Committee weighs CAO outreach report; members seek maps, bed data and clearer matching

March 28 — The Los Angeles City Housing and Homelessness Committee heard the Chief Legislative Analyst (CLA) report on homelessness outreach services and policy and directed staff to return with updated data, maps of outreach coverage, staffing and budget impacts before the committee selects a citywide model.

The CLA presented options ranging from consolidating outreach into district or regional structures to a model that would make outreach housing‑focused — that is, deploying outreach teams only when a housing resource (a voucher or immediate interim housing placement) is available. David Wimsatt of the CLA said the office’s inventory and needs assessment led to a single best practice recommendation: “outreach should be generalist outreach … housing‑focused and only occur with a housing voucher or housing placement available.”

Why it matters: committee members said the city needs real‑time access to bed availability and clearer coordination with county multidisciplinary teams (MDTs) and LAHSA so outreach can be effective when people are ready to accept placements. Council member John Lee told the committee he strongly supports the CLA’s option 3 — discontinuing city‑funded outreach through LAHSA and expanding Circle teams to assume responsibilities — but said any change must preserve successful elements such as street medicine and Skid Row outreach and must include citywide guidelines and one system for tracking and consolidating data. “This would give us actual visibility, not just a read‑only view,” Lee said.

Report and system details: the CLA said the report inventories dozens of outreach teams and found that, historically, the city spent about $45,000,000 on outreach within Los Angeles. The CLA also described new system features in interim housing matching: Kelsey Madigan, LAHSA’s director of interim housing, said the updated inventory and matching module can show bed vacancies across the system, permit matching and intake until 2 p.m., and then open matching between 2 p.m. and 5 p.m. to fill beds that would otherwise remain vacant overnight. Madigan told the committee, “At any given time, there are over 5,000 participants on the queue waiting for an interim housing bed.” She said recent changes are designed to reduce overnight vacancies and enable faster placements.

County coordination and MDTs: committee members pressed for greater clarity on how county MDTs, home teams and city outreach teams will coordinate. Sofia Peralta (staff, see speakers list) said the city began formal coordination with county teams about three weeks earlier and that meetings currently track engagement dates and whether placements were made. LAHSA deputy chief Lakisha Williams described multiple coordination calls — weekly and monthly — for different case‑coordination needs. Several council members asked the CLA and CAO to keep pushing the county to provide usable, aggregate data that will let council offices confirm when referrals become placements without revealing personal information.

Data access and HMIS: committee members repeatedly requested greater access to HMIS or other dashboards beyond view‑only access so council offices can track placements into city‑funded beds. The CLA said staff will analyze the feasibility of merging LAHSA’s interim housing matching and city match processes to streamline placements into interim housing assigned to city priorities.

Operational impacts and staffing: LAHSA noted that recently adopted budget changes will reduce some funded outreach teams. Paul Rubinstein of LAHSA warned that staff reductions could trigger labor obligations and, if more than 50 positions are affected, WARN Act notifications; LAHSA asked for one quarter of funding to support staff ramp‑down if cuts proceed. Members requested vacancy‑rate data for outreach teams and roadmap teams, as staffing gaps already affect operations.

Public comment and council concerns: dozens of public commenters urged stronger outreach and faster placements; speakers raised concerns about shelter conditions, document readiness for housing moves, and the need for district‑level responsiveness. A commenter citing litigation asked whether the city has done “due diligence” research on why people return to homelessness; other speakers emphasized that outreach effectiveness depends on on‑demand placement and follow‑through rather than repeated contact without immediate housing options.

Committee directions: committee members and staff agreed to continue the matter and instructed staff to return with: - A geographic map and roster of all outreach teams and the service providers assigned to each zone; - Updated budget impacts and the number of funded vs. vacant outreach positions under the current fiscal year; - A technical explanation and demonstration of the interim housing inventory/matching module and current vacancy dashboard (CLA/LAHSA/CAO to coordinate); - Options and feasibility analysis for streamlining matching so city outreach staff can place directly into city‑funded interim housing beds; - An accounting of the MDT cadence, including whether weekly coordination will continue after the initial six‑week period and what MDT resources will exist after June 27; and - Invitations to at least one or two frontline service providers, Circle/street medicine representatives and a county MDT representative for the next hearing.

No formal committee vote was taken on the CLA recommendations at this meeting; staff will return with the requested materials for follow‑up consideration.

What’s next: the committee chair said the issue will return at a future meeting after staff and county partners provide the requested maps, staffing and vacancy information and after LAHSA and the county have more time to operationalize MDT coordination.