Trump administration blocks federal homelessness funds in Los Angeles
[June 13, 2026]
By MARISA KENDALL/CalMatters
The Trump administration has barred Los Angeles County’s main
homelessness agency from accessing federal funds while it investigates
the agency’s alleged “wanton mismanagement of public funds.”
The move puts at risk almost $200 million that LA area service providers
count on to help California’s largest homeless population.
In a letter Thursday to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development accused the LA agency
of fraud, while also blaming it for failing to decrease homelessness.
The agency failed to record when people left their motel housing,
misused government money by using it to pay for services provided under
another contract and could not provide documents to prove the existence
of homes it was responsible for, according to HUD. The LA agency is
suspended from participating in federal funding competitions until HUD’s
Office of Inspector General completes its investigation.
“Taxpayers will no longer bankroll an organization that puts its own
self-interests ahead of the Americans it was created to serve,” HUD
Secretary Scott Turner said in a news release.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority is a joint city-count agency
that has spearheaded the LA-area’s fight against homelessness since the
1990s. It has faced a myriad of issues recently, resulting even in local
officials pulling their confidence – and their money – from the agency.
After two critical audits found the Homeless Services Authority wasn’t
properly tracking its spending or outcomes, the LA County Board of
Supervisors withdrew its money and moved it to a newly created county
agency. The head of the beleaguered Homeless Services Authority, who had
been criticized for signing contracts with a nonprofit tied to her
husband, resigned. In April, the authority laid off 284 people.
But despite that turmoil, the Homeless Services Authority is still
officially the LA region’s lead homelessness agency, and it receives
federal homelessness funding on behalf of the city, county and nonprofit
service providers.
Last year, the authority received nearly $200 million in federal funds
through the Continuum of Care program – the largest source of federal
homelessness funding.
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Blocking that funding could jeopardize the work the authority has
already done to fight homelessness by putting thousands of formerly
homeless people back on the street, the Los Angeles Homeless
Services Authority said in a statement.
“This appears to be a blatant attempt to pull yet more resources
from Los Angeles, a city they have targeted time and again, when it
is clear that LAHSA has either corrected or is in the process of
correcting nearly all of the issues raised,” spokesperson Ahmad
Chapman said in a statement
The authority is fixing its internal controls, modernizing its
financial system and doing a better job tracking its work, Chapman
said. Its immediate priority is “to explore all available options”
to ensure federal funds keep coming to LA.
LA Mayor Karen Bass said that while she shares HUD’s concerns about
the homeless authority, threatening its funding does nothing to
house people.
“Ultimately people will lose their lives,” she said in a statement.
“We urge HUD to work with the City of Los Angeles to provide the
necessary funding to reduce homelessness.”
Homelessness actually started improving recently in LA County, with
the number of unhoused people dropping in 2024 and 2025, according
to the point-in-time count. As of last year, there were an estimated
72,000 unhoused people in the county.
Even so, the Trump administration has been attempting to overhaul
the way LA and other places across California address homelessness.
The administration wants to move funds from permanent housing into
temporary shelters and prioritize housing programs that require
sobriety.
Earlier this month, HUD opened this year’s application for federal
homelessness funding via the Continuum of Care program, which laid
out these changes. The National Alliance to End Homelessness
estimates those changes could cost California nearly $238 million in
funding for permanent housing, which could mean nearly 15,000 people
would lose their homes.
California sued over a prior attempt by the Trump administration to
make similar changes. That case is still ongoing.
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