Part 121: “A Big, Fat Grenade” – The Housing and Homelessness Crisis in Los Angeles

Published October 18, 2024

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Oct 18, 2024

Photo of homelessness service providers and tenants outside of City Hall for Housing and Homelessness Committee with LAPD by Zachary Ellison (GoPro Hero 11 Black).

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By Zachary Ellison and Ruth Roofless, Independent Journalists

“Leadership in L.A., someone is going to have to fall on a big, fat grenade to really change the way housing is produced,” read the quote from “economist and co-director of the RAND Center on Housing and Homelessness,” Jason Ward, in the Los Angeles Times story by journalists Doug Smith and Liam Dillon. Repeating the quote outside the courtroom of Judge David O. Carter, himself known for colorful language from his time in the U.S. Marines, suddenly didn’t seem like such a good idea. Most especially, in the presence of the U.S. Marshals Service, which staffs the courthouse entrance. If anyone has tried to jump on the “grenade” though in Los Angeles, it’s been Judge Carter, and he’s taken the blast from trying to tackle the issue.

Only minutes before, Judge Carter had threatened to get the U.S. Attorney’s office involved if the audit launched by firm Alvarez & Marsal didn’t get to the bottom of a hold-up in producing invoice data from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) to Los Angeles County to provide to the auditors. The audit was approved by Mayor Karen Bass and City Council last March. The Mayor said at the time, “We’ve reaffirmed our commitment to transparency and accountability,” promising that financial data would become even more transparent within a matter of weeks. Despite the optimism, things haven’t proved so simple at getting at why LA has failed so badly in addressing the crisis of the unhoused, at least in terms of official numbers and spending. Admittedly, the numbers can be more complex than they seem; some people are getting off the streets, but others are landing on them.

Controller Kenneth Mejia had now produced the website promised by the Mayor, so the City and the County found themselves in court again with LAHSA, an independent joint-powers authority, in response to a settlement agreement with LA Alliance for Human Rights. Counsel for LA Alliance, Matthew Umhofer and Elizabeth Mitchell had spent the morning of Wednesday, October 16, before Judge Carter demanding an “evidentiary hearing.” At one point, LA Alliance showed pictures of First Street between the U.S. Federal Courthouse and Los Angeles City Hall from 1984 and 2024 showing encampments to highlight their argument that not only had the City, County, and LAHSA failed to address the crisis, but to seemingly try to drive a wedge between the governmental bodies. County outside counsel J. Mira Hashmall from the firm Miller Barondess wasn’t impressed, shooting back that they needed “evidence, not pictures” that the government was acting in “bad faith” again, as Mitchell and Umhofer had previously argued.

Immediately after taking office in November 2022, Mayor Karen Bass had declared homelessness an emergency, launching her signature Inside Safe program to address the crisis. Intervenor Shayla Myers from the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles ("LAFLA") was equally unimpressed with Alliance’s strategy, accusing Umhofer of having “misstated the City’s position” in regards to their proposed bed plan. Judge Carter wasn’t impressed with the legal fireworks over the plan, which would seemingly reduce the number of available shelter beds by 2,500 from the 8,663 total as of June 30. Carter resolutely declared, “The bottom line is, I don’t think it’s in anyone’s interest to reduce beds.” The City and County, under the now-expired Freeway/Roadmap agreement, had an elaborate funding strategy that incorporated State funding. The City, under increasing financial pressure, has become reticent to promise continued funding for the system, especially with unclear and uncertain Federal, State, and County funding.

The deeply troubled bottomline for maintaining an expensive and undulating re-housing system through LAHSA has been fraught with invoicing problems. Past uninvoiced spending totaling hundreds of millions of dollars, particularly after the passage of Measures H and HHH, when Mayor Eric Garcetti faced increasing “point-in-time” figures and authorized new programs, including A Bridge Home, seems to be the focus of concern. Investigation to-date has revealed that a significant portion of this spending may have gone to non-reimbursable “sworn” Los Angeles Police Department (and possibly Los Angeles Fire Department) overtime as well as to dozens of nonprofit service providers. So who could help track down the missing invoices?

To begin addressing this question, we attempted to contact four prominent Garcetti-era officials; only one responded: former Controller Ron Galperin. The former Controller, in an email response, noted that his position “does not work for the Council or Mayor,” but rather is “independently elected.” Galperin further stated, “In my role as Controller, my office did report on City spending (including, of course, homelessness-related). The office also issued reports and conducted audits - on matters such as [City Proposition] HHH, City properties available for housing development and homeless, mapping of dedicated affordable housing…” A prior report from Galperin in 2019 criticized LAHSA’s outreach efforts as reactive and goals went unmet. During the Garcetti administration era, homelessness worsened in the City of Los Angeles, going from an estimated 22,993 in 2013 to an estimated 41,890 in 2023. Garcetti stated that solutions to the problem were beyond the reach of the Mayor’s office in exit interviews.

We did not hear back from former Deputy Mayor for City Homelessness Initiatives Christina Miller, who now works for the Hilton Foundation, along with former Deputy Mayor for Homelessness Jose “Che” Ramirez, who lists himself as a “Senior Advisor” to Mayor Karen Bass, and Brian Buchner, former Chief of Homelessness Operations & Street Strategies, who now serves as an Assistant Inspector General for the LAPD, Office of Inspector General. Buchner now teaches at the University of Southern California in their Online MS in Criminal Justice program, and famously, per reporting from former Knock LA journalist Jonny Peltz, worked to organize meetings for billionaire entertainment mogul Jeffrey Katzenberg with city leadership to discuss homelessness. Out of the five members of the Board of Supervisors, only Hilda Solis declined to meet with Katzenberg. According to current LA City Council President, Marqueece Harris-Dawson, Katzenberg “lobbied him about mobile healthcare stations” per the report and met with almost the entire City Council and other officials.

The City of Los Angeles has subsequently heavily invested in a street medicine program, piloted by Keck Medicine of USC, which received a $4 million contract per USC’s press release, describing a “fireside chat” between Mayor Karen Bass and USC President Carol Folt. The latter is quoted as saying, “The homeless population is probably something that everyone in this room thinks about every morning that they wake up.” The audit ordered by Judge Carter, which now may not be delivered until January 15, 2025, may not be fully comprehensive, despite the expanded scope covering LAPD costs and services from the County of Los Angeles, most notably mental health services. It seemed for every step forward, there were two backwards.

The Alvarez & Marsal auditors, led by Managing Director Dianne Rafferty, suggested that due to the complexity of auditing such a large-scale endeavor, they would only have “low-to-medium confidence” in its findings, despite costs approaching $4 million dollars. And it’s note even a fully forensic audit! Comparatively, this is a drop in the bucket of past spending, much less future spending, with the Times report suggesting a revised draft proposal to reach a “functional zero” level of homelessness that would cost “$21.7 billion to end homelessness in a decade in Los Angeles, two-thirds of which is unfunded.” Rafferty had joined via videolink for the morning's hearing, barely speaking as the hearing turned into a municipal back-and-forth over invoicing between City, County, and LAHSA. The meeting didn’t feel very productive at the end.

Later that same day, City Council’s Homelessness and Housing Committee met in Room 401, which is smaller than the body’s chambers. Councilmember Kevin De León, who was recently allowed back on the committee after being removed over the Fed Tapes scandal, and Monica Rodriguez, who represents part of the San Fernando Valley, were no-shows. Committee Chair Nithya Raman, Bob Blumenfield, and Imelda Padilla presided over the overflowing meeting with a number of critical items, including invoicing on the agenda as well as tenant rights. Many people were unable to enter from the exterior of City Hall’s public entrance on Main Street. Powerwashers cleared the sidewalk across Main Street at City Hall East.

A letter had been sent to service providers indicating that payments would be less than hoped for to provide critical homelessness services, which created panic among Hope The Mission employees. These service workers and staff showed up en masse to plead for a higher interim shelter “bed rate” to sustain their organizations. Ken Craft, the CEO of Hope The Mission, did not appear himself, but around a dozen of the seventeen public commenters were there to plead for more funding, citing stress about high rents and living precariously from paycheck to paycheck. It is not currently clear who sent the letter about bed rates or the reaction of other service providers who would presumably be affected, like the Weingart Foundation, Salvation Army, Volunteers of America, Harbor Interfaith Services, The People Concern, Special Services for Groups, 1736 Family Crisis Center, Safe Place for Youth, or U.S. Vets.

Many in the crowd inside and outside were wearing red to support Echo Park’s Mohawk Tenants, whose building had been purchased by a corporation seeking to displace them within 60 days. The public commenters who were not there over payments for services were there for a City-wide block on “renovictions"—evictions for substantial remodeling—a loophole in the current eviction policy that allows for the removal of longtime tenants if the new owner wants to make major physical changes to the building. They hooted and hollered when Bob Blumenfeld proposed an emergency amendment that would protect them from displacement immediately while the city embarks on the legal journey that will be required to close the loophole for good. The measure passed unanimously. Delayed cheers and applause rang out when the message reached the tenants who were locked out of the meeting, some of whom were overcome with exhausted relief. Mohawk tenants gained the upper hand to stand their ground and stay put—a critical fight in a larger struggle to remain housed in Los Angeles.

Not too long into the next discussion about service provider invoicing, the meeting lost quorum when CD6’s Imelda Padilla got up and left, with Chair Nithya Raman apologizing to an angry gathering of Hope The Mission staff for the scheduling conflict. The pink elephant in the room was Measure A, the countywide ballot measure that would permanently extend a half-cent sales tax to fund homeless services passed under Measure H. Quixotically, members of the LA Alliance have openly opposed County Measure A, which is seen by most service providers as critical to continuing to provide the current level of homelessness services.

In an email on October 11, the 501(c)(3) nonprofit wrote: “The County’s insufficient accountability structure and inability to account for existing budgets and performance demonstrate that the County has not earned the trust of Angelenos with more money.” Asked whether opposing Measure A with such wide support from providers was helpful, attorney Elizabeth Mitchell didn’t respond to a request for further explanation. The LA Alliance’s settlement with the City of Los Angeles expires on June 13, 2027, and with the County of Los Angeles on June 30, 2027. What happens next is anyone’s legal guess.

Somehow it seems unlikely that the elites of Los Angeles will step in to make up any funding gaps. After the November 2022 Mayor’s election, billionaire Jeffrey Katzenberg had openly criticized fellow billionaire Rick Caruso, telling Vanity Fair, “You just pissed away $104 million on a failed campaign, why don’t you put that towards the homeless on Skid Row?” Caruso, in response, told The Wrap, “We can’t combat the same old problem with the same old measures that don’t work.” Caruso’s homelessness plan called for 30,000 interim beds in the first 300 days, without having any clear and specific plan for implementation.

One measure on Skid Row that famously failed was an effort in 2017 to create a separate neighborhood council for the gritty area southeast of Downtown Los Angeles’s rebuilt core. Speaking with one resident and advocate about the measure, the answer was a clear “Yes” to renewing the effort. The 2017 effort was led by Jeff Page, known as General Jeff, who passed away in 2021, with Los Angeles Times journalist Gale Holland recalling how Page had fought an election battle and then a legal struggle to secure representation for the area. Page had told Judge Carter, “I don’t believe the voices of Skid Row have been heard.” The election ended with accusations of fraud after voting was changed from paper ballots to online, in a place where many lacked access to computers. After General Jeff’s passing, urban forester Katherine McNenny challenged the election results until getting a final “No” from higher courts.

If there’s one thing that fixes social problems, it’s greater democracy; feedback is an essential accountability measure. It’s why we’ve been pushing for the city to implement CF19-1020, because if there’s one thing, “poverty pimps” and the “nonprofit-industrial complex” are strangely resistant to, it’s open dialogue. CF19-1020 previously passed City Council 14-0 in 2020 and was analyzed by the Chief Legislative Analyst’s office in 2022. Real estate developers and non-profit allies may have acted fraudulently to undermine the Skid Row effort, and it’s still unclear to many if the law was followed, but with the civil rights of the unhoused rolling backwards over the past five years, it feels necessary to demand this representation once and for all.

Ironically, the report in the Los Angeles Times quotes current Councilmember Kevin de León describing General Jeff as a “gentle giant” before recounting how he had “in minutes” run off a gadfly dressed in a Klu Klux Klan hood and robe. Now, De León is being sued by the Los Angeles Community Action Network (LA CAN) over alleged anti-Black harassment and failures to respond to public records requests in regards to his communications about their “Black-led membership organization.” A copy of the full filing wasn’t immediately available from LA CAN attorney Shakeer Rahman, but in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, the lawsuit alleges that De León has engaged in “a bizarre campaign that has included antagonizing and harassing members of... (LA CAN). Asked for comment on the lawsuit, De León’s office did not respond, which isn’t unusual for his office, which is viewed as among the least responsive.

The task of repairing homelessness policy, much less actually addressing the crisis through a legal battle between non-profit and private interests with municipal governance, won’t be easily realized. One thing is clear though: we’re not working well together and getting to the breaking point where something just might have to change. Fixing the safety net to keep people off the street, getting those off the streets who want to get off, and putting a check on corruption isn’t anyone’s single problem; rather, it’s a collective issue, and that requies great transparency.

Disturbingly, this week, even after both the ACLU SoCal and First-Amendment Coalition sent letters to the LAPD in support of his right to closely film and report on sweeps of the unhoused, LA Taco journalist Lexis-Olivier Ray was detained by LAPD for 45 minutes in the back of a vehicle after being searched. The Mayor’s office had previously sought to intervene in his defense. About the ordeal, Ray said, “I'm still in shock,” writing that he “Will have more to say later.” We’re glad Lexis-Olivier is free! Journalists should be free to report on this issue in LA.

UPDATE: Judge David Carter has ordered an evidentiary hearing for Friday, October 25, at 1:00 pm in Courtroom 1 “to present relevant evidence regarding the proposed bed plan.” According to the notice, “All parties are encouraged to prepare their evidence and witness testimony thoroughly to facilitate a productive and informative hearing.” Carter had previously declared that there would be no reduction in beds.

Link: Los Angeles’ $22-billion homelessness problem gives leaders a choice: Double down or change strategies

Link: Under Legal Pressure, LA Mayor Promises To Publish Receipts On Homeless Spending

Link: Dkt. 775 City's Proposed Bed Plan

Link: Dkt. 785 Plaintiff's Position Concerning Proposed City Bed Plan

Link: RonGalperin.com

Link: Karen Bass Inside Safe Emergency Order

Link: Los Angeles Controller Releases Scathing Audit of City's Homeless Outreach

Link: Garcetti leaves office proud of administration but acknowledges specter of homelessness endures

Link: How much power does LA’s next mayor have to solve homelessness?

Link: LA Mayor's Top Homelessness Advisor To Resign

Link: CHE: Community Homelessness Experience

Link: Brian Buchner - Faculty Webpage