Saturday, October 10, 2026

LA Homelessness Governance Meeting Ends Abruptly Without Vote

CITY NEWS SERVICE

A meeting to consider giving Los Angeles County control of key administrative functions for regional homelessness programs ended abruptly Friday without a vote, prompting Mayor Karen Bass and four City Council members to criticize the proposal and call for shared city-county oversight.

The Los Angeles Continuum of Care general membership meeting ended about two minutes after it began Friday because organizers were unprepared to accommodate a large crowd seeking to participate, according to a joint statement from Bass and the council members.

The meeting was expected to address a proposal that would transfer key homelessness administrative responsibilities from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority to Los Angeles County.

Bass, City Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmembers Ysabel Jurado, Tim McOsker and Imelda Padilla said the city should retain a role in decisions about homelessness programs and housing placements.

“Today’s meeting broke down just two minutes after it began because the Board did not plan adequately for a large audience,” the officials said in their statement. “Angelenos want a voice in the future of homelessness services, and they were silenced today.”

The officials also criticized the existing process for placing people experiencing homelessness into housing funded by the city.

They said Los Angeles spends hundreds of millions of dollars on housing but does not have sufficient authority to determine who occupies those units.

“The City must be able to help the people on our own streets by placing them into the housing that we build and fund in order to solve the homelessness crisis,” the officials said.

The dispute comes amid an effort to restructure administration of regional homelessness services following years of scrutiny of LAHSA, the joint city-county agency established in 1993.

The Continuum of Care is responsible for coordinating regional homelessness programs and federal funding. Its administrative functions include managing homelessness data, coordinating housing placements and overseeing applications for federal grants.

Los Angeles County has sought to assume those responsibilities as part of a broader effort to consolidate homelessness programs under its new Department of Homeless Services and Housing.

City officials have argued that the governance structure should reflect Los Angeles’ substantial financial contributions to homelessness programs and housing.

“The current proposal for County-only administration, recommended by the LA CoC Board, leaves no room for those voices to be heard,” the mayor and council members said. “Without collaboration and transparency, management of this complex issue will continue to falter, and worse, our unhoused neighbors will continue to suffer.”

The officials said the Continuum of Care would schedule another meeting and encouraged residents, business owners, advocates and service providers to attend.

No new meeting date was immediately announced.