New leader of LA homeless programs is out following questions about her oversight in OC during Andrew Do scandal

A newly hired executive brought on to lead all homelessness programs at L.A.’s homeless services agency has exited after less than two weeks on the job.

Lilly Simmering was no longer working at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) effective Friday, according to Paul Rubenstein, a spokesperson for the agency.

Simmering joined LAHSA as chief program officer on Nov. 12 after departing as Orange County’s deputy CEO in September.

Her exit from the agency came three days after Lindsey Horvath, chair of the L.A. County Board of Supervisors, told LAist she had raised concerns to LAHSA’s CEO about the decision to hire Simmering.

Before her brief time at LAHSA, Simmering oversaw a county government department in Orange County that paid out millions of taxpayer dollars to an out-of-compliance nonprofit now embroiled in a fraud scandal involving former O.C. Supervisor Andrew Do.

Simmering’s departure also falls in the midst of increasing pressure on LAHSA, as the agency is embroiled in a high-profile legal battle and fallout from an audit released last week that found serious accounting problems.

LAHSA is a taxpayer-funded agency jointly overseen by the county and the city of L.A. Its annual budget currently stands at $875 million.

What happened in O.C. under Simmering?

When she was Orange County’s second-in-command, Simmering oversaw a department that paid millions to a nonprofit led by Do’s daughter, Rhiannon Do. Andrew Do was a county supervisor at the time — he has since pleaded guilty to a felony in a scheme to steal millions of the taxpayer dollars he directed to the group.

Orange County Supervisor Andrew Do takes the oath of office from his wife, Cheri Pham, as he stands with his daughters, Ilene Do, center, and Rhiannon Do, right, during the start of the Board of Supervisors meeting on Feb. 3, 2015.

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Jeff Gritchen

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Orange County Register via Getty Images

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Under Simmering’s leadership in O.C., records show the department continued to pay $166,000 per month for more than a year after Simmering was notified in February 2022 that Rhiannon Do was the group’s executive director, according to emails LAist obtained through a public records request. Rhiannon Do was 20 years old at the time and a law student at UC Irvine.

“When I learned about Mrs. Simmering’s hiring, I shared my concerns with our CEO,” Horvath said in a statement to LAist on Tuesday of last week. “This moment calls for greater transparency and accountability, not less, in order to safeguard public trust.”

Horvath is the only county supervisor on LAHSA’s governing commission.

Lindsey Horvath shown during an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting.

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Screenshot via YouTube broadcast of L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting.

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L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who is on the council’s homelessness committee, said she’s troubled.

“It’s concerning that there wasn’t greater caution and thoughtfulness around the hire,” Rodriguez told LAist in a phone interview Monday after Simmering’s departure. Rodriguez said the hiring “seems like a really thoughtless choice.”

“At a time when taxpayers have just recently approved greater investments in our response to homelessness, what we need are people who are going to respect taxpayer dollars and have a history and track record of holding contractors accountable for deliverables that they’re charged with providing,” Rodriguez said. “Anything short of that falls far short of what the job requires.”

This month, voters approved Measure A, which will double the county’s sales tax that funds homeless services and housing. It’s expected to bring in over $1 billion a year.

What does LAHSA leadership say?

Adams Kellum and Simmering didn’t make themselves available for interviews after multiple requests from LAist.

In a statement, Adams Kellum told LAist she agrees with Horvath and Rodriguez and their calls for transparency to earn trust, and that she has made accountability and transparency among her areas of focus.

Adams Kellum defended Simmering’s hiring, pointing to a statement from the president of the Maryland-based search firm, Explore Company, that the vetting process was comprehensive. The statement said Simmering has not been interviewed by the FBI or district attorney’s office during their investigations into Andrew Do and the taxpayer spending he directed.

The search firm’s statement went on to say Simmering “was actually the official who recommended to OC County Counsel that a complaint be filed against Do,” without saying when she reportedly made the recommendation. Prosecutors have said they launched their probe in response to news reports, which began in November 2023 with an LAist investigative article.

Adams Kellum and the search firm company’s president, Dan Sherman, did not respond to requests for comment from LAist about the details supporting the firm’s statement that Simmering recommended filing a complaint against Andrew Do.

A spokesperson for L.A. Mayor Karen Bass declined to comment. Bass sits on LAHSA’s governing commission and chose Adams Kellum for the CEO role.

What oversight role did Simmering have in Orange County?

As deputy CEO, county organization charts show several departments reporting directly to her. They include the department that administered the first $4.2 million in county contracts with Do’s daughter Rhiannon Do’s group. The first $2 million was paid out across 15 months for invoices from early 2021 to spring 2022, despite the invoices failing to report — in violation of the contract — how many meals were provided with the public funds.

Those violations were noted in a February 2022 letter the department wrote to the nonprofit. Email records show an executive below Simmering flagged the letter at the time to Do’s then-chief of staff. The nonprofit did not fix the violations, but the department paid an additional $2 million extension of the contract.

In defending Simmering’s hiring, Adams Kellum’s office told LAist via email that Simmering did not have any responsibility to oversee the O.C. contracts with Andrew Do’s daughter’s group. A spokesperson for Orange County, however, said Simmering did have “limited oversight responsibility” over that department’s contracts.

What’s known about LAHSA’s process for hiring Simmering?

More than 500 people applied for the chief program officer position, said Rubenstein, LAHSA’s spokesperson. He said recruitment ran from June through October.

Among that group, 25 people were interviewed by the search firm, which also led recruitment and vetting, Rubenstein wrote. The firm then recommended three finalists for further review by a panel of LAHSA officials, he added.

Simmering went through a “thorough background check,” including “confidential professional reference checks” with county government executives in O.C. and “special attention” to the Andrew Do legal issues, according to the search firm statement Adams Kellum provided LAist.

“My firm found that there were no issues that would impact her work for LAHSA, and I stand by the recommendation to hire her,” said Daniel Sherman, president and CEO of the Explore Company, in the statement.

Explore’s website states they have completed executive searches for nonprofits like the Center for Public Integrity, the Nature Conservancy and World Wildlife Fund.

How much was Simmering being paid by LAHSA?

Simmering’s annual salary was $315,000, according to Adams Kellum.

That’s more than the city paid Bass last year, according to payroll data published by Transparent California.

It’s slightly less than her $316,596 annual salary for her role in Orange County, where she oversaw a much larger scale of taxpayer funds than at LAHSA.

It took Adams Kellum nearly a week to provide the salary amount. In that time, LAist made six requests, including a public records request last Thursday for Simmering’s pay information and contract. That triggers a requirement under state law for LAHSA to disclose records “promptly.”

The salary information was not provided until after LAist presented Adams Kellum with criticism of the non-disclosure by an L.A. City Council member.

“It doesn't appear to me that LAHSA understands they’re a public agency and required to be transparent with how taxpayer dollars are expended,” Rodriguez told LAist in an interview Monday afternoon when asked about the delay.

“It would behoove them to immediately start course-correcting and immediately report what people are making within the agency, to be compliant with state law and be good stewards of public resources,” she added.

What’s next?

The chief program officer role that Simmering briefly held at LAHSA is currently open and the agency plans to fill it, according to Rubenstein, LAHSA’s spokesperson.

In the wake of the county audit, Horvath and fellow Supervisor Kathryn Barger have called for L.A. County to pull almost all of its funding from LAHSA and move it under direct county control. On Tuesday, supervisors voted 4-0, with one abstention, to order a detailed plan for the move.

Los Angeles Councilmember Monica Rodriguez in City Council chambers in Los Angeles on May 17, 2024.

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Genaro Molina

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Los Angeles Times via Getty Images

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Rodriguez has introduced a similar City Council motion, calling for the city to bypass LAHSA and pay service providers directly. The motion is supported by Councilmember Bob Blumenfield, who chairs the council’s budget committee. It would require a majority vote by the City Council to advance.

Meanwhile, federal Judge David O. Carter has been raising concerns about accountability at LAHSA, chiding its leaders for failing to provide records on spending and outcomes for a separate, ongoing audit commissioned by the court. He’s overseeing L.A.’s highest-profile homelessness lawsuit, in which the city and county have agreed to add thousands more shelter and treatment beds for unhoused people.