The Brief

More than two years after L.A.’s embattled homeless services agency acknowledged it was required to make more of its officials file state-mandated disclosures, the agency remains far less transparent than other local governments about its leaders’ potential conflicts of interest, an LAist review has found.

State law requires local government officials to disclose their personal financial interests — including gifts they’ve received, outside income to them and their spouses, and other interests — for public transparency and to ensure officials avoid conflicts of interest. Agencies are required to make officials whose decisions could affect “any financial interest” file the disclosures, according to state law.

Local governments often require many of their staff to file these disclosures. In contrast, only one employee of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority — its CEO — files the annual forms, called form 700s, according to an LAist review of public documents.

In September 2022, LAHSA’s then-chief executive officially notified county staff that the agency was required to add more positions to its list of mandated reporters. Those changes were due within 90 days.

But more than two years later, no additional staff have been required to file the forms, according to documents LAist obtained from LAHSA through a public records request.

Among those not on the mandated disclosure list are officials who oversee finance and contractor compliance.

Also not currently required to disclose financial ties on form 700s: LAHSA’s newly hired chief executive strategist who, according to state business filings, owns a consulting business with the leader of one of LAHSA’s largest contractors.

County officials on Tuesday provided a list of 39 types of positions LAHSA has proposed adding as mandated form 700 filers, after LAHSA did not provide a copy following repeated requests from LAist. The undated six-page proposal was approved by LAHSA’s governing commission this October, according to a county spokesperson.

It does not specifically list the strategist role, but it does include such positions as chief financial, staff, programming and operating officers, among other roles. None of the positions proposed to be added have been required to file the forms yet, a step that’s not expected until after county supervisors are scheduled to give final approval to the list in February.

Serious questions about oversight of contractors

LAist’s review of LAHSA’s form 700 filings comes as agency officials face a wave of criticism over their oversight of contractors the agency pays to provide homeless services. Two teams of auditors — separately overseen by the county and by a federal judge — have found the agency failed to both hold contractors accountable and properly monitor their performance.

According to state regulations, every local government in California has to adopt a list establishing which job positions have to file form 700 disclosures. The list — known as a conflict-of-interest code — must include every job involved in decisions that could foreseeably have a significant impact on “any financial interest,” according to the California Fair Political Practices Commission.

Hundreds of staff work at LAHSA, which is a joint city-county agency. Many of those staff are involved in oversight, analysis and decisions about more than $700 million in annual taxpayer spending on contracts with homeless service providers.

Local governments often have many staff positions on their lists. The L.A. Housing Department, for example, has fewer staff than LAHSA and lists 72 types of employee jobs required to file — from the general manager down to finance officials, project managers, accountants and compliance analysts.

L.A. Councilmember Monica Rodriguez serves on the City Council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee and has been a vocal critic of LAHSA in recent months. She has called on the city, which sends about $300 million a year to LAHSA, to cut ties with the agency as the county pursues a similar move in the wake of the audit.

“It really is disappointing that what continues to be shown is a lack of transparency for conflicts, for performance of contracts, for data,” Rodriguez said after LAist described its findings.

“I don’t understand what it’s going to take for LAHSA to get the message that they’re a public agency that requires transparency and accountability to the taxpayers and to the governmental agencies that fund them.”

Who is accountable

Responsibility for updating LAHSA’s list falls on its leadership, according to information provided by county spokesperson Elizabeth Marcellino. Every two years, the agency’s chief executive has to file a form with the county certifying whether any changes are needed to who has to file. It was on that form in September 2022 that LAHSA’s then-chief noted more positions needed to be added.

County officials then review proposed changes from LAHSA and bring them before the Board of Supervisors for final approval. Another L.A. County spokesperson, in a statement to LAist, said LAHSA declared changes were needed on the Sept. 30, 2022 form that gave a 90-day deadline. Agency officials made an initial proposal to top county officials nine months later, in June 2023, according to that county spokesperson.

Wendy Greuel, chair of LAHSA’s governing commission, told LAist the agency has been working to add more positions to its conflict-of-interest code. A final vote to implement it is now expected by county supervisors in February, some 28 months after that first acknowledgement that changes were due within 90 days.

“Once approved, we expect it will result in more employees having to complete the form 700,” Greuel wrote in an email to LAist. She said LAHSA’s governing commission approved a proposed list update in October, though it was not attached to the public agenda and agency officials have not provided a copy to LAist after requests over multiple days.

Greuel, who is an L.A. mayoral appointee appointed by then-Mayor Eric Garcetti, and Va Lecia Adams Kellum, LAHSA’s CEO, have not answered why that process has taken more than two years.

Most of that time has been under Adams Kellum, who took the helm in March 2023 after L.A. Mayor Karen Bass chose her for the role.

After LAist emailed the California Fair Political Practices Commission to ask about LAHSA’s list of form 700 filers and the state law requirements, agency officials said they will be looking into it.

Bass and county Supervisor Lindsey Horvath, who both sit on LAHSA’s governing commission, haven’t responded to requests made last week for comment through their spokespeople.

Will officials have to file retroactively?

Greuel and Adams Kellum have not responded to an email from LAist asking whether LAHSA positions being added to the list will be required to retroactively file form 700s for past years they were employed by the agency.

A statement from the county's Executive Office of the Board of Supervisors said that office, which is led by Edward Yen, “will not be asking for nor requiring retroactive filings of Form 700,” adding that’s a question for LAHSA.

State law requires certain officials to file form 700s even if their position is not on their agency’s list of who has to file. Anyone in a job position that was created after Jan. 1, 2010 must file the disclosures if their position meets the disclosure criteria set by state law, regardless of whether the position is on the agency’s list, according to a state regulation.

Until their position is added to the list, officials must fill out the forms using the broadest category for what they have to disclose, unless the agency describes in writing why that position should disclose under a more limited category, the regulation says.

LAHSA’s staff size has grown sevenfold over the past decade, according to data posted on Transparent California. It shows 118 staff in 2014, growing to 840 last year after the agency took on a massive growth in responsibility and funding.

What’s actually being proposed

When LAHSA’s governing commission voted in October to approve a new proposed list of who needs to file the disclosures and received a presentation on the process, the proposed code itself was not included in the public agenda documents.

It’s unclear whether the commissioners received a copy of the list before voting to approve it. Greuel and Adams Kellum haven’t responded to an email from LAist asking if they did.

A state law guide from the California Attorney General’s Office says any documents distributed for discussion or approval to bodies like the LAHSA Commission "shall be made available without delay to members of the public."

“There’s no reason why it can’t be done in this day and age. You just post the agenda, you link to the supporting documents,” said David Loy, an attorney and legal director for the First Amendment Coalition.

“There’s no question for me that it’s absolutely best practice for transparency and accountability, that agenda is posted, and every single item is linked,” Loy said.

LAHSA officials haven’t provided LAist a copy of the list the commission approved, despite multiple requests. But county officials did.

LAHSA’s proposal, disclosed by a county spokesperson, includes seven tiers of required disclosure and assigns one or more of those tiers to each of the 39 job categories listed.

The agency's attorneys are Dae “Dan” Kim from the County Counsel’s Office and Catrina Archuleta-Silva from the City Attorney’s Office. LAist sent them emails asking if LAHSA’s current code follows state law.

Kim didn’t respond, and a spokesperson for City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto replied saying the office does not “comment on client communications or legal advice.”

Read LAHSA's proposed list

Conflict of interest code proposal ▶

What the LAHSA CEO has disclosed 

Va Lecia Adams Kellum, CEO of Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, at a news briefing at L.A. City Hall in June 2023.

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Gary Coronado

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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On her form 700s, Adams Kellum discloses spousal income from one of LAHSA’s service provider contractors, where her husband Edward Kellum works as director of operations and compliance. Adams Kellum told LAist in an email that procedures have “ ‘walled me off’ from any involvement in matters concerning” her husband’s employer.

“I am completely recused from matters that involve or impact Upward Bound House,” she wrote.

She and Greuel have not responded to a follow-up question asking about meeting minutes that show LAHSA commissioners granting Adams Kellum the authority to execute contracts with her husband’s employer.

After approving the proposed conflict of interest code on Oct. 30, the LAHSA commission’s next item was to authorize Adams Kellum to enter into a $2.6 million contract with her husband’s employer, among other contracts, according to the meeting agenda. That item was approved, the minutes show.

Greuel, Adams Kellum and her staff have not provided copies of the contracts with Adams Kellum’s husband’s employer, more than a week after LAist began asking.

What we know about the part-time strategist

Kris Freed was a consultant to LAHSA before being hired as the agency’s chief executive strategist on Nov. 1. She said in a LinkedIn post that she would continue consulting for clients in the homeless services industry while in her role at LAHSA, adding that her commitment to them “will remain unwavering and steadfast.”

Contacted by phone, she told LAist none of her clients work in L.A. County. She co-owns a consulting business with the leader of one of LAHSA’s largest service providers, HOPICS, according to its state business filings.

Freed’s role at LAHSA “does not entail oversight of finances or contracting,” said agency spokesperson Paul Rubenstein. “None of her work is in Los Angeles and she suspended her partnership with the head of a service provider for the duration of her time at LAHSA.”

The business partner at HOPICS temporarily stepped away from the consulting business with Freed according to an October agreement Rubenstein provided to LAist. The agreement cited “a conflict of interest” that had been identified from both business partners’ employment. A subsequent state business registration filing states the HOPICS leader continues to co-own the consulting business with Freed.

In her LAHSA executive role, Freed was scheduled to present a housing “Unit Acquisition Strategy Update” last month to county supervisors’ homelessness policy aides, according to the county’s meeting agenda. Among the information in her presentation slides was about housing acquired by HOPICS, the provider led by her consulting business partner. Freed presented the slides at the meeting, according to a county official.

The September job posting for Freed’s part-time executive position at LAHSA stated it would pay up to $322,587 for a maximum of 29 hours per week. The position was open for about a week, according to the posting.

How to watchdog local government

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Michael Gates, a former deputy assistant attorney general, produced a letter Friday that he said confirmed he was not fired for cause, but rather resigned from the Civil Rights Division of the federal Department of Justice.

The Orange County Register last week reported that Gates had been fired for cause, citing an anonymous DOJ source who said Gates repeatedly referred to women colleagues by derogatory and demeaning names and had complained about the department employing a pregnant woman. The Register also published a government employment form, which was undated, that they said showed that Gates was fired for cause.

Gates told LAist the allegations were “100% fabrication.” Then on Friday, he shared a screenshot of a Nov. 21 letter from John Buchko, director of operational management at the DOJ, stating that the department “has accepted your voluntary resignation” and “will remove from your personnel record any previous reference to your termination.”

LAist reached out to Natalie Baldassarre, a DOJ spokesperson, to confirm the letter, sharing that screenshot. She responded by email: “No comment on personnel matters.”

Michael Gates provided this letter. A spokesperson for the department said they would not comment on personnel matters.

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Courtesy Michael Gates

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Back to Huntington Beach

Gates told LAist earlier this month that he was resigning from his job with the federal government because he missed Huntington Beach and his family. On Friday, the Huntington Beach City Council confirmed Gates has been hired back as chief assistant city attorney. He starts Monday.

Gates is both loved and loathed in politically contentious Huntington Beach. He has been an outspoken supporter of President Donald Trump and his policies and a continuous thorn in the side of Gov. Gavin Newsom, a Democrat who is one of the most prominent critics of the president.

Gates was first elected city attorney in 2014 and has won re-election twice since then, with wide margins. Huntington Beach is among a minority of cities in California that elects rather than appoints a city attorney.

Gates' track record

As city attorney, Gates sued the state over housing mandates and the right to implement voter ID. He also marshalled the city into the center of culture war battles. While he was city attorney, his office sued California over the state’s sanctuary law, as well as a law prohibiting schools from requiring teachers to inform parents of a child’s request to change pronouns or otherwise “out” them as LGBTQ.

Many Huntington Beach residents support his work. But Gates has also faced heavy criticism and legal penalties, for some of his actions. In 2021, the city paid out $2.5 million total in a settlement with one former and one current employee who alleged age discrimination while working at the city under Gates. The city did not concede to any wrongdoing under the settlement.

And last year, Gates helped broker a controversial settlement over the pandemic-era cancelation of the city’s annual airshow, which will cost Huntington Beach taxpayers millions over the coming years.

What’s next?

Gates told LAist he’s looking forward to, once again, heading up the city’s litigation, including a scheduled trial against an effort to force Huntington Beach to adopt by-district elections. He said he plans to run again for city attorney in next year’s election.

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, the Georgia Republican who rose to prominence as one of President Donald Trump's biggest defenders and recently became one of his biggest critics, is leaving Congress.

Greene's announcement late Friday that she would resign effective Jan. 5, 2026, is the latest escalation of months of clashes with the president over his second term agenda — including the release of the Epstein files.

"Standing up for American women who were raped at 14, trafficked and used by rich powerful men, should not result in me being called a traitor and threatened by the President of the United States, whom I fought for," Greene wrote in a lengthy statement shared online.

The third-term Congresswoman also said it would not be fair to her northwest Georgia district, one of the most conservative in the country, to have them "endure a hurtful and hateful primary against me by the president we all fought for," while noting that "Republicans will likely lose the midterms."

Greene is one of a record 40 House members and 10 senators who have indicated they do not plan to return to their seats after the 2026 election, joining a number of lawmakers who are retiring or running for a different office.
Copyright 2025 NPR

Los Angeles County District Attorney Nathan Hochman filed a motion Friday in Superior Court to dismiss manslaughter charges against two Torrance police officers who fatally shot a Black man in possession of an air rifle in 2018.

Hochman argued in court documents that prosecutors can’t meet the legal standard of proof needed for the officers to be convicted of a crime.

The court has not yet ruled on the matter.

The details

Officers Matthew Concannon and Anthony Chavez were indicted in 2023 in connection with the killing of Christopher Deandre Mitchell, 23, who was suspected of stealing a car.

As the officers approached the car, they saw what was later revealed to be an air rifle between Mitchell’s legs. When Mitchell appeared to reach for the rifle,the officers opened fire, according to police.

The backstory

Former District Attorney Jackie Lacey declined to file charges against the officers in 2019, saying they reasonably believed Mitchell had a gun. Her successor George Gascón, elected in 2020 on a platform of police accountability, assigned a special prosecutor to review the case. The special prosecutor sought the criminal indictment.

When Hochman took office in 2024, he appointed a new special prosecutor, who recommended the charges be dropped.

“We cannot move forward in good faith with prosecuting these two officers because we cannot prove beyond a reasonable doubt with admissible evidence that the officers unreasonably believed they were in imminent danger when they saw what looked like a sawed-off shotgun or rifle between Mr. Mitchell’s legs and his hands moved toward the weapon just before the officers shot,” the statement read.

The courts

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Sam Ohta did not immediately make a ruling Friday on the motion to dismiss the charges, saying the state Supreme Court is also considering the case.

The state Supreme Court is considering an appeal filed by one of the officer’s attorneys after Ohta rejected an earlier motion to dismiss by the defense.

As the Palisades Fire was still burning in January, residents saw an eye-grabbing headline: the Santa Ynez reservoir, perched directly above the Palisades, was offline for repairs and empty.

The reservoir’s closure frustrated residents and spurred Gov. Gavin Newsom to announce a state investigation into whether the reservoir being full of water would have made a difference fighting the deadly fire.

After months of analysis, California agencies including the state’s EPA, Cal Fire and the Department of Water Resources issued a report confirming the explanations given by local officials and experts in the aftermath of the fire: the water supply was too slow, not too low — and even a functioning reservoir likely wouldn’t have done much in the face of an unprecedented natural disaster.

Why the hydrants stopped working

The report found that not even a full reservoir positioned uphill from the Palisades Fire could have maintained water pressure and stopped the devastation.

“The water system lost pressure, not due to a lack of water supply in the system, but because of an insufficient flow rate,” the report states.

A reservoir perched at a high elevation, such as the Santa Ynez, can serve an important role in maintaining water pressure for hydrants throughout the system. As water gets used downhill, water from the reservoir flows to towers that maintain water pressure. Because of gravity and physical limitations on flow rates, the pressure towers can't be refilled at the same pace as they are drained and eventually dry up.

In the case of the Palisades Fire, the report states, a full reservoir would have helped keep water pressure up for only a short time.

The report noted that some data points on the demand on the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power’s system were missing.

However, investigators found that based on experiences with other fires, the high demand across the system meant it was “unlikely that [the reservoir] could have helped maintain pressure for very long.”

The system’s design

The report found that the closure of the Santa Ynez Reservoir was in line with the primary purpose of L.A.’s water infrastructure: maintaining a clean drinking water supply. The reservoir repairs were prompted by a damaged cover. The repairs, the report notes, were required by federal and state laws on drinking water safety.

More broadly, municipal water systems like L.A.’s weren’t built to fight wildfires, as LAist reported in January.

“This report confirms what we and others have been saying more broadly regarding water system expectations and capabilities, but does so completely independently and with new details specific to the L.A. fires,” Greg Pierce, the director of UCLA’s Human Right to Water Solutions Lab, said in an email to LAist.

What’s next

The report makes two major recommendations: continue to follow the California Wildfire and Forest Resilience Action Plan, and make sure firefighters in the state are positioned for year-round fires.

The state stopped short of recommending any changes to L.A.’s municipal infrastructure. Water experts like Pierce say massive amounts of water and a very expensive redesign of L.A.’s water system would be needed to keep fire hydrants working during large urban conflagrations.

For their part, researchers and others have been looking into other solutions, including putting more utility lines underground and redistributing water across the system.

The report about the reservoir comes on the heels of a separate report from the Fire Safety Research Institute about the timeline leading up to and during the January firestorm. That report, which was commissioned by the California governor's office, contains a detailed account of the Palisades and Eaton fires' progressions and emergency services' responses on Jan. 7 and 8.

As for the Santa Ynez Reservoir, the repairs to fix its broken cover and make it usable again are slated to begin in June and finish by May 2027.