LOS ANGELES, CA – The 1736 Family Crisis Center, a domestic violence nonprofit that runs shelters and crisis hotlines in Los Angeles and Orange counties, paid for a $6,500-a-month beachside apartment in Santa Monica for its chief executive, who has lived in Hawaii for at least a decade, according to nonprofit records and emails.
The apartment is in a condominium building on Ocean Avenue, and board members approved the arrangement in June 2018, according to the emails. The center also leased a BMW for the executive, Carol Adelkoff, to use at her home on Hawaii’s Big Island, according to initial reports published Oct. 13.
The center’s attorney, Kerry Garvis Wright, said in a letter that the apartment was a more predictable expense than one-off hotel stays during the executive’s visits to the region. Wright also said it offered high-level security for an executive concerned about her safety.
The organization operates on a budget of about $15 million. It has no shelters or clients in Hawaii, according to the account of employees who raised concerns in 2019.
Board approved lease in 2018
Emails show board members approved the Santa Monica arrangement in June 2018. A bank transaction shows the nonprofit was paying rent the following year.
The available records do not show how long the center paid for the apartment or whether it still does. Wright declined to say how long the payments lasted.
The monthly rent was $6,500, according to the records. Adelkoff has led the organization since 1984, according to initial reports, when its annual budget was about $200,000.
Attorney points to cost and security
Wright said the center chose to rent an apartment rather than book hotel rooms because the cost was easier to predict. She said the building also gave the executive a level of security she needed.
Wright said Adelkoff was fully exonerated after earlier investigations. She did not describe those investigations in the letter as reported.
CEO pay of $1.6 million over two years
Adelkoff’s compensation has drawn separate attention. In a Sept. 3 news release, the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform said the center paid her $1.6 million in total compensation between 2023 and 2024 “while she lived in Hawaii.”
According to the center’s tax filings, roughly half of that total came from a payout of unused vacation accrued over four decades.
That figure covers two years of pay. It is separate from the apartment and the leased car, which were reported as additional expenses paid by the nonprofit.
Public money flows to the center
The same release said the center has received more than $36 million in federal grants since 2008. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has given the center at least $25 million since 2021, according to initial reports.
LAHSA is the joint city-county agency that distributes homelessness funding in the region. Its 2026 homeless count found homelessness in Los Angeles County rose 1.2% to an estimated 73,040 people, and in the city of Los Angeles it rose 3.4% to 45,194.
The agency has also faced federal scrutiny. A federal court issued a preliminary injunction on Aug. 13 halting the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s suspension of LAHSA’s funding.
House subcommittee cited the CEO’s pay
Rep. Tim Burchett, chairman of the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, cited the center’s CEO pay when he called on Mayor Karen Bass to testify at a Sept. 15 hearing, according to the committee release.
After Bass declined, Burchett said in a Sept. 9 hearing announcement: “It’s a shame that Mayor Karen Bass refuses to show up to testify about her role in all this.” He said homelessness has risen in Los Angeles during her tenure.
Bass said, “Let’s call this what it is: the latest attack on Los Angeles by the Trump Administration and his allies in Congress.” She also said, “I don’t run LAHSA. It’s a joint city-county agency, and I was the first mayor in history to sit on its board.” Her attorney, David Michaelson, told the committee she was unavailable.
The subcommittee held the hearing on Sept. 15 in Washington. Its witnesses were Paul Webster of the Cicero Institute and Jonathan Choe of the Discovery Institute, with Samantha Batko of the Urban Institute as the minority witness.
Employees raised concerns in 2019
In 2019, three senior employees hired an attorney, Dorsey Kleger-Heine, after becoming alarmed by the use of nonprofit funds on benefits for the CEO, according to initial reports. They alleged the spending constituted a misuse of funds.
Kleger-Heine laid out the accusations in a letter that she presented to the board in December 2019. Those statements are allegations from the employees and have not been independently established. Wright’s position is that Adelkoff was exonerated.
The California Attorney General’s Registry of Charities and Fundraisers accepts complaints about charities, including excessive compensation. The office says the most secure and easiest way to file is through its online complaint form, Form CT-9.
No investigation known to be pending
No investigation of the 1736 Family Crisis Center is known to be pending. The center has not said whether it still pays for the Santa Monica apartment.
Neither the nonprofit nor LAHSA has announced changes to the executive’s compensation or benefits.
