Here’s how LA County plans to spend your tax dollars on homelessness

A few months after voters approved higher taxes to combat homelessness, Los Angeles County officials have proposed cutting $62 million from the homeless services budget by slashing several programs.

The spending proposal from the L.A. County Homeless Initiative recommends major cuts to a job training program and one that helps qualified applicants clear their criminal records, according to budget documents. The Homeless Initiative is also recommending eliminating county funding for homelessness prevention programs administered by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA.

County officials said the proposal reflects a projected budget deficit of $35 million for fiscal year 2025-26 and another $27 million in cost increases.

“We have been forced to make some really difficult recommendations,” said Cheri Todoroff, executive director of the Homeless Initiative. “We prioritized the services that are directly touching people — so, the outreach, the beds and the permanent housing.”

The elimination of county homelessness prevention funding for LAHSA reflects a shift in how the county plans to do prevention work under Measure A, approved by voters in November.

Instead of LAHSA primarily overseeing efforts to provide short-term rental assistance and legal help to keep people in their homes, homelessness prevention could be led by a brand new county affordable housing agency funded by the sales tax, according to Measure A proponents.

“When voters approved Measure A, they were not just approving critical local dollars,” said Tommy Newman, vice president of United Way of Greater Los Angeles. “They were also approving a whole new approach to preventing homelessness, to making housing more affordable.”

As L.A. County works to finalize its $637 million homeless services budget, it’s inviting the public to weigh in on the spending plan.

How Measure A splits the money

Measure A will essentially double L.A. County's revenue for homelessness by replacing a quarter-cent sales tax with a half-cent sales tax. Starting April 1, this new tax is expected to generate more than $1 billion annually, which will be split two ways:

• L.A. County will receive 60% (about $600 million a year) for comprehensive homeless services like outreach, shelter beds and permanent supportive housing.

• The new L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency will receive about 36% (roughly $400 million a year) to create affordable housing, preserve existing low-rent housing and prevent homelessness through rent assistance and other programs.

This split explains why officials remain optimistic in light of the proposed budget cuts to some homeless services. Some of the reduced or eliminated programs would have their functions taken over by the affordable housing agency.

"I would look at this budget as very much a transition year budget," said Newman. "So that's why when I see some of these curtailments, I sort of put an asterisk on them, because we've got a whole lot of other stuff going on here."

A woman pushes her belongings past a row of tents on the streets of Skid Row.

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Frederic J. Brown

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AFP via Getty Images

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Why a deficit?

Despite the influx of Measure A dollars, county authorities said the L.A. County Homeless Initiative had to make about $62 million in reductions to its budget for homeless services for the coming year.

“It is very, very hard, and I’m not saying that we’re going to be able to do everything we’ve done before with less funding,” Todoroff said. “Some things will be impacted.”

That’s partially because consumer spending slowed over the last year across L.A. County, leading to slightly less sales tax revenue, county officials said. It’s also because the county boosted funding for services for about 2,000 additional people moving into newly-constructed supportive housing between the current budget year and the upcoming one — an additional cost of about $27 million.

The county is responsible for funding services at permanent supportive housing units.

“That's a good thing because that means that we've been building supportive housing across the county, and it's coming online,” Newman said.

More than 80% of L.A. County’s traditional homelessness funding will go toward housing during the next fiscal year, according to the Homeless Initiative’s funding proposal. That includes interim housing, permanent supportive housing and housing acquisition.

Cuts to workforce and legal services

The L.A. County Homeless Initiative recommended slashing funding for the LA:RISE program — which helps homeless Angelenos get and keep jobs, from $8.4 million in fiscal year 2024-25 to about $1.8 million in the coming fiscal year that starts in July.

Administrators of that workforce development program said they were “deeply alarmed and disheartened by the budget recommendations.”

“Following the landmark passage of the Measure A ballot initiative and an increase in revenue for the county, it is shocking that less than 0.3% of Homeless Initiative funding is allocated toward employment and workforce development,” said Greg Ericksen, director of Government Partnerships & Policy at REDF. (The venture philanthropy organization formerly known as the Roberts Enterprise Development Fund is the lead program manager for LA:RISE.)

Ericksen said the proposed cuts will have a devastating impact on program participants as well as the social enterprises they partner with — including Downtown Women’s Center, Homeboy Industries and the Los Angeles LGBT Center.

The county also recommended cutting $1.5 million from a $3.5 million L.A. County Public Defender’s Office program that does mobile legal clinics to help unhoused Angelenos expunge criminal records.

Last year, the program participated in more than 200 outreach events across L.A. County, filed nearly 3,500 expungement petitions and provided direct support to more than 1,400 people who were unhoused or housing insecure, according to the Public Defender’s Office.

As a result of the proposed budget cuts, the program’s outreach staff will be downsized by one-third, according to assistant public defender Thomas Moore.

“We will continue our community engagement, but the staff reduction will result in less participation at community events and resource fairs,” Moore said.

As a result of the county’s recommendations, Moore also said the Public Defender’s partnership with the city of Los Angeles — to help clients clear tickets and misdemeanors — will be eliminated.

LAHSA workers observe LA city sanitation workers removing a houseless encampment during “CARE+” sweep of the houseless encampment on Venice Blvd. in Venice Beach.

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Brian Feinzimer

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LAist

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Cuts to coordination and prevention

The Homelessness Initiative’s draft budget pulls $10 million in funding for LAHSA’s case management system, which helps hundreds of providers work together to match thousands of unhoused Angelenos with services and housing.

But that doesn’t mean coordination will go away, Newman said.

“This is not fully defunding coordination, but it is acknowledging that we need to keep doing a better job of understanding what's the most effective way to coordinate,” he said.

The county’s proposed $20 million cut to prevention programs administered by LAHSA means the agency will drastically scale back efforts to provide short-term rental assistance and legal assistance to help keep people in their homes.

But county officials say that’s where new investments in the new L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency come in. The new agency is required to spend 30% of its resources (about $100 million in the coming year) on prevention, including eviction legal services, rental assistance and relocation assistance.

“There's going to be a really significant increase in homelessness prevention funding from [the L.A. County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency], and so it makes sense that there's a little bit of a rebalancing going on,” Newman said.

A LAHSA spokesperson did not comment on the county’s specific funding recommendations but said the agency is keeping a close eye on the budget process.

What's next

The Homeless Initiative is expected to present its funding plan to the county Board of Supervisors in March.

The Homeless Initiative will consider feedback on its proposed budget in the coming days. The window for public comment is open until Tuesday, Feb. 4, at this link.

The detailed spending recommendations are available for review here.

“If there’s something that is not included in the funding recommendations that should be elevated above things that are, we want to hear about that,” Todoroff said. “We are all collectively impacted by what is funded and what is not funded, and so we want to hear from as many of you as possible.”