By Jorge Casuso

April 28, 2025 -- The steep budget cuts LA County Supervisors made to homeless services over the past month will have little or no impact on the City, City officials said.

Santa Monica, along with the other 87 LA County cities, will begin working with a new County department that replaces the beleaguered Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) ("County Supervisors Overhaul Homeless Services," April 2, 2025).

That major shift, however, will have "no impacts" on the City's funding because Santa Monica "does not have any grants or contracts with LAHSA," said City spokesperson Tati Simonian.

"We collaborate with LAHSA on the Homeless Count and the Homelessness Management Information System," Simonian said. "It is our understanding that LAHSA will continue to oversee these two projects."

In its proposed homeless services budget, the County is expected to make nearly $90 million in cuts -- some $62 million approved in March and another $25 million this month.

The initial cuts made under a $908 million budget the County Board of Supervisors approved on March 25 included tens of millions of dollars in cuts to programs that provide job training, legal services and mobile showers, according to LAist.com, an independent, nonprofit news site that covers Southern California.

Subsequent cuts made on April 16 slashed $16 million in funding for programs to prevent homelessness and $5 million for a program that works with landlords to secure housing.

Supervisors also cut $3.9 million from the Department of Health Services’ shelter budget and $507,000 in funding for a program that helps unhoused people clear their criminal records, LAist reported.

The Board's 4 to 0 vote on April 1 to take oversight of the functions performed by LAHSA comes after the homeless services agency established in 1993 has failed to properly account for billions of dollars in funding.

"Our communities are tired of the status quo," said Supervisor Lindsay Horvath, after the Board voted on March 25 to approve the first round of cuts. "The days of rubber stamping are over.

"It's time for outcome-based budgeting, where we invest in programs that house the most people with our limited dollars, and standardize care across our system," Horvath said.

"We must ensure every dollar invested in homeless services is used wisely and leads to real results."

On April 8, the Federal government announced the formation of a criminal task force to investigate potential "fraud, waste, abuse and corruption" in homeless funding in Southern California ("New Federal Task Force to Probe Homeless Funding," April 11, 2025).

The task force will "prioritize a review of federal, state, and local programs receiving federal grants and funding," according to the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California, which includes LA County.