\/p>\n
In a statement to LAist, the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority said it would need to cut some of its outreach staff positions because of funding cuts from the city of L.A. for the 2025-26 fiscal year. <\/p>\n
But the agency, known as LAHSA, also said it is hoping to avoid those layoffs by moving some employees into similar vacant positions funded by other sources.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is an incredibly difficult situation, and the well-being of our staff is our top priority,\u201d said LAHSA\u2019s acting CEO Rachel Johnson. \u201cWe are committed to exploring every possible option to retain our valued team members.\u201d <\/p>\n
The agency is jointly governed by the city of L.A. and L.A. County, and it administers homeless services for the region\u2019s estimated 72,000 unhoused residents. A plan to pull county funding from LAHSA won\u2019t affect the agency until next year. <\/p>\n
LAHSA reported<\/a> in May that it employed 734 people and had 125 vacancies in full-time budgeted positions. <\/p>\n Last month, the agency approved an overall budget of about $836 million <\/a>for the fiscal year that started July 1. That\u2019s compared to about $875 million<\/a> in the previous fiscal year.<\/p>\n LAHSA is funded through a mix of county, city, state, federal and private dollars. But nearly all of those funding sources took a dip in the current budget year, according to the agency. <\/p>\n The funding challenges this year reflect the broader fiscal climate, LAHSA said, with the city, county and state all facing budget shortfalls. <\/p>\n Layoffs or no?<\/p>\n It\u2019s unclear how many LAHSA employees will eventually be laid off as a result of LAHSA\u2019s budget challenges. The agency says it will have to make the staffing changes by Oct. 15. If outreach employees aren\u2019t reassigned by then, layoffs will begin.<\/p>\n But LAHSA has put out mixed messages about its plans.<\/p>\n On Thursday, Johnson sent an email to LAHSA employees and others that warned layoffs were imminent. <\/p>\n \u201cAfter an exhaustive review of our options, LAHSA leadership has determined that we will not be able to retain all current staff,\u201d Johnson wrote in a email obtained by LAist. \u201cAs a result, LAHSA will move forward with at least one round, but possibly more, of staff reductions in the near future.\u201d<\/p>\n One day later, the agency appeared to soften the message in a statement to LAist. <\/p>\n \u201cAs LAHSA continues its financial review, it may identify the need for further position reductions,\u201d Friday\u2019s LAHSA statement said. \u201cHowever, LAHSA is hopeful that layoffs will be avoided by placing impacted staff into alternative roles.\u201d <\/p>\n Budget problems<\/p>\n City funding for LAHSA is down from $306.5 million last year to $290 million this year, as the city of Los Angeles stares down a $1 billion budget deficit.<\/p>\n State funding for LAHSA also declined from $145.4 million last fiscal year to $88.5 million this year, with expiring or reduced grants. Meanwhile, federal LAHSA funding dropped from $72.6 million to $69 million. <\/p>\n In April, L.A. County leaders voted to strip about $350 million in funding from LAHSA and eventually administer those funds itself, through a new county homelessness department. <\/p>\n But those funds don\u2019t shift until next July. That\u2019s not the cause of LAHSA\u2019s current budget problems, the agency said. <\/p>\n \u201cThe funding challenges for the current fiscal year are primarily a result of the broader fiscal climate, and most would have likely occurred regardless of the County\u2019s motion,\u201d a LAHSA spokesperson told LAist. <\/p>\n County funding for LAHSA appears to have increased this budget year \u2014 from $348 million to $379 million. <\/p>\n County transition<\/p>\n The plan to transition staff and funding from LAHSA to the county\u2019s Department of Homeless Services and Housing in July 2026 is still taking shape. LAHSA is determining what these changes will mean for its staffing levels, the agency said. <\/p>\n County leaders said they were motivated to pull LAHSA\u2019s funding after an audit and a federal court-ordered report found LAHSA had failed to properly track its vendors and hold them accountable for spending. <\/p>\n L.A. County recently began collecting a new stream of homelessness revenue known as Measure A. The sales tax, approved by voters last year, is expected to generate $1 billion a year for homelessness and affordable housing. The Measure A campaign, led by homeless service providers and nonprofits, promised voters more accountability and transparency. <\/p>\n The biggest part of LAHSA\u2019s budget (84%) is passed along to the nonprofits it contracts with to provide shelter and or other services. The agency\u2019s service-provider budget is $698 million this budget year, down from $716.8 million the previous year.<\/p>\n LAHSA\u2019s budget for programs it provides directly to unhoused Angelenos, including housing and outreach, dropped by 25% this fiscal year \u2014 from $115.3 million to $86.4 million. Meanwhile, the agency\u2019s administrative budget this year is $44.4 million, up slightly from last budget year. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Keep up with LAist. If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. 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