A new report from LAist reveals serious questions about how LA and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority have been reporting shelter capacity at a South LA safe sleep site, raising alarms in federal court and prompting a rare rebuke from Judge David Carter, who called the situation “obvious fraud.”
The Lincoln Safe Sleep Village, operated by Urban Alchemy, was contracted and publicly reported as having 88 spots last fiscal year. But when a federal monitor visited the site, and when a separate court-appointed commissioner did the same, they found only about half that number available. Large sections of the campground were closed off or inoperable, even as the operator continued receiving full payment under the 88-bed contract.
LAHSA acknowledged that the site showed an average utilization rate of 41 percent over the past year, but that number relied on the outdated 88-bed capacity. In reality, Urban Alchemy had reduced the number of functioning spots to 46 in April 2024 at the request of city officials. Yet the contract and official reporting were not updated for more than a year, meaning internal databases reflected one number while the city and LAHSA continued telling the court another.
The financial implications are significant. At the reported capacity, the site cost roughly $2,180 per person per month. With the actual number of available spots cut nearly in half, that cost jumped to about $3,100 per person per month. Safe sleep sites are marketed as a lower-cost, harm-reduction alternative to congregate shelters, but the math collapses when large portions of the facility are closed while funding remains unchanged.
Legal experts interviewed by LAist noted that these types of programs often end up costing more than directly placing people into housing, despite offering far less stability. The revelation that capacity was misrepresented for over a year intensifies longstanding concerns about whether interim shelter programs are being managed with accuracy, accountability, and a clear path to permanent housing.
This also matters because the city is under a federal settlement requiring nearly 13,000 new beds by a specific deadline. If the numbers being reported to the court are inflated or outdated, then the city’s progress on its mandate is being misrepresented. Judge Carter signaled he intends to scrutinize this closely.
The breakdown at the Lincoln site highlights the broader tension in Los Angeles homelessness policy: the growing reliance on temporary, stopgap interventions without consistent oversight or meaningful pathways into long-term housing. When half a site is shuttered but fully funded, it not only wastes millions in scarce homelessness dollars, it also delays relief for people living outdoors.