Los Angeles Homeless Funding Fight: City, County Dispute Control of $240M
A federal threat to reassign oversight of Continuum of Care grants has exposed a structural conflict between two governing bodies that jointly receive and distribute homelessness funding in Los...
The City of Los Angeles and Los Angeles County are in a public dispute over control of more than $240 million in federal homelessness funding administered through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), according to reporting by the New York Post published July 29, 2026. The conflict emerged days after the release of Los Angeles's 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count, which showed homelessness numbers increased despite what officials have described as billions in cumulative public spending over multiple years.
The Trump administration has threatened to strip LAHSA of its authority to oversee the region's federal Continuum of Care (CoC) grant program, according to the New York Post report. The CoC program, administered federally by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD), funds permanent supportive housing, street outreach, and related services. HUD's CoC program regulations are codified at 24 C.F.R. Part 578 and require a designated collaborative applicant to manage regional funding allocations.
LAHSA was established in 1993 as a joint powers authority between the City and County of Los Angeles to coordinate homeless services and federal grant applications. Its dual governance structure means neither the City nor the County holds unilateral authority over the agency, a design that critics and some elected officials have pointed to as a source of ongoing accountability gaps. The specific dollar figure under dispute — $240 million — corresponds to federal Continuum of Care allocations, though the precise fiscal year breakdown of that total was not itemized in available public reporting as of this story's publication.
The political dispute intensified after the 2026 homeless count results were released. The Los Angeles County Homeless Initiative and City of Los Angeles Housing and Community Investment Department have each published annual spending reports, but a consolidated, audited accounting of total City and County homelessness expenditures across all funding streams was not immediately available in public records reviewed for this report. The total cumulative spending figure referenced publicly by officials has not been independently verified against a single audited source.
What remains unknown is whether HUD has issued a formal Notice of Intent to remove LAHSA as the CoC collaborative applicant, or whether the threat remains at the level of informal communication. A formal HUD action would be documented in a written determination letter, which would be a public record subject to Freedom of Information Act request. Also unknown is the precise breakdown of the $240 million across fiscal years and program categories, which would be disclosed in LAHSA's annual CoC grant application and HUD's Grant Inventory Worksheet, both of which are public documents. The outcome of any restructuring would determine which governmental entity gains direct authority over federal homeless service dollars in the nation's largest county by population.