The City of Los Angeles has spent less than half of its money budgeted to fight homelessness in the last fiscal year. That’s less than $600 million out of $1.3 billion. It includes state and federal grants, as well as tax dollars. According to LA City Controller Kenneth Mejia, whose office released the findings last week, there are several reasons why, including a lack of coordination among city departments and agencies.
Mejia tells KCRW there is no centralized homelessness department in LA, leading to a scattered approach: “We have a department of housing, which is in charge of preserving and building affordable housing and tenants rights. We have a department just for police. We have a department just for animals. But we don't have a department that just focuses on homelessness.”
He continues, “Pretty much everyone in every department in the city is touching homelessness, right? So there's no centralized accounting or tracking. … In addition, there's not enough staff.”
He points out that while the money left on the table is supposed to roll into the next fiscal year, it could also return to reserve funds or the city’s general fund to be spent on other matters.
Additionally, because some of the allocated funds are grant-based, there is the risk that the city could lose money altogether: “For federal funds, we used a lot of that American Rescue Plan money that came in during COVID. But we just have to make sure … we're using it, because it's a lot of money that's left on the table, like $185 million from state grants. That's a lot of money that we should be using.”
So what has the city been doing with the funds that have been spent so far? Mejia says about $262 million from Prop HHH has been used for permanent, supportive housing, and approximately $126 million on Mayor Bass’ Inside Safe program. Another $70 million from Measure ULA was used for tenant housing protection and other initiatives.
Now, Mejia says his office recommends that the city increase efficiency and collaboration to tackle the crisis. He says dedicated staff is needed to track the budget: “When I got in here, I made it a point to be like, okay, I know that homelessness is spread across so many people. … We need to go into our accounting system, and for every expense that relates to homelessness, we need to add an accounting code, and the accountants and the departments need to book to that code if they touch anything that's homelessness.”
In a statement to KCRW, the Office of Mayor Karen Bass says, “While the Controller is saying there’s too much money being spent one day, and not enough being spent the next, Mayor Bass has been executing a prudent and comprehensive strategy that brought down homelessness overall for the first time in years and reduced street homelessness by 10%. Even before taking office, she warned that the city’s antiquated systems would get in the way, but while others ponder reports about the decades-long problems, she has been leading the charge to fix the issues head on. If others want to join in, we welcome that.”