By Lindsay Horvath, Los Angeles Board of Supervisors
This week marks a significant milestone in our fight to end homelessness in Los Angeles County. With the approval of a motion I introduced alongside Chair Kathryn Barger, the Board of Supervisors has approved a consolidated County department to streamline and centralize our approach to homeless services.
For too long, our homeless services have been fragmented, with multiple departments and organizations working in silos, often creating confusion and inefficiencies. This new department will consolidate the work of 14 different County departments and bring certain operations of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) under direct County oversight. This will increase accountability, improve coordination, and ultimately help us deliver more effective services to those who need them most.
This is a pivotal moment. We must acknowledge what hasn’t worked and commit ourselves to building something that will. The creation of this department is an opportunity to rethink how we provide services and ensure that we are delivering real, measurable results. While LAHSA was born from a court decision over 30 years ago, if we were to create a system today, it would look very different. This new department will allow us to build a system that is more responsive, scalable, and impactful.
This action builds on the work I’ve been leading over the past two years to address homelessness in our County. With the passage of Measure A and the opportunities it brings, we now have the chance to eliminate unnecessary layers of bureaucracy and directly link our investments to tangible outcomes. This is not about creating more government; it’s about creating better government—government that works for all of us.
The new department will be established by July 1, 2025, and will combine two key elements: the Housing for Health program in the Department of Health Services and the Homeless Initiative in the Chief Executive Office. These two entities will serve as the foundation of the new department. By July 1, 2026, we will transition the funding and staff of LAHSA into the new structure, while LAHSA will continue to lead certain efforts, such as the federally required Homeless Count.
We are committed to designing this department with best practices in mind and will include extensive outreach to ensure that its design and contracting protocols reflect the needs and priorities of the community, as highlighted in the Auditor-Controller’s recent audit.
While this is a significant step forward, I want to be clear that the work to address homelessness is ongoing. We are committed to continuing our efforts to provide meaningful solutions, and I am confident that this new approach will allow us to scale the successes we’ve seen in recent years and, most importantly, bring real change to the lives of those experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County.
Thank you for your continued support as we move forward with this crucial work. Together, we can make Los Angeles a place where everyone has a home and no one is left behind.
Lindsey P. Horvath
Supervisor, Los Angeles County’s Third District
