The O Lot Safe Sleeping site at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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Topline:
Those able to find a shelter bed will step into a world rife with reports of violence, theft, health hazards — and a lack of accountability. Public records obtained by CalMatters show that most cities and counties have seemingly ignored a recent state law that aimed to reform dangerous conditions in shelters.
The backstory: In 2021, following earlier reports of maggots, flooding and sexual harassment in shelters, the state Legislature created a new system requiring local governments to inspect the facilities after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions, including plans to fix safety and building code violations.
CalMatters found that just 5 of California’s 58 counties — Lake, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange and Yuba — have filed shelter reports. Only 4 of the state’s 478 cities filed reports: Fairfield, Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Woodland, according to records from the agency in charge of implementing the law, the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
Why it matters: The 2021 state law was supposed to help enforce minimum building and safety standards for shelters by creating a new state oversight system. When people staying at shelters or their advocates file complaints, the law requires cities or counties to inspect the facilities and report any violations to the state to reconsider future funding. The catch: cities and counties only have to report to the state if they determine that a violation is severe enough.
Go deeper: To read more about what kinds of issues California's homeless shelters face...
Now that the Supreme Court has granted cities more power to ban sleeping outside, homeless Californians face a crucial decision: Try to get into a shelter, or risk going to jail.
Those able to find a shelter bed will step into a world rife with reports of violence, theft, health hazards — and a lack of accountability. Public records obtained by CalMatters show that most cities and counties have seemingly ignored a recent state law that aimed to reform dangerous conditions in shelters.
In 2021, following earlier reports of maggots, flooding and sexual harassment in shelters, the state Legislature created a new system requiring local governments to inspect the facilities after complaints and file annual reports on shelter conditions, including plans to fix safety and building code violations.
What we found
CalMatters found that just 5 of California’s 58 counties — Lake, Los Angeles, Monterey, Orange and Yuba — have filed shelter reports. Only 4 of the state’s 478 cities filed reports: Fairfield, Petaluma, Santa Rosa and Woodland, according to records from the agency in charge of implementing the law, the California Department of Housing and Community Development.
“It is shocking, number one, that there is so little reporting, considering that is part of the legislation,” said the law’s author, Assemblymember Sharon Quirk-Silva, a Democrat who represents parts of Orange and L.A. counties. “We are asking for the basics here.”
In light of CalMatters’ findings, she said she has requested a meeting with officials at the state housing agency. Quirk-Silva said she will consider audits or other measures as needed.
“Maybe we need to add more teeth,” she said. “There certainly could be a possibility that we will follow up with another piece of legislation.”
Police call logs, shelter incident reports and other records obtained by CalMatters provide a hint of what’s missing as a result of the failure to report: a child falling out of an unreinforced window in San Mateo County and being hospitalized; multiple allegations of sexual harassment in Contra Costa County; food shortages in Placer County; and deaths, mold and vermin in many places across the state.
Where things stand
California has spent at least $1.5 billion on shelters and related solutions since 2018, legislative reports show, on top of millions invested by cities, counties and the federal government. The facilities are designed to be a temporary stop on the road to regaining housing but increasingly function as a bridge to nowhere; the state added new emergency shelter beds at roughly five times the rate of permanent housing with supportive services from 2018 to 2023, gaining 27,544 shelter beds, federaldata shows.
What happens in those shelters is largely a black box. No state agency keeps an updated list of how many shelters are operating, or where, officials told CalMatters. There is no state licensing process for shelters. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development tracks numbers of emergency shelter beds and how long people live in them, but no information about resident deaths, health or safety.
CALMATTERS HOMELESS SHELTER
First: A former homeless shelter in Anaheim that has been permanently shut down and boarded up. Last: An area where folks experiencing homelessness were given space to store their belongings while staying at the shelter that has since been permanently shut down in Anaheim, on May 14, 2024.
First: A former homeless shelter in Anaheim that has been permanently shut down and boarded up. Last: An area where folks experiencing homelessness were given space to store their belongings while staying at the shelter that has since been permanently shut down in Anaheim, on May 14, 2024.
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Jules Hotz
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CalMatters
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First: A former homeless shelter in Anaheim that has been permanently shut down and boarded up. Last: An area where folks experiencing homelessness were given space to store their belongings while staying at the shelter that has since been permanently shut down in Anaheim, on May 14, 2024.
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Jules Hotz
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CalMatters
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While not every city or county in California has a homeless shelter, state housing officials estimated a total of around 1,300 shelters in 2021. Municipalities continue to invest in them as a more immediate alternative to street homelessness, even as experts stress that other options – such as direct rent subsidies or housing with on-site services – are often more effective at combating the root issue.
“It’s a bad idea. At the same time, so many unhoused people are living in these congregate shelters,” said Eve Garrow, a senior policy analyst and advocate for the ACLU of Southern California. “We want to make sure those spaces are safe and clean for as long as people need them, but we also want to move away from that model.”
The backstory on the law
The 2021 state law was supposed to help enforce minimum building and safety standards for shelters by creating a new state oversight system. When people staying at shelters or their advocates file complaints, the law requires cities or counties to inspect the facilities and report any violations to the state to reconsider future funding. The catch: cities and counties only have to report to the state if they determine that a violation is severe enough.
“Each city and county has a very unique way of processing complaints,” said Mitchel Baker, assistant deputy director of the Department of Housing and Community Development’s codes and standards division.“What may be perceived as complaints or violations may not ultimately result in the issuance of a notice of violation or corrective order.”
As California and the rest of the country barrel into a new legal era for mass homelessness, promises of safe shelter will be key to determining how many people can avoid more frequent tickets or jail. Many public officials, meanwhile, cast the Supreme Court’s Grants Pass ruling as a necessary clarification after years of conflict over when cities should be allowed to dismantle tents, insisting that they will continue to offer alternatives.
“This decision removes the legal ambiguities that have tied the hands of local officials for years,” Gov. Gavin Newsom said in a statement after the ruling. “The state will continue to work with compassion to provide individuals experiencing homelessness with the resources they need.”
What those resources are is often hard to know, since many shelters are closed to visitors and so few places have filed state reports on conditions. People who have lived in shelters, however, paint a more dire picture.
Residents of one Huntington Beach shelter recently complained to health officials about mold, never-ending cases of pneumonia and neighbors walking around with infected, open sores. Homeless people and their families have filed lawsuits in several cities over shelter sexual assaults and wrongful deaths. In San Diego, Sharon Descans has been bouncing between shelters and a borrowed van after being evicted from a newer kind of publicly-funded tent city, where she said she weathered unpaid labor, multiple neighbors’ deaths and flashes of chaos.
“People are pulling swords on each other and hitting each other with two-by-fours,” Descans said. “All I wanted from the day I got there is to get out.”
Sharon Descans at the Chula Vista Bayfront Park on June 23, 2024. Descans has been staying in shelters and a van after getting evicted from the O Lot Safe Sleeping site in San Diego’s Balboa Park.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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The origin of shelters
Up until the 1980s, many of the poorest people in California and other states could still afford rented rooms or cheap hotels. Then came a tidal wave of gentrification, wage stagnation, federal cuts to housing and cash aid, plus shocks like the AIDS and drug epidemics. In less than three decades, the state went from 37,000 dedicated beds for mental health patients to just 2,500 by 1983, according to historians at the National Academies of Sciences.
Vast numbers of people “drifted onto the streets,” the historians wrote, as promised investments in community resources proved inadequate. The “modern era of homelessness” had begun.
Large emergency shelters with bunk beds and communal showers emerged as a stop-gap, despite comparisons to jail cells or military barracks. The shelter triage approach spread as California housing construction slowed and homelessness exploded, up 40% in the past five years alone, to more than 181,000 people.
Shelters boomed thanks in large part to court rulings that forbid authorities from cracking down on homeless people solely for being homeless. In Martin v Boise, courts decided that the city violated the U.S. Constitution’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment by ticketing people for sleeping outside when there wasn’t “adequate” shelter available.
“What has happened is cities and counties have quite explicitly raced to build more shelters in order to criminalize more people,” Garrow said. “Shelters become kind of an arm of this criminal legal system.”
Quirk-Silva proposed the 2021 shelter law after a 2019 ACLU report by Garrow documented bedbug infestations, overflowing sewage and sexual harassment by shelter workers. The findings collided with Quirk-Silva’s experience talking with people on the street near her Fullerton neighborhood about why they weren’t in shelters. Her own brother died at age 50 after struggling with housing instability, mental health and alcohol abuse.
Shelters were growing, fast, Quirk-Silva realized, and people were staying longer. California shelter residents now stay a median of about five months, or 155 days, the most recent federal data from 2023 shows — a 30% increase since 2019.
Garrow supported the 2021 law’s effort to create minimum standards for shelters. She has seen a few problematic shelters closed down in Orange County, she said, including an old transit station in Santa Ana not meant for human habitation, which previously flooded.
Still, Garrow wasn’t surprised to hear about the small number of cities and counties following through on the law, which she said several amendments weakened. One removed a requirement for local officials to regularly conduct unannounced shelter inspections. Another struck a rule to add signs with information about how to file complaints at shelters.
“I would attribute the low number of complaints not to the fact that shelters are now clean and sanitary and abiding by a new law,” Garrow said. “But to the fact that people aren’t aware.”
Under the law, cities and counties that find violations in their shelters are supposed to report any conditions that are “dangerous, hazardous, imminently detrimental to life or health, or otherwise render the homeless shelter unfit for human habitation.” But even places that are filing state shelter reports omit serious potential safety issues.
L.A. County, for example, has filed lists of its several dozen shelters and one-page inventories of violations related to rats, roaches, hot water outages and garbage. Not mentioned were issues like a 2021 conviction of a former shelter security guard on multiple sexual assault charges. Or reports of shelter deaths, physical attacks and other incidents that appear in police call logs requested by CalMatters.
Shelters after SCOTUS
On a recent Friday in San Diego’s crown jewel of a central park, Balboa Park, Sharon Descans laid down on a concrete bench under a palm tree to ease the pain in her joints after a year of constant motion. The former college swimmer said she became homeless for the first time last year, after she got sick with COVID, lost two property management jobs, fell behind on rent and got evicted.
What followed was a tour she never wanted of last-ditch housing in a city at the forefront of statewide efforts to vanquish street encampments.
Even before the Supreme Court decision, San Diego officials were moving people off the street to large publicly funded tent cities, called “safe sleeping” sites.
At a site called O Lot, Descans and many neighbors lived in Eskimo brand ice fishing huts that multiple residents said were prone to leaking during rain. Her anxiety spiked at the makeshift shelter, she said, since she didn’t have a door to lock and witnessed widespread drug use and unpredictable outbursts. One neighbor died of cancer alone in his tent, Descans said, after what seemed like days without anyone checking on him.
A San Diego Police Department patrol vehicle drives past an encampment in downtown San Diego on March 22, 2024.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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First: O Lot Safe Sleeping site tents at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024. Last: Inside a tent at the O Lot Safe Sleeping site at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024. People are given a cot, blanket, sleeping bag, and hygiene kit. The site also offers 24/7 staffing, showers, laundry, and shuttles.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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First: O Lot Safe Sleeping site tents at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024. Last: Inside a tent at the O Lot Safe Sleeping site at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024. People are given a cot, blanket, sleeping bag, and hygiene kit. The site also offers 24/7 staffing, showers, laundry, and shuttles.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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None of that has been captured in state reports. San Diego is one of the many California locales that has not submitted any reports after the 2021 shelter law, according to state records, despite housing more than a dozen shelters and some 10,600 homeless residents.
(Even if San Diego had filed the reports, state and local spokespeople said it’s not certain they would’ve captured operations at O Lot. Though many homeless people have temporarily lived at the tent site, nonprofit operator Dreams For Change stressed that it is not technically a shelter under federal definitions.)
When asked whether there was any process in place for complaints about homeless shelters in San Diego county, a spokesperson said only that the county does not directly operate any shelters. Under the state law, cities and counties are still responsible for monitoring complaints and reporting violations at shelters in their area with other owners or operators.
A spokesman for the city of San Diego said that it has received five complaints since the shelter law was passed, and that “city staff are working on” evaluating why a state report had not been filed.
“At all city-funded shelters, including the Safe Sleeping and Safe Parking programs, there is a comprehensive complaint process where potential issues are quickly and thoroughly resolved,” spokesman Matt Hoffman said in a statement. “Every complaint is followed up on and, if needed, action is promptly taken.”
At O Lot, Descans tried to keep her head down. She made friends with another mom whose son had also wrestled at a nearby high school. The pair heard they could earn money to work their way out of the tents by cleaning bathrooms and doing laundry for the nonprofit Dreams for Change. Descans said she was never paid around $1,000 for 55 hours of cleaning work, which she documented in photos and text message complaints to a site supervisor.
In June, Descans was “exited” from the shelter — nonprofit-speak for evicted — after forms said she had a verbal altercation with staff and allowed an unpermitted visit from her 17-year-old son, who lives with other family.
“I just feel like nobody cares,” Descans said. “It’s like cover your ass at any expense — who even cares about these homeless people?”
A Dreams for Change spokesperson said the nonprofit cannot comment on individual cases, but that it has a process for formally hiring and paying residents who wish to work. The nonprofit added that it is one of several contractors that operate safe sleeping sites near Balboa Park.
About 80 households have secured permanent housing after living at Dreams for Change’s portion of O Lot, spokesperson Kelly Spoon said in a statement. She confirmed three deaths at the site and added that, “Dealing with a diverse population, occasional altercations may arise, but physical altercations are extremely rare.”
Another current resident of the safe sleeping site, who asked not to be identified due to fear of retaliation, said he was also concerned about a lack of sufficient meals, deaths, sexual assaults reported by female neighbors, and a nagging lack of information from caseworkers about housing options.
“The animals almost get better treatment than the people,” he said. “You keep shitting on people, you’re going to get shit results.”
Shawn Swearigen also lived in a tent at O Lot before moving to a subsidized apartment last month. The grandson of a cattle rancher from Imperial County worked in construction for years, until family deaths and the 2008 housing crash landed him on the street.
Shawn Swearingen, 55, at the O Lot Safe Sleeping site at Balboa Park in San Diego on March 22, 2024.
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Kristian Carreon
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CalMatters
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The tent in Balboa Park “wasn’t bad,” he said, though it wasn’t immune from theft and mental health crises that he has found are two constants of homelessness. Swearigen valued having his own space, as opposed to being “dormed up” in a bunk bed like when he first became homeless and stayed at a large shelter. It was so claustrophobic and counter-productive, he said, that he spent the next decade trying to stay out of sight, often camping in the woods.
“It was kind of like a lack of options,” Swearigen said. “I really didn’t want to be a burden on people.”
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Elly Yu
reports on early childhood. From housing to health, she covers issues facing the youngest Angelenos and their families.
Published April 3, 2026 5:00 AM
Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are barred from asking about a child's or family member’s immigration status.
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Maria Gutierrez
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LAist
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Topline:
Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are barred from asking about a child's or family member’s immigration status.
What’s new: California Attorney General Rob Bonta provided guidance this week to childcare providers on new legal requirements to protect children and their families from immigration enforcement activities.
The backstory: Lawmakers passed AB 495 last year aimed at helping and protecting families in light of immigration enforcement, including allowing a broader definition of relatives to step in as a caregiver if a parent is detained.
The details: Under the new requirements, childcare centers have to regularly update a child’s emergency contact to make sure someone can be reached in the case of a parent being detained.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta provided guidance this week to childcare providers on new legal requirements to protect children and their families from immigration enforcement activities.
Under a new law that went into effect this year, childcare providers are not allowed to collect information about a child's or family member’s immigration status, unless necessary under state or federal law. Bonta’s office says there currently is no such requirement, though that could change with federal programs like Head Start.
“Childcare and preschool facilities should be safe and secure spaces so children can grow, learn and simply be children,” Bonta said in a statement.
His office says daycare centers also should not keep information about a formerly enrolled child longer than is required by state law.
The new law also requires facilities to inform the attorney general’s office and the state’s licensing agency if they get any requests for information from law enforcement related to immigration enforcement.
Facilities also must ask families to regularly update a child’s emergency contact information to make sure someone can be reached in case a parent is detained by federal immigration officials.
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory, High Wind Advisory
What to expect: Partly cloudy skies, warmer weather and strong winds courtesy of the Santa Ana winds.
Read on ... for more details.
QUICK FACTS
Today’s weather: Partly cloudy
Beaches: Mid-70s
Mountains: Mid-60s to around 70 degrees
Inland: 75 to 81 degrees
Warnings and advisories: Wind advisory, High Wind Advisory
The Santa Ana winds are here to welcome us into the weekend, bringing warmer temperatures.
The winds will reach Point Mugu to the Santa Clarita Valley, down to Orange County and parts of the Inland Empire valleys and foothills east of the 5 Freeway.
Peak gusts are expected to reach 35 to 55 mph. The western San Gabriel Mountains, Highway 14 corridor, Santa Susana Mountains and the western Santa Monica Mountains are under a high wind warning until 6 p.m., when gusts could reach 65 mph.
As for temperatures, highs for L.A. County beaches will reach the upper 70s and up to the low 80s for inland areas.
Parts of Orange County and Coachella Valley will see temperatures in the mid- to upper 80s, with the warmest areas expected to reach 88 degrees.
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Jill Replogle
covers public corruption, debates over our voting system, culture war battles — and more.
Published April 3, 2026 5:00 AM
Green Cheek Beer Company in Costa Mesa is one of many local breweries that welcomes small humans and furry friends.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Topline:
Getting together with friends at a bar or pub tends to get a lot harder when children and needy pets enter the mix. But Orange County has a solution — dog- and kid-friendly breweries.
Key ingredients: Spacious patios, a water bowl for the pooch, and food — either made onsite or, at the least, easy and quick to order and get delivered from somewhere else. Plus, of course, great beer from small, independent, local breweries.
Where to go: We have recommendations in Huntington Beach, Costa Mesa, and Fountain Valley.
Getting together with friends at a bar or pub tends to get a lot harder when children and needy pets enter the mix. One solution — Breweries! Beer gardens! Brewpubs!
Because parents (of kids and pets) want to go out, too — and not necessarily to a fast food restaurant with an indoor playground and no beer.
Thankfully, the Orange County suburbs where I live have gotten on board with my family- and pet-friendly craft brewery dreams. The key ingredients for me are spacious patios, a water bowl for the pooch, and food — either made onsite or, at the least, easy and quick to order and get delivered from somewhere else. Board and pub games are an added bonus.
Plus, of course, great beer from small, independent, local breweries. On the beer front, I was pleasantly surprised by the variety of beer I encountered on my self-arranged tour of breweries in the Costa Mesa-Huntington Beach area.
Gone are the dark, dank days of nothing but IPA (IYKYK); now, you can find everything from pickle-tinged blondes, to mild sours, to rich and creamy stouts. If you’re not a big beer fan, every place I visited also had their own craft-made hard seltzers on the menu, as well as some non-alcoholic beverages.
Here are some of my favorites:
Riip (Huntington Beach)
Riip in Huntington Beach has two spots with full kitchens specializing in pizza and a wide variety of IPAs and other beer styles.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Riip has been a family favorite since the company opened its first tasting room in Sunset Beach in 2015, with board games and tables the kids could write on. They have since expanded a lot, with a pizzeria next door and another location near Fountain Valley, which also serves excellent pizza, and has a small arcade to keep the kiddos busy.
One thing they do especially well: For serious IPA drinkers, Riip is your place. They usually have at least half a dozen different IPAs on tap, along with a decent variety of other beers, lighter and darker.
This place is great for … dinner after the kids’ [insert sport] game. Also for date night.
Locations: 17236 Pacific Coast Highway; 19171 Magnolia Street #12, Huntington Beach Hours: Monday through Thurs, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Sunday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.
At Flashpoint Brewing Company in Huntington Beach, you can check out the brewing vats and other machinery up close while enjoying the results.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Flashpoint Brewing Co. (Huntington Beach)
I only recently discovered Flashpoint, which opened in 2020 on an industrial street near Huntington Beach Central Park. I actually love this aspect of craft brewery taprooms: they’re often located outside of trendy food and retail areas because they need to be able to actually brew beer there as well as serve it.
Flashpoint has a big patio lit with fairy lights. The tall doors of their brewing area, and an adjacent room with the taps and more tables are rolled up during opening hours, giving it a spacious, indoor-outdoor feel.
One thing they do especially well: All the beers I tried were highly drinkable. In other words, not crazy hoppy or overly heavy on flavors. The nectarine sour was especially good, refreshing with just the right amount of tartness.
This place is great for … An early evening toast, watching the clouds turn pink.
Location: 7302 Autopark Drive, Huntington Beach Hours: Monday through Thursday, 4 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, 1 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Saturday, 12:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m., Sunday, 12:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.
Green Cheek Beer Co. in Costa Mesa serves great beer and food, including shareable, snackable items like pad thai cauliflower.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Green Cheek Beer Co. (Costa Mesa)
Green Cheek Beer Co. now has three locations in Orange County and one in Oceanside. Their Costa Mesa spot is conveniently located not far from the city’s Bark Park. So, naturally, after my pooch has fun, I deserve a cold one.
Green Cheek has a huge covered patio filled with long picnic tables. My dog, Ace, was very happy to find a bowl of water set out for their canine visitors, and lots of pets from the humans.
One thing they do especially well: Green Cheek makes great beer. But what I love most about their Costa Mesa spot is that you can soak up the alcohol with food, including smash burgers, tots, and pad thai cauliflower, from their good and reliably fast kitchen.
This place is great for … reading a book, or making a new friend! Their long picnic tables make it easy to opt in or out of the surrounding social scene.
Location: 2957 Randolph Avenue, Unit B, Costa Mesa Hours: Sunday through Wednesday 11 a.m. to 10 p.m.; Thursday to Saturday 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.
Bootlegger's Brewery outside the LAB Anti-Mall in Costa Mesa has a quiet patio for day drinking, and a lively trivia night scene.
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Jill Replogle
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LAist
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Bootlegger’s Brewery (Costa Mesa)
Within walking distance of Green Cheek is Bootlegger’s Brewery. Bootlegger’s started in Fullerton, and now also has tasting rooms in Costa Mesa and Redlands.
Their Costa Mesa spot is on the outskirts of the LAB Anti-Mall, a collection of small businesses and restaurants, at least one of which will deliver food to your table. A section of the parking lot has been turned into a nice outdoor patio with sun shades for daytime and heat lamps for chillier evening hours.
One thing they do especially well: Their Kosher Crusher pickle blonde ale. They debuted it last fall and it is seriously good — light, refreshing, and just a little bit zesty.
This place is great for … “working” on a Friday afternoon (I was not the only one there typing one-handed on my laptop with a beer in the other), and then inviting friends to join you for happy hour.
Location: 696 Randolph Avenue, Suite B, Costa Mesa Hours: Sunday through Wednesday, 11 a.m. to 11 p.m.; Thursday through Saturday, 11 a.m. to 1 a.m.
There's an ambiance for everyone at Salty Bear Brewing Co. in Costa Mesa.
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Jill Replogle
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Salty Bear Brewing Company
Salty Bear is part of The Camp, an uber-cool retail and restaurant complex also within walking distance of Green Cheek and Bootlegger’s (you can do a tasting tour!).
Salty Bear is worth a visit for the aesthetics alone. It has a great bar with midcentury tiling and dimpled red leather. The sprawling, leafy outdoor patio provides plenty of room for the kids to wander.
One thing they do especially well: Their Coastline Strawberry Blonde made me nostalgic for the fruity beers that got me hooked on craft beer in my 20s — but so much better.
This place is great for … Kickin’ it on the patio with friends, either listening to live music, or letting your kids practice performing on the teepee-themed outdoor stage.
Location: 2948 Randolph Avenue, C, Costa Mesa Hours: Monday through Wednesday, 3 p.m. to 9 p.m.; Thursday: 3 p.m. to 10 p.m.; Friday, noon to 11 p.m.; Saturday, noon to 10 p.m.; Sunday, noon to 8 p.m.
Aaron Schrank
has been on the ground, reporting on homelessness and other issues in L.A. for more than a decade.
Published April 2, 2026 4:23 PM
Supervisor Holly Mitchell, L.A. County Department of Public Health Director Dr. Barbara Ferrer, actor Danny Trejo and others gathered at Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science in Wilmington.
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Aaron Schrank
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LAist
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Topline:
A new private foundation called The Fund for Advancing Public Health LA launched Thursday, aiming to raise $2 million to shore up county health services this year. It comes after the Department of Public Health closed seven clinics following $50 million in funding cuts since early 2025.
Who's behind it: The foundation's board includes Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer, the CEOs of Blue Shield of California Foundation and LA Care Health Plan, actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo and more. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 at the launch. Ferrer acknowledged it's "a hard day" when a public agency has to turn to private donors to fund basic services.
Deeper cuts ahead: The federal "Big Beautiful Bill" slashes Medi-Cal funding, and the department anticipates losing up to $300 million over the next three years. Federal dollars account for nearly half the public health budget.
Some government funding streams for L.A. County’s public health system are drying up, and officials are turning to private philanthropy to fill the gap.
A new privately funded foundation launched Thursday to strengthen public health services after $50 million in federal, state and local funding cuts to the county’s Department of Public Health since early last year.
“It is really a hard day for our community when we have to ask for private donations to fund a public good, but unfortunately, we've lost too much money to not take this important step,” said Public Health Director Barbara Ferrer.
In February, the county’s Public Health Department closed seven clinics, with six remaining open. About half of the patients seen in those clinics are uninsured, according to county officials. The department also cut hundreds of staff positions.
She said the fund will help the county maintain its basic public health infrastructure, including disease prevention, health promotion, environmental health, and emergency response efforts.
Other board members include several health insurance executives, as well as actors Sean Penn and Danny Trejo. Board member Saree Kayne of the R&S Kayne Foundation pledged $150,000 to the fund Thursday. Kayne said she hopes the donation encourages others to give.
The foundation aims to raise $2 million this year.
More cuts expected
L.A. County Supervisor Holly Mitchell said it’s crucial to have an alternative funding stream to protect services for the county's most vulnerable residents.
“We are saving public health,” Mitchell said. “This fund represents a new approach, one that brings together government philanthropy in the private sector to invest in community-based solutions, protect vulnerable populations, and strengthen our public health infrastructure.”
Officials say more public health cuts are coming, through the federal budget law known as the "Big Beautiful Bill," which slashes funding for Medi-Cal.
The county Department of Public Health anticipates losing up to $300 million in revenue over the next three years because of the federal budget bill and other potential funding freezes. Federal funding accounts for almost 50% of the public health budget, according to county officials.
Mitchell also led an effort to put a half-percent county sales tax increase to fund public health on the June ballot.
If approved by voters, that proposal, known as Measure ER, is expected to raise about $1 billion a year for county safety net health services, including about $100 million for the public health department.
