Los Angeles County has taken direct control of how it spends hundreds of millions of dollars fighting homelessness, ending its central reliance on the agency that has coordinated the response for a generation.

A new department takes over

As of July 1, the county's new Department of Homeless Services and Housing assumed control of about $843 million that previously flowed through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, or LAHSA, the joint city-county body that had run the county's homelessness programs since 1993, LAist reported. The move followed an April 2025 vote by the Board of Supervisors, 4-1, to redirect county money into a department it controls directly. Supervisor Holly Mitchell cast the lone dissent, though she has since acknowledged the new department's early progress.

The department is led by Sarah Mahin, who previously ran the county's Housing for Health program. "The old fragmented way of doing things wasn't working," she said.

Why the county lost patience

The break had been building for years. A string of audits found persistent problems accounting for public money, and county leaders including Supervisor Lindsey Horvath argued LAHSA's structure made accountability nearly impossible. Officials pointed to a billing backlog — with a large share of invoices running months overdue — that slowed payments to the nonprofits doing frontline work.

Early numbers, cautious tone

The department has released figures it says justify the change: encampment response times cut from six-to-nine months to an average of 45 days, and vendor bills now paid on time in the large majority of cases. It also reports that most people it placed in permanent housing a year or two ago remain housed. Mahin has stopped short of declaring success, warning that potential federal funding cuts could put thousands of housed county residents at risk.

What happens to LAHSA — and the city

LAHSA is not dissolved; it remains a joint powers authority and still receives City of Los Angeles funding. Of about 210 county-funded LAHSA employees, 184 accepted jobs with the new county department, LAist reported, and supervisors asked the county to find positions for those who did not move. The City Council, meanwhile, is studying whether to follow the county's lead but has pushed its own decision on LAHSA to later in the year — leaving the agency's long-term future, and the shape of the region's homelessness response, unsettled.