Los Angeles\u2019 regional homelessness agency is working to find ways to keep thousands of people in their homes, while complying with new federal funding restrictions on permanent housing.<\/p>\n
The governing board for the L.A. Homeless Services Authority voted Monday to start the process of reallocating about $130 million in federal funding currently being spent on permanent housing to other projects meant to serve unhoused Angelenos.<\/p>\n
Because of new funding restrictions from the U.S. Office of Housing and Urban Development, known as HUD, about 5,000 households in the county will lose their rental subsidies, according to several LAHSA officials who spoke at a commission meeting Monday. <\/p>\n
Those changes, along with state and county funding shortfalls for homeless services, threaten to drastically worsen the region\u2019s homelessness crisis, they said. <\/p>\n
“The fact of the matter is there\u2019s going to be a tremendous and terrible impact on people, on agencies, on landlords,\u201d said Nathaniel VerGow, LAHSA\u2019s chief program officer. <\/p>\n
Officials said they\u2019re scrambling to maximize federal funding under the new guidelines while also advocating against the new HUD policy. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a cliff and it feels catastrophic, but I think it forces us as a region to figure out how to save ourselves,\u201d LAHSA Commission Chair Amber Sheikh said.<\/p>\n
The funding challenge <\/p>\n
Most federal homelessness dollars flow into the L.A. region through the Continuum of Care<\/a> program, managed by HUD.<\/p>\n The Los Angeles region is eligible for more than $260 million in federal funding under that program in the coming fiscal year, including $217 million for existing projects. <\/p>\n But no more than 30% of those funds can go toward permanent housing projects, according to a \u201cnotice of funding opportunity<\/a>\u201d HUD issued last month. <\/p>\n That\u2019s a challenge for L.A. County, because 90% of regional HUD funds currently cover people\u2019s rent, according to LASHA officials.<\/p>\n Instead, L.A. and other cities and counties must spend the bulk of their federal funds on other interventions, including transitional housing and street outreach.<\/p>\n HUD officials have said the policy is meant to encourage self-sufficiency.<\/p>\n At Monday\u2019s meeting, Commissioner Justin Szlasa urged his colleagues to consider larger funding trends. <\/p>\n \u201c\u200aThere’s actually a 23% increase in available funding from HUD, the federal government,\u201d he said. \u201cIt just doesn’t work with the way that we normally have done things here.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe need to find, in this crisis, a way to be constructive about this,\u201d Szlasa added. <\/p>\n HUD policy changes <\/p>\n HUD released its new notice of funding opportunity last month and rescinded a previous two-year funding agreement. <\/p>\n Opponents have concerns with the federal housing department\u2019s move away from \u201chousing first\u201d approaches. They also said HUD rolled out the changes without providing enough time to prepare service providers and clients for disruptions.<\/p>\n