The Brief

Hundreds of people living in Soul Housing recuperative care facilities across Los Angeles County are expected to be discharged this week after their health insurance plan ended its contract with the company, authorities said.

There appears to be no clear plan for where most of those residents will go next.

The likely mass exodus comes after health insurance plan Health Net terminated its contract with Soul Housing, which was — until recently — L.A. County’s largest recuperative care provider, with more than 1,300 beds across 16 facilities.

Recuperative care facilities are meant to provide medical stabilization and housing, often for people leaving hospitals who are too sick to be on the street. Soul Housing has provided that care through the state’s expanded Medi-CAL initiative, known as CalAIM.

Health Net officially ended the contract Tuesday — after giving Soul Housing four months' notice, the insurance plan told LAist.

Even as that deadline passed, Soul Housing and Health Net continued to disagree about who’s responsible for transferring the high-need residents elsewhere and preventing them falling into homelessness.

A Soul Housing representative told LAist on Tuesday that the organization believes it was the insurance company's responsibility.

“We are still awaiting Health Net's transition plan for affected members, and we hold out hope that a resolution can still be reached that will best serve this fragile population.”

But on Wednesday, as it began clearing out its remaining L.A. County facilities, Soul Housing representatives were no longer expecting Health Net to act.

“We wish we had been notified sooner of their decision not to provide continuity of care for the majority of their members here,” a company spokesperson said. “Soul Housing’s only priority remains the well-being of the Californians in our care.”

Health Net told LAist that most of its members still residing in Soul Housing facilities no longer were authorized to participate in the Medi-CAL program as of Tuesday. That means, according to the insurance company, it’s mostly up to Soul Housing to figure out what happens next.

“Any people staying without active authorizations for these programs are there at the discretion of Soul Housing,” said Beatriz Lopez, a spokesperson for Health Net.

Soul Housing said it is committed to helping residents without authorizations get access to other available Medi-CAL benefits, including housing navigation services, to find appropriate shelter. The company said it’s working to prevent displacements.

“We have already secured more than 100 safe placements for Health Net's remaining members and will continue to uphold our mission by working to connect every person to appropriate housing and support,” a representative said.

State and county response

As many as 500 recuperative care residents were expected to be discharged from at least three Soul Housing facilities beginning Wednesday, according to a company representative.

L.A. County’s Emergency Centralized Response Center helped with some relocations last month, county officials told LAist. They said the county will continue to place people discharged by Soul Housing into “appropriate” housing facilities “when available.”

Earlier this year, there were about 40 recuperative care facilities in L.A. County operated by 26 different organizations, according to the National Institute for Medical Respite Care.

Medi-CAL reimburses providers for recuperative care through the state’s CalAIM initiative, which in 2022 expanded coverage to include benefits like housing and meals. The state Department of Healthcare Services oversees the CalAIM program, but individual contractors like Soul Housing are overseen by the insurance provider.

Health Net contracts with more than 20 recuperative care providers in L.A. County.

In a statement Wednesday, a spokesperson from the Department of Healthcare Services told LAist Health Net is in compliance with provider termination requirements, which include notifying the department and submitting a transition plan to the agency.

“We are closely monitoring the situation to ensure that Medi-Cal members continue to have access to appropriate recuperative care services for which they are eligible and that any transitions are handled with minimal disruption to care,” spokesperson Tessa Outhyse said in a statement.

Health Net declined to answer questions from LAist about why the contract with Soul Housing was terminated.

Soul Housing claims it happened “without cause” and after Health Net delayed some payments because of a tech glitch that erroneously denied some claims. The insurance company told LAist the problem had been identified and is being fixed.

The state says Health Net and other health insurance companies are allowed to terminate contracts with their subcontractors for business reasons.

Recent Soul Housing closures 

Soul Housing said Wednesday morning that it's now operating three recuperative care facilities in L.A. County, down from 16. It closed down several facilities last month, including one 120-bed site in Van Nuys.

One former resident, Garrison Alecsaunder, told LAist he realized the site had been emptied after returning there from a hospital stay. Alecsaunder said a Soul Housing representative told him he could move to a facility in Gardena but did not provide any more information. He slept in a friend’s car at first.

On Wednesday, he was staying in the lobby of a hotel in Skid Row, he said.

Alecsaunder, who uses a walker and an oxygen tank, said he worries about recuperative care residents who use wheelchairs or have physical disabilities.

“You know, no options and no real warning, that's just, that's criminal to me, to put somebody with that much of a need out on the street with no help,” he said. “I mean, they had to know this was going on far before two or three days ago.”

Soul Housing also operates in Fresno but announced yesterday it was closing operations there, leaving 250 people in limbo.

Discharge notices issued in June 

Health Net notified Soul Housing in early June that it intended to terminate its contract 120 days later, both parties confirmed to LAist.

On June 11, Soul Housing delivered discharge notices to residents of at least one facility in Koreatown. The letters, signed by CEO Casey Reinholtz, informed residents they had three days to vacate the facility because Health Net denied their coverage.

Someone claiming to be a resident of a Soul Housing facility in Koreatown posted copies of the notices on Reddit, warning the public of the looming displacement of hundreds of disabled Angelenos. But that discharge didn’t occur on schedule, representatives from Soul Housing told LAist.

Instead, Soul Housing continued providing care to participants at its own expense, while working with Health Net to resolve the authorization issues, a spokesperson said.

A Soul Housing representative told LAist in June the organization had received notices from Health Net discontinuing authorization for many of its participants.

“We are working closely with Health Net around the clock to identify alternative care pathways for the affected members of our community,” the representative said. “While we are hopeful for a resolution soon, our priority is ensuring that no participant is left without support or recourse.”

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

East Los Angeles will undergo months of soil testing and excavation after May’s crude oil spill, with the cleanup expected to continue into early 2027, according to county officials.

County agencies gave an update on recovery efforts during an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday, which they say has shifted from emergency response to long-term remediation. 

Officials said much of the work is contingent on a report due on Aug. 31 by pipeline owner Plains All American that will detail the results of soil testing and other data points to understand the spill’s impact on the surrounding community and the L.A. River.

“There is still some oil contamination at Cesar Chavez and Eastern Avenue,” said Mario Tresierras, chief of the L.A. County Fire Department’s Health Hazardous Materials Division, one of the lead agencies overseeing the cleanup effort. 

What lies ahead is months of soil sampling, air quality monitoring and, eventually, excavation and removal of the contaminated soil, Tresierras said.

According to L.A. County Public Works Director Mark Pestrella, the scope of the excavation cannot be determined until after the county reviews Plains’ Aug. 31 report, but he expects the work to be completed by January 2027. 

“January of ‘27 would be a conservative completion date … I’d expect it to be done before then,” Pestrella said. “This is going to be a fairly involved cleanup and construction project.” 

How the spill happened 

Crews clean the scene along Cesar E. Chavez and Eastern avenues, where gallons of crude oil spilled onto the street.

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Andrew Lopez

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Boyle Heights Beat

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An estimated 25,000 gallons of crude oil spilled on May 22 after crews conducting directional drilling for a fiber-optic line struck the 16-inch petroleum pipeline. Initial reports placed the spill at about 2,400 gallons before the pipeline operator revised the volume.

Much of the oil seeped into nearby streets and soil, and a “significant” amount also made its way into the storm drain system and the L.A. River, Pestrella said.

State and federal agencies completed cleanup of the river and storm drains on June 23, according to L.A. County Supervisor Hilda Solis.

Public Health says no ongoing health impacts detected 

Barbara Ferrer, director of the L.A. County Department of Public Health, said there are no ongoing health impacts related to the spill and the noxious odors that caused headaches and nausea for some residents have subsided.

Ferrer said the department has not detected elevated levels of benzene, a known carcinogen and respiratory irritant, despite community concerns. Though odors may return during excavation work, the department does not anticipate dangerous benzene levels during remediation, Ferrer said.

Solis proposes community meetings 

At the meeting, Solis asked county departments, including Public Works, the L.A. County Fire Department and the Department of Public Health, to hold a community meeting “to ensure that residents are fully aware and updated on the status and recovery while we’re preparing, and then after the report.”

The request comes after months of demands from community groups calling on Solis to host a community town hall and provide greater access to environmental testing results, public health guidance and cleanup updates. Those calls for transparency were reignited following the Lineage warehouse fire in Boyle Heights, with residents calling it another example of the environmental injustice faced by Eastside residents.

As of Wednesday, Solis’ office had not yet determined any dates for the meetings but said they expect the departments to host them as soon as possible.

This story first appeared on The LA Local.

A local outbreak of flea-borne typhus is spreading in the Pico Union neighborhood, according to health officials. Five cases have emerged in the city of Los Angeles with all five patients being hospitalized and recovering. 

The outbreak is being investigated by the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health who are hoping to minimize the spread of the infection.

Infections occur when feces from infected fleas are rubbed into cuts or scrapes on the skin or rubbed into the eyes. 

Symptoms include fever, body aches, headaches, nausea and rashes. They can appear within one to two weeks after becoming infected. There is no vaccine for flea-borne typhus but it can be effectively treated with antibiotics when diagnosed early.

According to the DPH the best way to prevent illness is to reduce exposure to fleas and animals that may carry them. This includes stray animals, rodents, and other wildlife such as opossums. 

“Community members can help protect themselves and their neighbors by keeping pets on flea control year-round, avoiding stray animals, and making sure wildlife cannot live in or around their homes,” Los Angeles County Health Officer Muntu Davis said in a statement.

Flea-borne typhus has increased in Los Angeles since 2010, with an all time high of 220 cases in 2025. The highest ever number reported in L.A. County.

The DPH advises residents to protect themselves and their pets by routinely using flea control products, keeping pets indoors as much as possible, and using EPA-registered insect repellent labeled for protection against fleas when outside.

They advise keeping pet food indoors to not attract wild or stray animals, as well as not feeding or touching any free-roaming animals.

Keeping yards free of debris and free of overgrown plants or bushes can also help wild animals avoid the area. It is recommended to keep trash in tightly closed containers, and to close off crawl spaces and openings where animals can enter, hide, or find food.

Infected animals do not typically show signs of illness and flea-borne typhus does not spread from person to person. Animal owners can be infected by touching their infected pets or if infected fleas are on the animal.

In 2025, nearly 90% of people diagnosed with flea-borne typhus required hospitalization, according to the DPH. All age groups are susceptible to catching typhus with documented cases in people ranging in residents from 1 – 85 years old, according to officials.

The county advises residents to get checked sooner rather than later, and to continuously be on the lookout for wild animals. The city will look to deal with an increase in cases since 2024.  

Residents can learn more about flea-borne typhus and prevention: ph.lacounty.gov/Typhus

Dating is not cheap, especially in a place like greater L.A. And costs are rising.

The overall average date is running $189, according to a BMO Real Financial Progress Index. That’s up 12.5% from last year. We asked listeners of AirTalk, LAist’s daily news show, to share how they find ways to date without breaking the bank.

Head outdoors

A number of listeners said hikes are their go-to cheap date.

“ I like going into an area where you get into a canopy, a lot of trees, so you don't get too warm,” Adrian in Corona said.

There might even be some science behind Angelenos’ love of hiking dates. Dating coach Damona Hoffman said there are benefits to doing something active while on a date.

“It boosts your endorphins… when you do something physical, you can sort of transfer some of those feelings of excitement to the person that you're with,” she said.

Kiz in Beverly Hills recommended Los Leones Canyon in Pacific Palisades — which is open after the Palisades fire — where he went on an early first date with his wife, adding that it’s also kid-friendly.

LAist host Austin Cross pointed out this may not be the best idea for a first date though.

“If the conversation's not hitting, but you're two miles into this hike, you still gotta walk back with them,” he said.

Take advantage of the arts

Heidi in Los Feliz recommended taking an art class, specifically at Heavy Manners Library in Echo Park.

Read more: Beloved Heavy Manners Library in Echo Park is moving — and it’s looking for a few good volunteers

“During the summer, the Hollywood Bowl has $6 seats for the symphony,” Adriana in Hollywood said. “You can take in your own food, you can bring in a bottle of wine, you can sit under the stars, listen to the LA Phil, and to me, that is just the most romantic, gorgeous way to spend a summer evening.”

Simplicity can be a good thing 

Durie in Lomita said he and his wife like to go watch planes at the In-N-Out by LAX. He said it would even make a good spot for a first date.

“ It lends a lot to discussion of what you want in your future,” he said.

Elizabeth in San Bernardino suggests meeting up at a bookstore.

“Conversation came organically through looking at the type of books that we liked,” she said of her experience.

Cross used to go to IKEA on dates back in the day.

“It was also a fun cheap date because you could see a person in so many different settings,” he said. “You could see if they were game to pretend to play house.”

The beach triumphs as an all-time cheap date spot

 Diane in West L.A. said — even after 41 years of marriage — eating dinner on the beach never fails.

“One of you can carry the basket, one of you can carry the blanket,” she said.