Review commissioned by LA homeless agency clears CEO of conflict related to contracts with husband’s employer

The leader of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has been cleared of misconduct related to her signature appearing on a $2.1 million contract with her husband’s employer, according to the agency, otherwise known as LAHSA.

The LAHSA Commission hired an outside law firm in March to investigate contracts for Upward Bound House, about a month after LAist first reported that documents showed Va Lecia Adams Kellum, the agency’s outgoing chief executive, signed the contract and two amendments.

State conflict-of-interest laws prohibit officials from any involvement in contracts in which they have a financial interest, including those that financially benefit a spouse.

In a Wednesday memo from Norton Rose Fulbright, the firm said Adams Kellum did not act unethically or improperly in agreements between the agency and Upward Bound House, a Santa Monica-based nonprofit where her husband, Edward Kellum, works in senior leadership.

The three-month review also found the nonprofit was working with LAHSA before Adams Kellum became CEO, and that agreements with Upward Bound House didn’t “materially change” after she took the job, according to the memo.

Christopher Yee, a spokesperson for LAHSA, said in an email Thursday that Adams Kellum took the signature matter seriously and worked quickly to strengthen internal contracting controls to prevent similar errors going forward.

He said the law firm's findings “powerfully reaffirms [Adams Kellum’s] integrity as a principled, transparent, and deeply committed public servant.”

LAist reached out to LAHSA for further comment from Adams Kellum and to ask additional questions, but Yee said the CEO was not available. LAist also asked for information on how the law firm’s review was conducted, including who was interviewed and what information led to the findings.

The agency initially declined that request. Yee said the statement provided in a news release announcing the results of the investigation was all that LAHSA would “be putting out about this matter.”

Nearly two weeks later, Yee said in an email that the final report, notes and correspondence are considered privileged and confidential, adding that LAHSA and the law firm cannot disclose those without waiving attorney privileges.

About the investigation

According to the memo, Adams Kellum’s signatures on several documents and agreements related to Upward Bound House were “unintentionally” applied by her staff — after they were approved by LAHSA and the commission without her input.

LAHSA described it as an “inadvertent clerical error” in an email from Yee.

LAist reported in February that a different LAHSA spokesperson said Adams Kellum “mistakenly signed” the contracts after staffers inadvertently sent them to her. When the CEO has a conflict of interest, LAHSA’s standard practice is for contracts to instead be signed by the agency’s top programs officer, the spokesperson said.

“Dr. Adams Kellum has not been involved in any discussions regarding Upward Bound House contracts,” Paul Rubenstein wrote in an email to LAist. He added that Adams Kellum “has never been involved in overseeing any programs or agreements with [Upward Bound House]."

“LAHSA is taking steps to further ensure this does not happen again, including requiring additional staff training,” he added at the time, noting that all contracts go through multiple reviews and require “three staff signatures before being sent to the CEO or her designee.”

The firm’s review reiterated that Adams Kellum was not involved in any decisions around Upward Bound House’s contract terms, funding amounts or scope of work. And it found that Adams Kellum told LAHSA about a potential conflict-of-interest with Upward Bound House and her husband’s work there before she became CEO of the agency in late March 2023.

LAHSA then took steps to put up an “ethical wall,” according to the law firm, which Adams Kellum abided by.

The firm said Adams Kellum was not involved with renewing LAHSA’s relationship with Upward Bound House, which goes back to at least 2008.

How we got here

In December, LAist asked LAHSA officials for copies of every contract between the agency and Upward Bound House that’s been in effect since Adams Kellum became LAHSA’s CEO.

In response, officials disclosed 13 agreements totaling nearly 1,000 pages, which LAist reviewed. There were three LAHSA agreements Adams Kellum signed with Upward Bound House. The 10 other agreements were signed by her subordinates.

A $2.1 million contract signed by Adams Kellum authorized federal taxpayer funds for Upward Bound House to pay rent for unhoused people in the region and help them find homes. The money also covered case management and administration costs at the nonprofit.

The records show Adams Kellum signed the documents directly above the names of her husband’s employer and his boss.