To the editor: Both the city and county of Los Angeles are considering breaking up the L.A. Homeless Services Authority. Numerous reports criticize LAHSA for funding discrepancies and poor accountability. These are important critiques that warrant immediate intervention.
But the most important issue is homelessness prevention, which is not being addressed adequately. LAHSA cannot possibly reduce the number of homeless people on the streets, in cars and in RVs if the number keeps going up.
According to LAHSA, the number of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County declined by 0.27% in 2024 compared to 2023. That slight decrease measured by a three-day snapshot in time is negligible considering that more people are becoming homeless than are being housed. Nationally, for every 100 people who exited homelessness in 2024, another 118 entered into homelessness, according to the federal government.
So the city and county need to look more closely at the reasons homelessness is not being prevented: the staggeringly high cost of rental housing, the scarcity of extremely low-income housing, the removal of rent-controlled units and the lack of resources to assist those who are vulnerable to falling into homelessness because of eviction.
Jane Demian, Los Angeles
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To the editor: Reading your editorial on New Year’s Day about LAHSA and all its resources got me thinking about an elderly woman I’ve seen camped out for the past couple of years on a bus bench with her belongings scattered around her on Santa Monica Boulevard in Century City, across from gleaming skyscraper buildings.
That this woman has not been sheltered is both a tragedy and a scandal for this city.
Doug Weiskopf, Burbank
