LAHSA issues layoff notices to 11 employees amid budget crisis

The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has issued layoff notices to 11 of its more than 700 employees due to budget deficits in the current fiscal year, the agency has confirmed.

LAHSA’s human resources department sent an organization-wide email last week asking all employees to consider voluntary separation to minimize involuntary layoffs. The affected positions will be eliminated June 30 if insufficient volunteers come forward before June 5, according to the email.

“LAHSA is informing all employees (those who may be impacted by layoffs and those who might not) to evaluate and consider whether voluntary separation from employment with LAHSA is a practical choice based on your near-term career plans,” the email said.

If enough people take the voluntary buyout, LAHSA will work to place the 11 staffers who were targeted for layoffs in similar roles within the agency, LAHSA spokesperson Ahmad Chapman said in a statement.

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The layoffs come as the agency navigates a perfect storm of financial challenges. L.A. County supervisors recently pulled approximately $300 million in Measure A funding from the agency and announced plans to transfer those funds and staff to a new county homeless department by July 2026. The decision followed critical audits citing LAHSA's failures in financial accountability and transparency.

The timing of the layoff notices — issued in late May for a fiscal year ending June 30 — raises more questions about LAHSA's financial oversight. Organizations typically identify budget shortfalls and issue layoff warnings much earlier in the fiscal year.

“Like any organization, LAHSA continuously reviews its budget and must make prudent financial decisions,” Chapman said in a statement.

LAHSA’s total approved budget for the current budget year ending June 30 is approximately $914.8 million, according to the agency. The city of L.A. contributed $319.8 million to LAHSA’s overall budget, accounting for about 35% of total funding.

The majority of LAHSA’s budget, 81%, is designated for service providers, while 13% supports LAHSA’s internal programs and nearly 6% goes to administrative costs.

The L.A. City Council voted last week to approve a $13.9 billion revised city budget for the 2025-26 fiscal year beginning July 1, addressing a $1 billion shortfall with 650 layoffs and various program cuts.

The revised budget allocates about $904 million in city funding for homelessness next fiscal year, a 5% reduction over this year in a category that includes all LAHSA funding.

In passing the revised budget, city leaders rejected LAHSA’s request for an additional $8.9 million for administrative costs. The agency said it needed 140 administrative employees to manage 250 city contracts, but current funding only covers the equivalent of 66 positions.

Without additional funding, the agency will struggle to perform its core functions such as conducting the annual homeless count and managing the homeless management information system, LAHSA officials told the city’s budget and finance committee earlier this month.

The approved budget bill also established a new Bureau of Homelessness Oversight within the Los Angeles Housing Department, though no money was allocated to that bureau.

City officials are debating whether to keep working with LAHSA or establish an in-house homeless services department, as L.A. County is currently doing. Some city leaders, including Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, said they wouldn’t support additional funding increases for LAHSA until the city figures out how exactly it will move forward on homelessness.

LAHSA Chief Executive Va Lecia Adams Kellum, who resigned in April but remains in her position during a nationwide search for her replacement, acknowledged the agency is preparing for major changes.

"The county's recent decision to withdraw its Measure A funding will inevitably alter LAHSA's structure," Adams Kellum told the City Council’s budget and finance committee earlier this month.

The city must approve the budget before the start of the fiscal year, on July 1.