The Brief

L.A. city officials have for months kept from the public a damning report, ordered by the council, that found a major homelessness enforcement policy championed by several council members has failed in key goals to keep areas clear of encampments and get people housed.

The report looks at one of the city’s most controversial enforcement laws, a rule known as 41.18 zones. Under changes approved in 2021, council members can designate areas in their district where unhoused people cannot sit, lie down, sleep, or keep belongings on sidewalks or other public areas. People are supposed to receive advanced warning and get help finding shelter before encampments are cleared.

The camping ban was viewed by some council members and housing activists as a cruel crackdown that criminalized poverty and put public spaces off limits for people unable to access shelter that’s in short supply. Supporters cheered the change as a step to make schools and other places safer by removing encampments and argued that shelter beds are available.

Nearly a year ago, council members unanimously ordered a report about 41.18, including assessing whether 41.18 was effective at housing people and preventing encampments from returning.

The answer: No.

That was the conclusion of officials at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) who analyzed the data in a report sent to the council’s legislative analyst in November. It was meant to feed into a broader report to the council about 41.18 that is now eight months overdue.

LAHSA’s November report was not shared with several council members — including Nithya Raman, who chairs the housing and homelessness committee — until this week. It still has not been provided to Curren Price, one of the two council members who co-signed the council’s April 2023 directive to generate the report, according to his spokesperson.

Its findings have not been reported publicly until now.

The report, obtained by LAist from a person with access to the document and verified by others with knowledge of it, found that 41.18 failed to keep the vast majority of its areas clear of encampments and was “generally ineffective” at helping people get into housing.

LAist reached out to Mayor Karen Bass’ office and all 15 City Council members for comment.

In a statement Saturday responding to LAist's reporting, Councilmember Hugo Soto-Martinez called 41.18 a "complete and total failure."

"Our office still has not officially received this report, but we know that encampments swept with 41.18 nearly always return, and we spend millions of dollars every year on this ineffective criminalization of homelessness," he said.

"The city is facing a budget deficit, and we can’t keep lying to the public while spending millions criminalizing homelessness and pushing people from block to block," he added, saying the city needs to invest in housing.

A spokesperson for Raman said the council’s homelessness committee chair first received a copy of the November report on Wednesday.

“Our team is still going through the data and is not prepared to comment at this time,” Raman’s spokesperson, Stella Stahl, said in a statement.

What the analysis found

The analysis by LAHSA looked at 41.18 operations from December 2021 to November 2023, totaling 174 encampment clear-outs.

Among the report’s key findings, the vast majority of encampments came back:

• Unhoused people came back at high rates — 81% of encampments had people return who had been there before the clear-out.
• And nearly all encampments reemerged post clearing, when including people who hadn’t been there before.
• 94% of people at encampments targeted for removal under 41.18 wanted shelter. Of those, only 18% were able to get it.

For example, at Venice Boulevard and Tuller Avenue, the data show an encampment of 54 people before the operation. Among them, 52 people wanted shelter — but only two people got it, according to the data.

And after the 41.18 operation, 122 people came back at various points, the data show.

“In general, the framework of 41.18 falls short of more effective encampment resolution efforts, such as Inside Safe or other Encampment-to-Home initiatives,” states the report, dated Nov. 28. Inside Safe expands bed capacity so everyone at a particular encampment being cleared has a place to come indoors.

The encampment clearings also can disrupt people’s ability to get shelter, the report adds.

Unhoused people “may move away from the location and providers may lose contact after clients are displaced,” the report states. “Clients may also become distrustful of providers and refuse services after being forced to move from their current location. Encampment clearings can lead to a loss of ID and documentation that are crucial for ongoing services and eventual housing.”

Current and former homelessness officials told LAist the report’s findings underscore that the shortage of shelter and housing is driving the homelessness crisis, and unless that’s dealt with, encampments will keep coming back.

Report was kept in the shadows

The effectiveness report has been kept under wraps from the public for months, until now. One person familiar with the report said there was widespread anxiety and fear about releasing the findings due to concerns it would highlight a lack of progress addressing homelessness.

A report was ordered by the council on April 12 last year after public pressure on the council to study whether 41.18 is working. It was required to be provided to the council within 60 days, by mid-June.

Three hundred twenty four days later, there still is no official report to the council compiling all of the data they requested, including about the financial costs of 41.18.

Key info requested by the council — the LAHSA data analysis — was sent to the council’s legislative analyst, Sharon Tso, in late November. That was over five months after the deadline.

But three months later, there is still no compiled report to the council, which is 264 days overdue. And there’s been no update in the public agenda file about the delay.

Efforts to keep it hidden have reportedly sparked an uproar within city hall.

About the delay

In an interview Friday evening after this article was published, Tso said she didn’t know of any effort to withhold the information the council had requested, which is now over eight months overdue.

She said the information hasn’t been provided because she’s still trying to get questions answered about how LAHSA calculated and portrayed the numbers. But she wouldn’t say what those questions are, nor provide a timeline for when her long-overdue report would be provided to the full council or the public.

She also would not answer repeated questions from LAist about whether some council members asked her to do things that delay the release of this information.

“I am being diligent…That’s all I can tell you,” Tso said. “My conversations with my council members are my conversations.”

Council members haven’t been demanding the information be disclosed immediately, she added.

“There hasn’t been this screaming demand that we need to have something now,” Tso said.

After obtaining a leaked copy of the report, LAist also requested the report directly from LAHSA officials. LAHSA spokespeople, including its head of external relations Paul Rubenstein, did not immediately provide it — despite state law requiring public records be disclosed upon request without delay. Rubenstein is the person listed on the “From” line at the top of the report.

Big enforcement differences among council members

An analysis released last fall by L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office found a wide disparity in how much 41.18 enforcement council members were doing in their districts.

At the top of the list was Councilmember John Lee, who is running for reelection in District 12. Nearly half the 2023 arrests through mid-September were in Lee’s northwest San Fernando Valley district, while it had one the smallest unsheltered populations.

His district had 836 arrests, which is more than three times as many as the second-highest district, Council District 1, represented by Eunisses Hernandez.

A plea months ago for public disclosure

In October, activists with one of L.A.’s leading unhoused advocacy groups filed a written comment with the council wondering why the report was taking so long.

“While this report back is well over 100 days past due, we hope that the City will present their findings soon,” wrote Adam Smith of the LA Community Action Network.

He asked for a special public City Council hearing about the report when it’s turned in.

“Our request,” Smith wrote, “is rooted in a long-standing City Hall precedent for holding hearings that include presentation of data by stakeholders impacted directly by City policy.”

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously Tuesday to approve an $843 million homelessness spending plan that includes nearly $200 million in reductions to programs and services in the next budget year.

Among those programs is Pathway Home, which helps move people from encampments into temporary housing. The county reduced funding for that program by $92 million, which will shrink it from 20 project sites to seven, officials said.

Supervisors also approved $105 million in reductions to other programs, including large cuts to street outreach teams, homelessness prevention programs and other supportive services.

County officials said they had to reduce spending in order to cover the rising costs of operating shelter beds and the loss of tens of millions in temporary state and federal funding, including some COVID-19 relief dollars.

“With federal neglect and state cuts, we have to do more with less,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath told LAist. “And we will.”

The county’s new Department of Homeless Services and Housing has been warning about the looming shortfall since July. County officials solicited input on how to fill an initial $303 million gap.

Since then, the department adjusted the county’s homelessness spending plan, after finding some one-time state grants and cost-saving measures.

The budget year starts July 1.

Some funding restored

Last month, local homeless service providers urged county officials to restore all of the more than $200 million in proposed reductions to programs and services. Some supervisors raised concerns about specific cuts.

Since then, new revenue projections show the county stands to bring in $21 million more through Measure A than originally anticipated.

Measure A is a sales tax ordinance, approved by L.A. County voters in 2024, that funds homeless services and affordable housing initiatives. It is expected to generate about $1 billion annually, but exact revenues fluctuate with consumer spending.

The county’s slightly rosier revenue projections allowed the homeless department to roll back a fraction of the proposed reductions.

“It’s not a windfall and it doesn’t solve every challenge, but it does give us the ability to restore important programs that were on the chopping block,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said.

The board voted to use much of that $21 million to restore funding for two dozen full-time outreach workers and about 100 shelter beds that were previously on the chopping block.

The plan approved Tuesday also calls for $5 million in Measure A revenue to partially restore funding for interim housing in Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale. It restored more than $1 million to operate family solution centers — hubs to connect unhoused families with services — and about $500,000 for a program that helps military veterans access government benefits.

Supervisor Holly Mitchell said she wishes Pathway Home funding could be maintained. She said it’s been crucial for helping people living in RV encampments in her district, which spans from Koreatown to much of the South Bay.

"These restorations don't expand encampment resolution operations,” Mitchell said Tuesday. “The services with the greatest impact in the Second District remain reduced, and the current plan does not replace what was cut."

County homelessness officials told supervisors the 100 shelter beds they saved will be prioritized for people living in encampments and will help make up for cuts to Pathway Home.

"The reduction to Pathway Home is not a reduced commitment to encampment resolution,” L.A. County Department of Homeless Services and Housing director Sarah Mahin said Tuesday. “It’s a recognition that it was built on one-time funding and we need to expand strategies to include more cost-effective resolution solutions."

New oversight push

The supervisors also voted 5-0 Tuesday to approve a new motion focused on accountability in homeless service contracting. The motion by Horvath and Kathryn Barger directs the homelessness department to work with the county auditor-controller to create strict oversight procedures for contracts, including random site visits, performance monitoring and provisions for termination.

They said the goal is to prevent the mismanagement that has plagued the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, and the fraud that has resulted in recent arrests. Last month, federal authorities arrested Alex Soofer, director of a nonprofit called Abundant Blessings, on suspicion of embezzling tens of millions in dollars meant to serve unhoused Angelenos. Soofer pleaded not guilty to the charges this week.

"Public dollars intended to address homelessness have gone unaccounted for under LAHSA," Horvath said. “That is unacceptable and it ends now with the county.”

Last year, the board voted to divert more than $300 million in county homelessness dollars away from LAHSA and administer the funds itself with a new homelessness department.

“As the department launches, every contract, every dollar, and every outcome must withstand scrutiny,” Horvath told LAist in a statement. “We don’t have resources to waste or time to lose in addressing the homelessness crisis.”

Barger described instances of fraud within the homeless services sector as “moral failures” that cannot be tolerated.

“They represent theft from the most vulnerable people in our community,” she said.

She also argued that ethical service providers “should not have their reputations destroyed by the criminal actions of a few bad actors.”

Barger told fellow supervisors at Tuesday’s meeting it’s their responsibility to monitor how county homelessness dollars are being spent — and to defund programs that aren’t generating results.

“Setting the budget is the easy part,” Barger said. “We have to see results. And if we don’t, we have to have a debate at this board: is that the best use of these resources?”

The department must report back to the board in 60 days with their full plan for monitoring contractors and preventing fraud and misuse of public funds.

Auditor-Controller Oscar Valdez told supervisors his office would submit a plan to county homelessness officials Tuesday.

A crew of four moon-bound astronauts will remain on the ground for at least a month after NASA delayed the launch of the Artemis II mission. During critical pre-launch testing Monday, mission managers uncovered a number of issues that prevented the completion of the test.

NASA is now planning a March launch date for the four astronauts — three from the U.S. and one from Canada — on a ten-day mission to circle the moon and return to Earth, traveling farther than any humans have ventured into deep space.

Issues leading to that delay began about an hour into Monday's test, known as the wet dress rehearsal. As the team began fueling the rocket at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, sensors picked up a hydrogen leak. Super-chilled hydrogen is used as the fuel for the massive Space Launch System (SLS) rocket.

Hydrogen is an efficient propellant for rockets — but its molecules are so tiny and light they can escape even the tightest of seals. Launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson said they had troubleshooted the initial leak, but when they began to pressurize the tank, another leak surfaced.

"And so as we began that pressurization, we did see that the leak within the cavity came up pretty quick," said Blackwell-Thompson.

(L/R) NASA Associate Administrator Amit Kshatriya, NASA Associate Administrator Lori Glaze, launch director Charlie Blackwell-Thompson, and manager of NASA's Space Launch System Program, John Honeycutt, hold a news conference on the Artemis II mission at Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Fla., on Tuesday.

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Miguel J. Rodriguez Carrillo

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AFP via Getty Images

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Hydrogen leaks plagued testing of NASA's Artemis I mission in 2022. Blackwell-Thompson said lessons learned from that uncrewed flight were utilized for Artemis II, but there's more investigation is needed.

The wet dress rehearsal uncovered other issues — including a problem with the Orion capsule, which will carry the crew to the moon. While no one was on board Monday, teams practiced preparing the spacecraft for its passengers. A valve that pressurizes the vehicle required additional attention and took more time to close the hatch than anticipated.

Teams also uncovered issues with cameras due to cold weather and audio dropouts across communication channels. "As always, safety remains our top priority, for our astronauts, our workforce, our systems and the public," said NASA administrator Jared Isaacman in a post on X, and that NASA will only launch when the agency is ready.

Work now begins to fix the issues. NASA will require another wet dress rehearsal before giving the "GO" to put astronauts on board. "All in all, a very successful day for us on many fronts," said Blackwell-Thompson. "Then, on many others, we got some work we've got to go do."

The earliest launch window for another attempt is March 6. NASA has additional launch opportunities on March 7, 8, 9 and 11.

The crew of NASA astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Jeremy Hansen were released from quarantine and will remain in Houston, Texas. They'll re-enter quarantine about 14 days ahead of the next launch attempt and make the trip to the Kennedy Space Center six days before liftoff.

Artemis II is testing key systems of the Orion spacecraft, like its maneuverability and life support systems, ahead of the planned Artemis III mission that will take humans to the lunar surface. The Artemis II will mark the first time humans have returned to the moon since the final Apollo lunar mission in 1972.
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A trial got underway Tuesday in a case alleging that Huntington Beach illegally dilutes the power of Latino voters with its at-large election system.

Cities across Orange County and elsewhere in California have faced similar challenges over the past decade. Most have settled out of court by adopting by-district elections, where voters only vote on a city council representative from their area, rather than requiring candidates to run citywide. A notable exception is Santa Monica — the city has been fighting a challenge to its at-large election system in court for nearly 10 years.

Now, Huntington Beach is following suit.

The case was brought by the nonprofit group Southwest Voter Registration Education Project and Victor Valladares, a Huntington Beach resident and Democratic Party activist. It’s being heard by Orange County Superior Court Judge Craig L. Griffin.

The argument against at-large city elections

The plaintiffs allege Latino voters can’t elect a candidate of their choice under the current system, in violation of the California Voting Rights Act. This alleged dilution of Latino voting power, they say, leads to poor representation and negative consequences for the city’s majority-Latino Oak View neighborhood.

“Their needs get ignored,” Kevin Shenkman, the plaintiffs’ lawyer, said during his opening statement Tuesday. “It is a natural result of the at-large election system.”

Latinos make up about 20% of the population in Huntington Beach. Under a draft map of electoral districts drawn up by demographer David Ely, a witness for the plaintiffs, the district that includes the Oak View neighborhood would be 40% Latino. Plaintiffs argued this would give residents more power to elect a city councilmember who represents their interests.

The city’s defense of at-large elections

In their opening argument, lawyers representing Huntington Beach argued that Latinos in Huntington Beach are spread across the city and politically diverse.

The city’s lawyers also argued that recent elections of Latino city council members, including MMA star Tito Ortiz in 2020 and Gracey Van Der Mark in 2022, prove the city’s current at-large election system doesn’t impede Latino residents’ ability to participate in the local political process.

“The system works, it’s not broken, and the evidence will show that at trial,” said Anthony Taylor, one of the attorneys representing Huntington Beach.

The trial is expected to last into next week.

Go deeper

• Why were AI-equipped police cameras installed in this majority Latino Huntington Beach neighborhood?
• Huntington Beach's controversial voter ID law is illegal
• Voting by district gives Latino candidates a boost in Orange County
• District elections mean big governing changes for many California cities