Judge overseeing major LA homelessness settlement slams officials for data delays

A federal judge Thursday ordered L.A. homelessness officials to immediately make available records needed for auditors looking into where hundreds of millions in public money has gone.

“You’re not working on your time frame now. You’re working on mine,” Judge David O. Carter told officials with the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) during a Thursday court hearing.

Bevin Kuhn, LAHSA’s acting deputy chief analytics officer, told Carter the agency originally planned to make data publicly available in October. At that point in the hearing, Carter — clearly frustrated about what he described as “slow-footing” — told Kuhn the court would order data to be produced sooner.

“I don’t know how much more clear I can be. Get going,” Carter said. “I mean now.”

How we got here

The comprehensive audit by the firm Alvarez & Marsal is related to a settlement reached almost two years ago in a long-running lawsuit between advocates for the unhoused and the city and county of L.A. That suit was filed by the L.A. Alliance For Human Rights.

As part of that settlement, the city agreed to create nearly 13,000 new shelter and housing beds for unhoused Angelenos. The county separately agreed to create 3,000 mental health and addiction treatment beds.

Auditors trying to track spending and outcomes on homelessness efforts in recent years told Carter in court Thursday that figuring out which providers were paid to achieve what outcomes has been like untangling a bowl of spaghetti. The city and county have provided some data, they said, but other requests have not been fulfilled.

Last-minute data dumps

L.A. City Controller Kenneth Mejia also told Carter during Thursday’s hearing that getting data out of LAHSA has been a struggle.

While presenting an online dashboard still in progress to track L.A. homelessness spending, Mejia said requests his office submitted on Aug. 19 had only starting to be fulfilled by LAHSA staff while in the middle of the court hearing.

“We just got an email in the last 20 minutes,” Mejia told the judge.

Carter chided homelessness officials for waiting so long to comply with data requests, saying: “Nothing seems to move until one or two days before we have a hearing.”

What happens next

Judge David O. Carter talks to advocates for the homeless outside of a court hearing on homelessness on March 17, 2018 in Orange County. Leaders and homeless advocates praised Carter for forcing the county to find solutions to chronic homelessness.

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Jill Replogle

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LAist

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For the court’s next hearing in October, Carter said he would require LAHSA chief executive officer Va Lecia Adams Kellum and L.A. County Board of Supervisors chair Lindsey Horvath to be present to explain how the county is complying with the terms of the settlement.

Carter has taken an active role in pushing local governments to address homelessness. He has been known to visit encampments to witness problems first-hand and push elected leaders to do more, not just in Los Angeles but also in Orange County.

About 75,000 people are experiencing homelessness in L.A. County, according to the region’s most recent homeless count.