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[ POLITICS ](https://www.citywatchla.com/la-election-2022)
# LAHSA Is Giving Up the Keys. Los Angeles Must Now Prove It Can Do Better
September 17 2026
Written by Mihran Kalaydjian.
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THE BOTTOM LINE - Los Angeles has spent years asking what went wrong with its homelessness system. This week, the question changed. Now Los Angeles must decide what comes next.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has declined to compete to retain four consequential responsibilities at the heart of the region’s homelessness system: coordinating the application for federal homelessness funding, administering the Homeless Management Information System, conducting the annual homeless count, and operating the Coordinated Entry System.
For decades, those functions helped define LAHSA’s role. Their potential transfer could mark one of the most consequential restructurings of Los Angeles homelessness governance in a generation. But changing who controls them does not guarantee better results.
Replacing LAHSA is not the same thing as fixing the system.
If Los Angeles transfers fragmented accountability, inadequate financial controls, and bureaucratic confusion into a new department with a different name, it will have done little more than rearrange the organizational chart. The real question is whether anything fundamentally changes.
**The Numbers Demand Accountability**
The 2026 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count estimated that 73,040 people were experiencing homelessness countywide and 45,194 within the City of Los Angeles. City homelessness increased an estimated 3.4%, while unsheltered homelessness increased 7.9% to approximately 29,115 people.
LAHSA notes that the overall year-to-year city and county changes were not statistically significant and has attributed pressure on the system partly to reductions in time-limited rental subsidies and a slowdown in permanent housing placements. Those qualifications matter. But so does the scale of the crisis: more than 45,000 people are estimated to be experiencing homelessness in the city.
Behind every statistic is a human being someone sleeping beneath an overpass, a senior living in a vehicle, a family struggling to keep a roof overhead, or a person waiting for housing. That is precisely why accountability matters.
**Follow the Money Then Follow the Results**
For years, Los Angeles’ homelessness debate has revolved around money: how much is being spent, how much more is needed and which level of government should pay. Another question deserves equal attention: What are taxpayers getting for the money already being spent?
Major homelessness contracts should have measurable performance standards. Significant expenditures should be traceable, and providers receiving public money should be evaluated against clearly defined outcomes.
How many people entered permanent housing? How many remained housed? Which programs produced measurable results, and which repeatedly missed their targets? These answers should not require an investigation or months of public-records requests.
Public money requires public accountability.
**Reorganization Is Not Reform**
Creating a new agency does not guarantee better government. A county department can fail. A city department can fail. A regional authority can fail. A newly created bureaucracy can become just as opaque as the one it replaced.
Real reform is not a new logo, another organizational chart, or another press conference. It means knowing who is responsible, establishing measurable goals, publishing results and correcting failures instead of explaining them away.
Los Angeles does not need another layer of homelessness bureaucracy. It needs a chain of accountability.
**Protect Services During the Transition**
Los Angeles also cannot allow restructuring to disrupt services for people already depending on the system. LAHSA still performs essential functions. Its data and coordinated-entry systems support service and housing decisions, while the annual count and federal funding process help shape policy and resources throughout the region.
Whatever happens next, those responsibilities cannot fall through the cracks. Los Angeles must reform the bureaucracy without disrupting services. People experiencing homelessness should not become collateral damage in a dispute over which government entity controls the system.
**Build the Next System Differently**
This transition gives Los Angeles an opportunity to establish a different standard. Major homelessness programs should disclose their budgets, contractors, performance benchmarks, and results in a form the public can understand. Contracts should contain meaningful requirements and consequences when those requirements are repeatedly missed.
Taxpayers should not have to choose between compassion and accountability. Los Angeles needs both. Accountability is not the enemy of compassion; it helps ensure that resources reach the people they were intended to serve.
**A Chance to Reset**
LAHSA did not create Los Angeles’ housing shortage, poverty, addiction, untreated mental illness, or every economic force contributing to homelessness. No single agency can solve those problems by itself. But every government institution entrusted with public money has a responsibility to demonstrate what its programs accomplish.
The coming restructuring should therefore be more than a transfer of authority. It should be a reset in how Los Angeles measures success, tracks money, manages contracts and publishes results.
The next structure should not be judged by its name, the number of programs it announces or simply by how much money it spends. It should be judged by measurable outcomes: Are fewer people sleeping outside? Are people entering housing faster? Are they remaining housed? Can taxpayers see where the money went? And when a program repeatedly fails, does anything actually change?
For years, Los Angeles has debated who should control its homelessness system. Now it has an opportunity to ask a more important question: Can Los Angeles build one that the public can hold accountable?
LAHSA is giving up some of the keys. Whoever receives them next should understand something from day one: The public is not asking for another bureaucracy. It is asking for results.
***(Mihran Kalaydjian** is a seasoned public affairs and government relations professional with more than twenty years of experience in legislative affairs, public policy, community relations, and strategic communications. A respected civic leader and education advocate, he has spearheaded numerous academic and community initiatives, shaping dialogue and driving reform in local and regional political forums. His career reflects a steadfast commitment to transparency, accountability, and public service across Los Angeles and beyond.)*
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