LA Homeless Services Leader Resigns After Accountability Crisis
The head of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has stepped down amid mounting scrutiny and a growing shift in the region’s approach to homelessness.
Va Lecia Adams Kellum, who took over as CEO of LAHSA in early 2023, announced her resignation last Friday. The move comes just days after Los Angeles County voted to establish its own homeless services department, reducing its reliance on LAHSA. The move comes in response to recent audits that uncovered major flaws in the agency’s financial oversight and accountability.
In her resignation statement, Adams Kellum said the timing was appropriate as the county proceeds with recommendations from a 2020 Blue Ribbon panel, transferring key duties away from LAHSA.
“With the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors implementing the 2020 Blue Ribbon recommendations, shifting key responsibilities from LAHSA to LA County, now is the right time for me to resign as CEO,” she said.
Her exit follows a 4-0 vote by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to move forward with forming an internal department to manage homeless services directly. Two separate audits conducted over the past five months heavily influenced that decision.
One audit, requested by a federal judge, found LAHSA lacked sufficient oversight to ensure contractors fulfilled their obligations, making the agency susceptible to mismanagement and fraud. Another report from the county auditor-controller cited poor bookkeeping and vague contract terms, which allegedly contributed to millions of dollars in potentially unrecoverable advance payments to contractors during the 2017-18 fiscal year.
LAHSA defended itself by noting that repayment of those advances is not due until 2027.
Critics have long raised concerns about the agency’s transparency and effectiveness. Elizabeth Mitchell, an attorney with the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, a group that has sued the city and county over homelessness issues, said the findings underscored a culture of dysfunction.
“Even though I think she took some steps in the right direction, they weren’t nearly enough,” Mitchell said. “There was a lack of accountability, a lack of transparency, and just a culture at that agency that is broken.”
Adams Kellum, a former leader of the St. Joseph Center in Venice, was brought in with hopes of reforming the agency, which has often been criticized for its bureaucratic inefficiencies. But after a turbulent tenure marked by financial controversy and structural change, her departure signals a pivotal moment for homelessness services in Los Angeles.
