LOS ANGELES, CA – Los Angeles County will take over the region’s annual homeless count and its applications for federal homelessness grants from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority after a membership vote Tuesday, but the county and the city of Los Angeles remain at odds over who will run two other federally required systems.
The general membership of the Los Angeles Continuum of Care voted Oct. 13 to designate the county’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing as the region’s collaborative applicant for federal grants and as the operator of the point-in-time homeless count. The margin was overwhelmingly in favor, with only a handful of votes against.
The vote did not decide who will run the Homeless Management Information System, the database that records contacts with homeless people, or the Coordinated Entry System, which matches people to housing. The city and the county submitted competing bids for those two roles, and no new date has been set to decide them.
The Los Angeles Continuum of Care is described on the authority’s website as a regional or local planning body that coordinates housing and services funding for homeless families and individuals.
Membership approves two functions
The county faced no opposition on the homeless count and the regional grant application. After a failed attempt the previous week to move all of the authority’s federal functions to the county at once, the Continuum of Care narrowed Tuesday’s agenda to those two items.
The county’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing said in a statement that it was the only regional entity that applied for all four functions in the Continuum of Care. The department said it received the highest score on every application in the Continuum of Care’s competition and was recommended by the Continuum of Care Board for all four roles.
Sarah Mahin, the department’s director, said the county applied because it has the capacity and expertise to do the job. She said the department is committed to a collaborative, transparent, accountable and fully regional homeless response system.
Database and matching system left undecided
The Homeless Management Information System and the Coordinated Entry System are the two functions still in contention. The city has argued it must be able to place people into the housing it builds and funds, while the county has said it would preserve the city’s current access.
Ben Kay, who chairs the Continuum of Care Board, gave the membership a recap of the steps the board took to run an impartial evaluation. That evaluation scored the county higher than the city on handling homelessness issues. The board has 21 members and makes recommendations that the general membership votes up or down.
Kay said the federal court will hold a status conference to determine next steps regarding the authority, the Continuum of Care and transition plans. He said naming the county would put the Continuum of Care in a strong negotiating position with the court.
Oct. 9 meeting ended within minutes
The Tuesday vote followed a meeting on Friday, Oct. 9 that ended without a vote. The county department said that meeting was postponed because attendance exceeded the capacity of the virtual platform.
Before that meeting, more than 1,500 people tried to register online, according to initial reports, overwhelming the 1,000-attendee limit on the authority’s online meeting account. The meeting broke down within about two minutes of starting, and the vote was canceled.
In a joint statement after the meeting, Mayor Karen Bass, Council President Marqueece Harris-Dawson and Councilmembers Ysabel Jurado, Tim McOsker and Imelda Padilla said the meeting broke down because the board did not plan adequately for a large audience. They said the city must be able to help people on its own streets by placing them into housing the city builds and funds. They also said the county-only administration the board recommended leaves no room for those voices.
Turnout rises well above past meetings
Bass had urged supporters to take part before the Oct. 9 meeting. She said giving the county complete control over counting, tracking, placement and allocation of services would worsen the city’s own homeless response and continue a system that has not served the city well.
The Continuum of Care has said that historically no more than 100 people had voted at its meetings. For Tuesday’s vote, the authority expanded its online capacity to 10,000 attendees, but just over 300 voters registered online.
The Continuum of Care’s charter defines its membership broadly, as persons and entities interested in collaborative planning to address homelessness in the county. Anyone voting must attest online, or on paper if attending in person, that they are a member.
HUD suspension and court order
The question of who runs these functions arose after the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development announced on June 11 that it was suspending the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. The federal agency cited reports of fraud and financial mismanagement.
The authority sued the Trump administration on June 29 to challenge the suspension of federal homelessness funding that affects more than 11,000 residents. On Aug. 13, the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California issued a preliminary injunction halting the suspension.
Judge David O. Carter found that HUD’s sudden move to suspend the authority weeks before federal grant deadlines was “arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or otherwise not in accordance with law,” according to the authority’s account of the ruling. Carter also ordered the Continuum of Care to run an evaluation process on replacing the authority in its federal roles.
The shift also follows a change last year, when the county Board of Supervisors took control of more than $300 million in local sales taxes previously managed by the authority and created the Department of Homeless Services and Housing.
County says it is ready to lead
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said in a statement on Oct. 10 that the county is ready to lead the Continuum of Care. She said, “Cities also deserve a say in who is housed in the housing they build.”
Horvath said the county has already committed to the city that, “at a minimum, they will maintain the HMIS and CES access they currently have working with LAHSA.” She called the failure to hold the Oct. 9 meeting “unacceptable” and said it “erodes public trust.” She added that the county is prepared to partner with every city in the county, listen to their concerns and work toward solutions.
The county department said the Coordinated Entry System Policy Council, where both the city and the county have seats, sets the policies for matching and provides oversight. On Aug. 11, Horvath and Supervisor Kathryn Barger introduced a motion reaffirming the county’s support for a regional Continuum of Care. The motion directs the county homeless department and the Los Angeles County Development Authority to prepare to assume designated responsibilities if needed.
Count figures frame the stakes
The authority’s 2026 homeless count reported that after two consecutive years of steady drops, regional progress stalled. It showed a 1.2% increase to an estimated 73,040 people in Los Angeles County and a 3.4% increase to 45,194 people in the city of Los Angeles.
The county department said that count showed 62% of the county’s homeless population is in the city of Los Angeles and 38% is in other cities and unincorporated areas.
City Council weighs litigation and a city-only option
On Wednesday, Oct. 14, the Los Angeles City Council instructed the city’s attorneys to develop litigation options before the Oct. 27 federal hearing. The council also told the city administrative officer and the legislative analyst to revisit establishing a city-only Continuum of Care.
City Administrative Officer Matt Szabo said the options include a city-only Continuum of Care and litigation over the Continuum of Care Board’s process. Harris-Dawson said the administrative officer will continue negotiating shared responsibilities with the county.
Federal status conference set for Oct. 27
A federal status conference is set for Oct. 27, the day the preliminary injunction is due to expire. The court is expected to take up next steps regarding the authority, the Continuum of Care and transition plans, as Kay described.
The Continuum of Care has not announced a date to decide who will run the Homeless Management Information System and the Coordinated Entry System. The city has not announced whether it will file a lawsuit.
