Exclusive | LA Mayor Karen Bass suddenly quits embattled homeless authority as feds turn the screws
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass is walking away from the city’s embattled homelessness authority — as a House panel demands answers about alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” involving more than $1 billion in federal funds.Bass is stepping down from the governing commission of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority on Wednesday and will appoint a replacement, her office confirmed.“Mayor Bass is stepping off the board of LAHSA tomorrow, Sept.9, and will be appointing a new appointee,” a spokesperson for the Mayor’s Office said on Tuesday.The sudden departure comes as LAHSA faces mounting scrutiny over its management of taxpayer money — and as Bass herself is under congressional pressure to explain the city’s homelessness spending.The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency had demanded Bass appear at a Sept.
15 hearing examining alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” involving federal homelessness funding.Bass’ office has since told the panel she is unavailable to testify that day. “By stepping down from the LAHSA board, Mayor Bass has all but admitted that she failed to address Los Angeles’ homelessness crisis,” Subcommittee Chairman Tim Burchett told the California Post.
“If Mayor Bass wanted to take responsibility, she would appear and testify at Tuesday’s Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency hearing.”Burchett’s staff said Bass’s office contacted subcommittee staff and said she was unable to appear at the Sept.15 hearing, but did not provide a reason.Her office said she would be willing to testify at a future hearing, and the subcommittee will work with her office to schedule a date.
In the meantime, the Sept.15 hearing will move forward with other witnesses.Her exit from LAHSA also follows revelations that she has been largely absent from the commission she appointed herself to, as previously reported by LAist.
Bass skipped 25 of 47 LAHSA commission meetings since joining the board in late 2023...