How LA County Plans to Spend Your Tax Dollars on Homelessness
A few months after voters approved a tax increase to fight homelessness, Los Angeles County officials are now planning to cut $62 million from homeless services. Several programs will be reduced or eliminated.
One major cut is to a job training program. Another program that helps people clear their criminal records will also lose funding. In addition, LA County plans to stop funding some homelessness prevention programs run by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA).
Officials say these cuts are necessary due to a projected $35 million budget deficit for the 2025-26 fiscal year, along with $27 million in rising costs.
“We had to make tough choices,” said Cheri Todoroff, executive director of the Homeless Initiative. “We focused on keeping services that directly help people, like outreach, shelter beds, and permanent housing.”
A New Approach to Homelessness Prevention
The way LA County handles homelessness prevention is changing. Under Measure A, approved by voters in November, a new county agency will take over many prevention efforts.
Instead of LAHSA leading short-term rental assistance and legal aid programs, these efforts may now be managed by the LA County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, funded by the new sales tax.
“When voters passed Measure A, they didn’t just approve funding,” said Tommy Newman of United Way of Greater Los Angeles. “They approved a completely new approach to preventing homelessness and making housing more affordable.”
As officials finalize the $637 million homeless services budget, the public is invited to share their opinions.
Where the Money Will Go
Measure A replaces an old quarter-cent sales tax with a half-cent sales tax starting April 1. This will raise over $1 billion annually to fight homelessness. The money will be split into two main categories:
60% (about $600 million per year) goes to LA County for services like outreach, shelters, and permanent supportive housing.
36% (about $400 million per year) goes to the LA County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency for building and maintaining affordable housing, preventing evictions, and providing rent assistance.
Because of this shift, officials say some of the cuts to homeless services will be balanced by new funding through the Affordable Housing Solutions Agency.
“This is a transition year,” said Newman. “Some of these cuts won’t be as bad as they seem because we have other programs starting.”
Why Is There a Budget Deficit?
Even with the new tax, LA County still needs to cut $62 million from the homeless services budget.
Officials say this is partly because consumer spending has slowed, leading to lower sales tax revenue. Another reason is that the county must cover services for 2,000 more people moving into new supportive housing, costing an additional $27 million.
“We won’t be able to do everything we’ve done before with less money,” said Todoroff. “Some programs will be affected.”
Cuts to Job Training and Legal Services
One of the biggest cuts affects LA:RISE, a program that helps homeless individuals find and keep jobs. Funding will drop from $8.4 million to $1.8 million next year.
“We’re shocked that only 0.3% of the budget is going to employment and workforce development,” said Greg Ericksen of REDF, which runs LA:RISE.
The county is also cutting $1.5 million from a program that helps homeless individuals clear their criminal records. This program provided 3,500 expungements last year and helped 1,400 people directly.
Assistant Public Defender Thomas Moore says the cuts mean fewer outreach events and reduced support for clearing tickets and minor offenses.
Cuts to Homelessness Prevention and Coordination
The county plans to cut $10 million from LAHSA’s system that helps match homeless individuals with services and housing. However, officials say coordination will still continue in a different form.
LAHSA will also lose $20 million for programs that provide rental assistance and legal aid to prevent homelessness. However, officials say this funding will be replaced by the Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, which is required to spend at least $100 million per year on homelessness prevention.
“The prevention funding is shifting, not disappearing,” said Newman.
LA County is accepting public feedback on the budget proposal until Tuesday, Feb. 4.
The final budget proposal will be presented to the LA County Board of Supervisors in March.
