The Los Angeles Continuum of Care (CoC) voted overwhelmingly October 13 to choose Los Angeles County to handle the region’s federal homelessness funding application and annual homeless count. The vote brings the region closer to replacing LAHSA as the administrator of roughly $240 million in annual federal housing and services funding, after Friday’s meeting collapsed. Members approved the County 310-9, with 12 abstentions.
Tuesday’s vote selected the County’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing, or HSH, as the “collaborative applicant,” the agency responsible for submitting a single federal funding application on behalf of the region. That role also includes running the annual homeless count. The County was the only applicant for those responsibilities, and members did not vote on the two roles both the City and County are seeking: running the homelessness database and housing matching system. Although the County scored higher and received the board’s recommendation for both, the City is fighting for shared control. A campaign by Mayor Karen Bass and several City Councilmembers to block those selections drove the huge turnout that overwhelmed Friday’s Zoom meeting and forced its adjournment. Afterwards, City officials blamed the CoC for shutting residents out.
At Tuesday’s meeting, CoC Chair Ben Kay thanked LAHSA staff for working over the holiday weekend to expand online capacity. He repeatedly emphasized that members would vote only on the federal application and homeless count, saying the board was still working out how to bring the database and housing matching roles to a vote. No date for those votes was announced during the meeting.
The urgency comes from the region’s fight with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development. HUD suspended LAHSA in June over allegations of fraud and mismanagement, then sought to let providers apply directly to Washington, bypassing the region’s process for setting priorities and ranking projects. LAHSA and the CoC challenged those actions in court. Judge David O. Carter’s August injunction protected the regional funding process while requiring the CoC to evaluate agencies that could take over LAHSA’s roles. The evaluation report was due October 13, the same day members voted. The parties return to court October 27, when that injunction is scheduled to expire.
Kay said selecting a successor would help avoid leaving those jobs unfilled if LAHSA’s suspension resumes and give the region a clear position to present to the court. Rejecting the County would not have put the City or another agency in charge. It would have left the region without an approved successor to submit its federal funding application and organize the homeless count if LAHSA’s suspension resumed October 27. A no vote would not automatically cancel grants, but keeping those functions running would depend on further action by the members, the court or HUD.
Approval does not itself end the court fight or complete the handoff. It does establish the membership’s choice for two essential functions in a funding system supporting housing and services for more than 11,000 people. For the people relying on those programs, keeping that system running means helping them stay housed.
The meeting also offered a detailed response to questions about how the applicants were evaluated. Independent consultants Ryan Macy-Hurley and Colleen Murphy described a process with clear job responsibilities, consistent scoring rules and extensive checks for conflicts of interest. “Whenever there was any doubt around either an actual or perceived conflict of interest, those reviewers were excused from the process,” Macy-Hurley said. More than 50 potential reviewers were excluded, leaving 10 reviewers across the selection process. Reviewers scored independently, and the same reviewer group assessed applicants competing for each role. Consultants checked that the scoring was complete and the math was correct, without changing reviewers’ judgments. The County received 89 out of 100 for the collaborative applicant role, including 69 of 80 points for its written application and all 20 interview points.
Those explanations do not mean the evaluation is above criticism. They do give officials challenging the results something specific to respond to. The consultants said the responsibilities and questions stayed the same throughout the competition, and that reviewers scored each response using rules established in advance. Any claim that the scoring was unfair should identify where those safeguards failed, rather than treating an unwanted result as proof of bias.
Tuesday’s vote also included safeguards against conflicts of interest. Members affiliated with the County were told to sit out the vote and leave the meeting room or enter a Zoom breakout room during voting. Members confirmed that they were eligible to vote, and Kay reminded participants that ballots were public. Organizers counted 331 voters who said they were eligible and did not need to sit out because of a conflict, including 313 online and 18 in person. That tally represents voters, not total attendance.
For workers, however, approval did not resolve the pressing question of whether the people who currently perform these functions will keep their jobs. LAHSA employees and SEIU Local 721 representatives urged the County to transfer existing staff with their pay, benefits, tenure and rights intact. Homeless count workers described years of experience recruiting volunteers, coordinating sites and managing the details of a huge regional effort. “Even one layoff is too many. Putting even one family at risk of homelessness is too many,” said a LAHSA employee and union steward. “Again, if you’re truly committed to ending homelessness, it’s imperative to protect workers in this transition.”
The approved motion ties the County’s selection to a transition plan worked out by the parties and/or the court, with the goal of minimizing job losses, loss of technical knowledge and service disruption. HSH Director Sarah Mahin said the department was committed to keeping that expertise and services in place, but did not explicitly promise that every worker would be retained. Minimizing layoffs is not the same as preventing them, and workers are still seeking that stronger commitment.
Public comments largely supported the County’s selection while emphasizing accountability and uninterrupted services. A representative of CSH urged participants to respect the local process even if they disagreed with parts of the outcome. “We don’t have to agree with every aspect of the outcome to recognize the legitimacy of the process,” the representative said, warning against unintentionally handing decisions over to HUD or the court. The comment brought the fight over control back to its consequences for people, emphasizing that people receiving housing and services should not bear the cost of a fight over who runs the system.