L.A. County seeks to slash funding for homeless services to cut costs

A draft plan for Measure A sales tax revenue tries to preserve the number of housing units and beds while cutting outreach programs

- ANDREW KHOURI

GENARO MOLINA Los Angeles Times LILA OMURA, a Redondo Beach housing navigator, lets Karen Ford, 57, into her new room in Wilmington in 2024. Ford had been living on Redondo Beach streets.

Faced with a large budget gap, Los Angeles County has released a spending plan that slashes funding for some homeless services and could reverse progress made in getting people off the streets.

The plan revealed last week for next fiscal year, starting July 1, details how the county Department of Homeless Services and Housing proposes to spend money collected through the county's Measure A sales tax that pays for things such as outreach, temporary housing subsidies and the cost to operate shelters and permanent housing.

In all, the department is proposing to spend $634,305,000 on comprehensive homeless services, down 0.5% from this year. Most of that money comes from Measure A, but about $70 million is expected to come from a state grant.

The decline isn't much on a percentage basis, but the county said the cost to run shelters and permanent housing is rising. The county also is losing some onetime funding from the state and federal government that previously covered some services.