LOS ANGELES—A Los Angeles city committee Aug. 3 expressed its continued frustration with the lack of data related to its efforts to address homelessness—with some members saying they are considering halting further funds to the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority (LAHSA) until they get access to that information.
In its fifth report to the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee on Aug. 2, Mayor Karen Bass’s office, LAHSA representatives, and the chief administrative officer provided details on homelessness spending and data on the mayor’s Inside Safe initiative.
Matt Szabo, city administrative officer, informed the panel that LAHSA developed a data module within the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, to track key metrics of the mayor’s Inside Safe initiative, an effort to bring homeless Angelenos inside to motels and address encampments.
The data also cover a number of people who, through Inside Safe, are currently permanently housed, are in interim housing, have exited the program, or are being served from the streets.
“My office and the mayor’s office continue to work with LAHSA and service providers to receive leveraged funding information which will be included in future reports,” Mr. Szabo said. “I know this has been something that this committee has asked for each time before ... we are still working on that information.”
Concerns
Councilwoman Nithya Raman, chair of the housing committee, said that the report “increased in length, but hasn’t changed significantly.”Councilman Bob Blumenfield, a member of the committee, thanked the mayor’s efforts to obtain data from LAHSA while also keeping track of the same data.
“There’s much more improvement to data collecting on the front end, but there’s a lot more work to do in terms of the exit data, not only for Inside Safe participants but for those in the tiny home program,” he said.
Officials said that while they continue to make improvements in their data collecting, there are gaps in the exit data.
Mr. Blumenfield said that presented a “big problem,” as the city may be paying for unoccupied rooms.
“That’s horrifying, so we could be paying for weeks for an empty room when somebody left two weeks earlier, and we could be using that room to house someone,” he said.
Mercedes Marquez, the mayor’s chief of housing and homelessness solutions, noted that collecting exit data is a requirement but that it has not been completely carried out, citing capacity issues with service providers. Ms. Marquez said the mayor’s office would need to provide training to address that issue.
Ms. Marquez reassured the committee that the mayor’s office is “constantly” verifying invoices and checking in with service providers.
“I wouldn’t tell you that it is never true that an extra day is paid for, but it is not usual because we check every invoice before it goes to the CAO,” Ms. Marquez said.
Mr. Blumenfield said this issue with receiving data from LAHSA is “frustrating to say the least,” adding that the city provided the agency an extra $4.9 million out of the budget last year and another $1 million to pay for HMIS enhancements. Yet, city officials have not received all the data they have requested access to.
LAHSA officials told the board that they never denied them access, but rather that there’s a process they must follow to provide data. The HMIS is overseen by the Los Angeles Continuum of Care, which provides counsel to LAHSA.
“I just want to be clear that the CoC Board has operational authority over the HMIS,” Emily Vaughn Henry, deputy chief information officer for LAHSA, said.
Ms. Henry said they are in the process of updating the agency’s HMIS “all access policy,” which would need to be approved by the CoC Board. It’s taking time because it also affects the cities of Glendale, Pasadena, and Long Beach, as they’re also partners.
“I appreciate that, but I just want to put it out there—I’m at the end of my rope on this,” Mr. Blumenfield said. “I want to stop any dollars going to LAHSA until we have access to this data.”
He added, “I don’t have a mechanism to do that quite yet, but that’s literally where I’m going.”
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez echoed her colleague, adding that “there’s a fundamental problem with getting some very basic information.” She said the issue is costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
Spending
The mayor and city council approved an initial $50 million in December 2022 for Inside Safe. The report from Mr. Szabo, the city administrative officer, showed that as of July 14, the city expended approximately $18 million of the $50 million from the Homelessness Emergency Account.City officials expected $32 million to be obligated through June 30, which is the end date for the 2022–2023 fiscal year.
In May, the council approved the mayor’s budget for the 2023–2024 budget, which allocated $250 million for Inside Safe. The council approved an initial $67.5 million to be expended by the mayor and the remaining $184.3 million to be released as the funds are expended.
As of July 14, no money has been expended from the $250 million, according to the report.
As part of the plan, the mayor’s office would need to provide biweekly progress reports starting July 1. The compromise would allow the council to halt the replenishment of the Inside Safe account.
The committee unanimously approved the report. It will also be discussed by the council’s Budget, Finance, and Innovation Committee before heading to the full council at a future date.
