By Ruth Roofless and Zachary Ellison, Independent Journalists

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved by a vote of 4-0-1 a motion to study the feasibility of creating a new homelessness response agency on November 26, right before the Thanksgiving holiday. As noted by Los Angeles Times journalist Doug Smith writing on the notable approval, the County Chief Executive Office under Fesia Davenport will need to produce "a feasibility report in 60 days, an analysis of which County and LAHSA programs would be absorbed by the new department in 90 days, and a fiscal and staffing plan in 120 days." A "friendly amendment" from Supervisor Janice Hahn to allow staff more time to complete the feasibility report was met with a lukewarm response despite "the holidays." The move to restructure comes after scathing audits from both the County Auditor-Controller's office under Oscar Valdez as well as the Los Angeles City Controller Kenneth Mejia reviewed spending.

In question are tens of millions of dollars in "working capital" advances made to service providers in 2017-18 from County Measure H funding. Similarly, questions remain regarding spending at the City of Los Angeles that have yet to be resolved, even as an audit approved by the City of Los Angeles in response to the LA Alliance lawsuit filed under Judge David O. Carter. The audit underway by firm Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) is now expected to issue a report no later than the end of February due to delays getting data from the Los Angeles Housing Solutions Agency (LAHSA). Under review, pending the audit findings, is whether LAHSA should be streamlined to have a narrower set of responsibilities limited to conducting the annual point-in-time count and managing the Homeless Management Information System (HMIS) versus direct fund administration for service providers.

https://zacharyellison.substack.com/p/part-134-the-rocky-horror-picture