The Brief

This week, Los Angeles' embattled homelessness agency made a major shift when it decided to no longer conduct the region's annual homeless count and give up management of over $200 million in annual federal funds aimed at addressing homelessness starting next month.

The day after the shift, federal prosecutors announced new fraud and bribery charges over homelessness funds that flowed through the agency. They allege a nonprofit founder siphoned $1 million in taxpayer funds into a high-end nightclub and a nearly $50,000 trip to Tahiti, among other claims. The founder's attorney has not responded to requests for comment.

It’s the latest fallout around the L.A. Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA, which for years has seen outside audits and reviews find that it’s failed to adequately oversee taxpayer spending.

In response to one of those audits, L.A. County decided a year and a half ago to pull its roughly $300 million per year from LAHSA — moving it into a newly created county homelessness department.

Until this year, LAHSA was funded by three main sources: the county, the city and the federal government.

With LAHSA’s decision this week to bow out of federal funding, the city of L.A. is now left as its last remaining major funder.

The L.A City Council has debated withdrawing funds for years, but is still in the process of hiring a consultant to come up with a plan.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass and her mayoral challenger, Councilmember Nithya Raman, both say they want the city to pull its funds and manage them directly. In recent weeks on the campaign trail, Raman has promised an exit within her first year as mayor if elected, while Bass this week said it would take “a couple of years.”

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass speaks at a press conference before LAHSA's annual homeless count on Tuesday, Feb. 18, 2025, in Los Angeles.

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Carlin Stiehl

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LAist

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In June and July, Bass’ office said she took steps toward exiting LAHSA, saying she directed city housing staff to come up with a plan for the city to leave the agency. Those staff told LAist they’re not aware of any such directive, and Bass’ office has not responded to follow-up questions.

No decisions yet from city

Three years ago, as the L.A. City Council’s homelessness committee was expressing frustration at years of inaccurate and incomplete performance data from LAHSA, a council member said the council had failed to examine alternatives that could take over management of the funding from the agency.

“ We have to have something in place. And I think what we failed as council is to start talking [through] the questions about what that would mean,” Councilmember John Lee said at the time.

“ We need to make sure that we take a look at those options. Otherwise, every year, we're going to be coming here … having the same exact conversations.”

The next year, county auditors found that LAHSA had failed to properly track and oversee the money it managed.

The City Council then voted in March 2025 to study letting the city contract directly with homeless service providers, bypassing LAHSA.

It was about a year before council members discussed next steps at a meeting.

This April, the council's Housing and Homelessness Committee — chaired at the time by Raman — recommended shifting city-funded programs away from LAHSA over the course of the current fiscal year. They recommended a July 1 deadline for a plan to be provided. That date came and went without the full council directing that a plan be created.

City Councilmember Nithya Raman speaks ahead of the annual homeless count on Jan. 20, 2026.

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Jordan Rynning

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LAist

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The full council approved money for a consultant on Aug. 4, when it voted to allocate $450,000 to "rapidly hire" outside experts to study a transition plan.

That consultant hasn’t been hired yet. A competitive bidding process is underway, according to City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo.

"We are required to solicit bids for that work and are currently in the procurement process," Szablo said via email.

Mounting federal and legal pressure

The city's deliberations are unfolding against escalating scrutiny of LAHSA itself.

In June, the Trump administration suspended the agency from federal homelessness dollars, citing what it called a pattern of fraud, failure and flagrant mismanagement. Administration officials at the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, or HUD, pointed in part to the case of Abundant Blessings, a nonprofit whose director, Alex Soofer, was criminally charged in January with siphoning at least $10 million in homelessness funds that flowed through LAHSA.

An LAist investigation found LAHSA had approved at least $3.5 million in contracts to Soofer's nonprofit even after its own compliance team flagged the group as high-risk for failing to do its job. Soofer recently agreed to plead guilty to diverting $2 million and previously repaid LAHSA $1.25 million.

LAHSA sued to block the federal suspension of homelessness dollars, arguing HUD's evidence was thin and its process abrupt. In an August ruling, U.S. District Judge David Carter paused the suspension pending further hearings, writing that LAHSA "may be dysfunctional" but that federal officials had "abruptly" pulled funding from providers serving thousands of people.

This week, LAHSA gave up trying to continue its federal responsibilities, just before prosecutors announced the new charges against LAHSA vendors.

LAist reporter Aaron Schrank contributed reporting to this story.

It’s taken over a decade and $1.3 billion, but Hollywood Burbank’s new terminal is finally ready for action. On Tuesday, Oct. 13, the first passengers will be taking off and arriving at the brand-new structure.

Visitors note: The new terminal entrance has moved from Thornton Avenue to the intersection of Winona Avenue and Hollywood Way. There’s also a central security checkpoint and an indoor baggage claim.

The project stemmed from Burbank’s Measure B, passed in 2016.

LAist reporter Cato Hernandez got a sneak peek inside the building last week and reported on the scope and the thinking behind the decor.

William Contreras hit a tying homer in the fifth and singled home the go-ahead run an inning later as the Milwaukee Brewers defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 7-4 on Monday in Game 2 of the National League Championship Series.

Four relievers combined to retire the last 15 Dodgers batters in order as the Brewers took a 2-0 lead over the two-time defending World Series champions in this best-of-seven series, which heads to Los Angeles for Game 3 on Wednesday.

The Brewers are chasing their second pennant and first in the NL. They made their lone World Series appearance in 1982, when they were in the American League.

Los Angeles is trying to become the first NL team to win three straight World Series. The Dodgers last rallied from a 2-0 deficit to win a series in 2020, when they beat the Atlanta Braves in a seven-game NLCS before going on to win the World Series.

The Dodgers will need more punch from their lineup to have a chance at getting back to the Fall Classic. They mustered just three hits Monday and went 0 for 4 with runners in scoring position to drop to 2 for 26 in those situations this postseason.

Los Angeles couldn’t even get a boost from Yoshinobu Yamamoto, who entered 8-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 11 career playoff appearances. Yamamoto lasted just 2 2/3 innings for his shortest postseason start.

The Dodgers took the lead on three occasions in the first five innings. Milwaukee responded each time, the last coming when Contreras tied the game with a 436-foot homer to center off Kris Bubic in the fifth.

That turned the game into a battle of the bullpens, where the Brewers again had the edge.

Dustin May, JoJo Romero, Abner Uribe and Aaron Ashby combined to shut down the Dodgers after Logan Henderson’s early exit.

The score was tied 4-all when Milwaukee’s David Hamilton was hit by a pitch from Brock Stewart to lead off the sixth. Stewart attempted a pickoff throw that went off the glove of first baseman Freddie Freeman and into foul territory for an error, advancing Hamilton to second.

After Jackson Chourio grounded out, the right-handed Stewart walked the left-handed-hitting Brice Turang to face the right-handed Contreras, who had homered in his previous plate appearance.

Contreras singled to left this time to bring home Hamilton with the go-ahead run.

Turang and Jake Bauers added RBI singles in the eighth to extend Milwaukee’s lead.

Neither starter lasts long

The anticipated pitchers’ duel between Yamamoto and Henderson didn’t work out according to plan.

In three previous playoff starts following Dodgers losses, Yamamoto had gone 3-0 with a 1.23 ERA. When he faced the Brewers in last year’s NLCS, he threw the first playoff complete game since Justin Verlander did it in 2017.

This time, Yamamoto couldn’t even make it out of the third inning before leaving with the Dodgers behind 3-2.

Henderson entered Monday having not allowed more than three runs in any of his 24 career starts (including the postseason). That streak ended when he allowed four runs over four innings.

Because Henderson committed two errors — matching his previous career total — only two of the runs were earned.

Milwaukee trailed 2-1 in the third when Bauers capped a 12-pitch plate appearance by taking a 3-2 offering in the dirt to load the bases with a walk. Christian Yelich followed by lining a single up the middle that brought home two runs and knocked Yamamoto out of the game.

Los Angeles bailed out Yamamoto by scoring twice in the fifth.

After Kyle Tucker hit a leadoff double, Tommy Edman sacrificed him to third. Henderson fielded the bunt and made a wild throw to first, enabling Tucker to score and moving Edman to second.

Edman advanced to third when Mookie Betts grounded out, and scored on Freeman’s sacrifice fly.

Henderson also had made a wild throw to first on a pickoff attempt in the third inning that allowed Edman to score from third.

Up next

Robert Gasser (5-5, 3.87 ERA) is expected to start for Milwaukee in Game 3. Gasser allowed one run over five innings when the Brewers won 3-1 at San Diego to clinch their NL Division Series.

The Dodgers hadn’t announced their Game 3 starting pitcher.

Actor and disability rights advocate RJ Mitte, who brought a lifetime of experience with cerebral palsy to fictional family struggles in an essential role on “Breaking Bad,” died Monday at age 34, authorities and his representatives said.

Cameron County Justice of the Peace Cyndi Hinojosa told The Associated Press she declared Mitte dead at about 1:30 p.m. at what she believed was his home in Brownsville, Texas. She said she was unable to provide a cause, but an autopsy will be performed.

Mitte played Walter White Jr., the son of Bryan Cranston’s chemistry teacher-turned-meth dealer Walter White on nearly every episode of the five seasons of the AMC show, which recently ranked as the best of the 21st century in a New York Times poll.

Diagnosed at age 3, Mitte told the AP in 2014 that his disability and the surrounding struggles with physical therapy, family problems and exorbitant medical bills — all key subjects on the show — made him better at his job.“You develop a different mentality and you develop a different look at how the world sees you and how you see the world,” he said. “You’re able to use that. And I think it’s an asset instead of something that would hinder.”

Mitte was born and raised in Jackson, Mississippi.

He landed small guest roles on sitcoms after moving to Los Angeles to act in 2006. Like his character, he was in his mid-teens when he began his work on “Breaking Bad,” starting in 2007. The show ran from 2008 to 2013.

“Mitte brought authenticity to the role and built a platform on disability awareness and inclusion,” the actor’s representatives said in a statement announcing his death. The statement said he used “his platform to challenge stereotypes and promote greater representation.”

His later credits included the ABC Family series “Switched at Birth” and the superhero satire series “Guardians of Justice.”

He was also a producer of several independent films.

As an advocate, he served as an ambassador for United Cerebral Palsy and Shriners Children’s. He was also president of his own Mitte Foundation supporting philanthropic and community initiatives around disabilities.