Trump admin threatens LA homeless funding, says days of funding corrupt failure are over

The Trump administration doubled down Tuesday on its threat to cut off Los Angeles’ embattled homelessness authority, blasting a system that has received nearly $1 billion in federal funding over five years as homelessness surged over the past decade.Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner, joined by Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F.Kennedy Jr., tore into the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority during a press conference at the faith-based Los Angeles Dream Center.“The days of funding corrupt failure are over,” Turner said.

“The Trump administration will not fund a homeless industrial complex any longer.”LAHSA is the city and county’s main homelessness agency, with an annual budget of roughly $845 million.Turner said Los Angeles has received nearly $1 billion in federal homelessness funding over the past five years, more than any other jurisdiction in the nation.But the crisis has grown alongside the spending.“During that same decade that homelessness in LA doubled, HUD funding to LA nearly tripled,” Turner said.“We gotta run a new play.

That play does not work.”HUD figures show federal homelessness funding to Los Angeles increased 178% since 2013 while homelessness increased 100%.Los Angeles counted 45,194 homeless people this year, including 29,115 living without shelter.Turner rattled off a list of failures he said showed how the system had gone off the rails.He said LAHSA could not verify the existence of 2,300 housing units it was responsible for and cited a 2023 finding that the agency could not determine how much it spent on empty hotel rooms because it failed to properly track when people left motel housing.He also pointed to federal conflict-of-interest findings involving LAHSA’s former CEO and more than $2 million committed to her husband’s employer.“The numbers don’t add up,” Turner said.“The very organization tasked with ending homelessness and equipped with billions of dollars shamelessly was...