Board approves plan to create county homelessness department, with one abstention

Los Angeles County supervisors voted to begin creating a county agency to coordinate homelessness services, adopting a motion to implement key recommendations of the Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness.

The board approved a plan authored by Supervisor Lindsay Horvath that directs county staff to align the Department of Health Services’ Housing for Health program and the CEO’s Homeless Initiative as the foundation for a new Department of Housing for Health and Services. The motion passed 4–0 with Supervisor Holly Mitchell recorded as an abstention.

Horvath told the board that the county’s homelessness system is “siloed and accountability is diffuse,” and urged a centralized, data-driven entity to connect investments to measurable outcomes. Sarah Mann, director of Housing for Health, described Housing for Health’s model: integrated clinical and social services, a “whatever it takes, for as long as it takes” approach, case management, benefits advocacy and a contracting model that hands administrative complexity off to a central unit. Mann said Housing for Health’s 2024 results included serving roughly 57,000 people countywide, connecting thousands to interim and permanent housing, and achieving a 94% one-year housing retention rate for people in its permanent-supportive programs.

Supporters of the change — including municipal officials and homeless services providers who testified during public comment — said the county needs clearer lines of accountability and better contract oversight. Multiple city council members asked for continued partnership so city-funded work and shared programs would not be disrupted.

Opponents and some stakeholders cautioned that transition plans must avoid disrupting services or payments to providers. LAHSA chief executive officer Dr. Felicia Adams Kellam and LAHSA staff told the board they have added public dashboards and operational improvements in recent years and urged careful coordination to prevent gaps during any transition. LAHSA and county staff both said contracting and data work is already under way, and county staff described a phased timeline for coordination, department launch, and possible transition of LAHSA-administered, county-funded programs.

Board debate focused heavily on process and timing. Supervisor Mitchell proposed amendments to delay the start of Phase 1 until Oct. 1, 2025, and to require a 30‑day written report establishing baseline performance outcomes and public dashboard processes; that amendment failed on a 1–4 vote. A separate amendment authored by Supervisor Janice Hahn to create an Office of Unincorporated Services as a bureau within the new department passed unanimously. The board adopted the revised motion as presented by the author with the Hahn amendment incorporated.

Under the motion, county staff will establish a joint administrative team immediately, aim to complete organizational steps so the department could be effective by Jan. 1, 2026, and, if the board decides, transition county funding now administered by LAHSA to the new department by July 1, 2026. Staff described additional steps — stakeholder engagement, contract management, technology and data integration, labor and human resources coordination — that must run in parallel to the organizational work.

The board also directed the CEO and department staff to consult with cities, LAHSA, labor and providers through a stakeholder process; one motion amendment called for a provider task force to advise the transition. The final vote was 4–0 with Supervisor Mitchell abstaining.

The board’s action starts an administrative transition that county staff said will aim to preserve contracts and avoid service interruptions while consolidating administrative functions into a single county department.