Exclusive | Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass gives the middle finger to DOGE panel over LAHSA funding

Karen Bass has said she is not available to testify before a powerful House panel that demanded she explain where $1 billion in federal homeless funds went.The Post obtained a copy of the letter the mayor’s team sent to the DOGE subcommittee where she shot down their efforts to grill her on cash handed to Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).Her legal counsel David Michaelson said “unfortunately the mayor is not available on that date,” in reference to her planned September 15 appearance.It is not clear what Bass has planned for that date and her team did not expand in the letter.The DOGE panel last week demanded she appear in front of the 18-member panel to address questions of “waste, fraud and abuse” involving more than $1 billion in federal homelessness given to LAHSA.The homeless authority was plunged into chaos earlier this year when the federal government switched off the money tap after launching an investigation into false statements, financial management failures and inadequate conflict of interest safeguards.It still gets hundreds of millions of dollars from the City of Los Angeles, but that was also slashed in the budget by 40% to $496 million.In her letter to the DOGE subcommittee, Michaelson wrote: “Unfortunately, the Mayor is not available on that date.We have contacted the Subcommittee staff to discuss this issue.”The letter did comply with the committee’s records and document requests, including documents from Bass’ office covering the period from Jan.

1, 2020, to the present, including records on LAHSA’s internal controls, the use of federal homelessness funds, and communications between the mayor’s office, LAHSA, the City Council and LA County Board of Supervisors.“We are commencing the collection and review of records in response to the Subcommittee’s request,” the letter adds, noting her office will provide the records “as soon as possible.”The documents are due by Sept.14 — one day before the initi...