The US Home is looking on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to testify over alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” involving greater than $1 billion in federal homelessness funding funneled by the Los Angeles Homeless Providers Authority (LAHSA), in accordance with a letter obtained by The California Publish.
The Subcommittee on Delivering on Authorities Effectivity, led by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), summoned Bass to a Sept. 15 public listening to titled “Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Providers.”
The listening to is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Room 2154 of the Rayburn Home Workplace Constructing in Washington, DC.
The panel is investigating alleged abuse of federal grants meant to deal with homelessness — with a specific give attention to LAHSA and its distribution of federal cash to nonprofits in Los Angeles and the encompassing space.
“As a result of Los Angeles officers haven’t adequately protected federal taxpayer {dollars}, it seems that many nonprofits to which these funds have been allotted are usually not utilizing them for his or her meant objective,” Burchett wrote to Bass.
The DOGE subcommittee is a part of the Home Committee on Oversight and Authorities Reform, which is the Home’s principal oversight committee with broad authority to analyze “any matter” at “any time.”
The Home panel is demanding paperwork from Bass’ workplace masking the interval from Jan. 1, 2020, to the current, together with information on LAHSA’s inner controls, the usage of federal homelessness funds, and communications between the mayor’s workplace, LAHSA, the Metropolis Council and LA County Board of Supervisors. The paperwork are due by Sept. 14 — sooner or later earlier than the listening to.
LAHSA has obtained greater than $1 billion in federal funding since 2021, together with $220 million in 2024 alone, in accordance with the letter.
The panel additionally cited a Division of Housing and City Growth inspector basic investigation into LAHSA’s dealing with of federal funds, together with alleged “repeated false statements” and failures involving monetary administration, inner controls and safeguards towards conflicts of curiosity.
In June HUD suspended additional federal funding to LAHSA till officers might display that ample safeguards had been in place to guard taxpayer {dollars}. A federal decide briefly blocked the Trump administration’s cuts in August.
The scrutiny comes as homelessness stays a large downside in Los Angeles.
California has round 182,000 homeless individuals, together with about 73,000 in Los Angeles County and greater than 45,000 within the metropolis, a 3.4% improve from the earlier yr, in accordance with HUD Information.
LAHSA is a joint city-county company answerable for coordinating homeless providers, with the town and county sharing oversight of federal funds flowing to the authority. Bass and the LA Metropolis Council collectively appoint half of LAHSA’s governing board, whereas members of the county Board of Supervisors appoint the opposite members.
The committee additionally pointed to a number of particular examples which have raised questions on LAHSA’s oversight.
Amongst them is a $2.1 million contract signed by former LAHSA CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum with Upward Certain Home, the employer of her husband. Kellum had beforehand informed LAist she had recused herself from issues involving her husband’s employer, however public information later confirmed she personally approved the contract. LAHSA mentioned the contract had “inadvertently ended up” in entrance of her.
The panel additionally cited reporting about 1736 Household Disaster Middle, which has obtained greater than $36 million in federal grants since 2008, together with no less than $25 million by LAHSA since 2021.
The group’s CEO Carol Adelkoff obtained $1.6 million in whole compensation over two years whereas dwelling in Hawaii, in accordance with the letter.
The committee says Adelkoff obtained $742,181 in 2024 compensation and $907,923 the earlier yr, together with a $495,000 bonus. It in contrast that compensation with the median annual pay of leaders at 16 comparable Los Angeles-area nonprofits, which it mentioned was $159,737.
The Publish has reached out to Bass’ workplace for remark.
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