The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved sweeping cuts to an array of homeless services, a move some advocates said will push more people onto the streets.
Though county voters in 2024 approved a sales tax increase to combat the homelessness crisis, county officials said they faced a more than $270-million budget shortfall in trying to maintain current homeless service operations.
That’s because the cost to run the entire system is rising, while some state and federal funds that previously paid for certain programs are going away, according to the newly created Los Angeles County Department of Homeless Services and Housing.
“We are having to make extremely difficult decisions … given our fiscal realities,” Sarah Mahin, the department’s director, told supervisors before the vote Tuesday.
Mahin described the new spending plan as one that tries to preserve as much interim and permanent housing as possible.
Instead, $27 million will be cut from outreach and navigation programs that help homeless individuals get into housing.
Other cuts are coming to some forms of rental assistance, as well as a program that funds the acquisition of apartment buildings to house homeless people.
Pathway Home, the county program that cleans up encampments and moves people into motels and shelters, will see a $92-million cut in funding, according to the county homeless department.
Rachel Kassenbrock, a spokeswoman for the county department, said the number of new encampment cleanups in which people are moved into motels will drop from 30 to 10 next fiscal year. Any additional cleanups are “to be determined” and must rely on other forms of interim housing, such as congregate shelters.
The department also will close 13 Pathway Home motel sites by the end of next fiscal year, and use one-time funding sources to find housing for the people who must leave.
In all, the county is cutting nearly $200 million from programs, according to a budget report, with the remaining deficit closed by eliminating inefficiencies and securing other sources of funding.
Shawn Morrissey, vice president of advocacy with Union Station Homeless Services, said he understood the county’s difficult budget situation, but said the cuts approved Tuesday won’t come without damage.
“This will result in more people experiencing homelessness for longer periods of time and greater visibility in our communities,” he told supervisors. “As you move forward, we continue to urge you to restore as much funding as possible.”
The budget for the fiscal year that starts in July reflects the complicated nature of how homeless services are funded and run throughout the county.
For example, some programs could eventually be resurrected by other local government agencies.
The county’s homeless service budget is largely funded through Measure A, a half-cent sales tax voters approved in 2024 to get people off the streets.
The tax was an increase from the previous quarter-cent levy for homeless services, but much of the additional revenue flows to another newly established county agency, this one to build affordable housing, while the percentage going to the county for core homeless services remains largely the same.
The new entity, the Los Angeles County Affordable Housing Solutions Agency, also gets Measure A money to fund homelessness prevention programs, including rental assistance.
Furthermore, out of the $843-million homeless spending package the board approved Tuesday, nearly $100 million will flow directly to cities, local government councils and unincorporated areas to fund homeless programs in those places.
Mahin said some of the cuts made Tuesday could be backfilled by local jurisdictions or the new agency, while the county will scour for additional resources as well.
At the county level, staff previously predicted a budget deficit of $303 million, partly because Measure A was expected to bring in less revenue next fiscal year as the economy slowed and consumers spent less.
But the Department of Homeless Services and Housing said it received updated revenue projections last month that show the county should now bring in slightly more Measure A revenue, allowing it to fund 102 beds, some additional outreach teams and other services previously on the chopping block.
A significant portion of the budget hole can be attributed to rising costs.
As more permanent housing opens, more supportive services are needed.
Then there’s the interim housing system, which consists of shelters and other forms of temporary housing.
In 2025, the county increased the amount it would pay providers of interim housing beds, who long complained previous rates weren’t enough to operate sites.
Jerry Jones, executive director of an advocacy group representing nonprofit providers, said some of his members closed shelters because they couldn’t raise enough donations to plug the funding gap under the county’s old formula.
“They chose to finally adjust the bed rate,” Jones said of the county. “Not because they needed to be fair, but they were losing facilities.”
The county covered the increased bed rate this fiscal year using the general fund, but it is currently in a budget crisis, in large part because of a nearly $4.3-billion sex abuse legal settlement and a reduction in federal funding.
Folding the bed rate increase into the homeless budget cost more than $100 million, according to the county homeless department.
The coming reductions to some homeless programs could threaten the slight progress Los Angeles has made in getting people housed in recent years.
In 2025, there was about 72,000 people living on the streets or in shelters in L.A. County, 4.3% fewer than in 2023, according to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. Unsheltered homelessness — that is, people living on the streets — dropped 14%.
The county funding cuts also come as the federal government threatens to significantly reduce the support it provides for permanent housing.
Last year, county supervisors voted to set up a new homelessness department and remove money from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, after long-standing concerns that agency failed to properly guard against fraud and waste.
Supervisor Lindsey Horvath on Tuesday said she believes in the new department, but also urged it to be transparent on how money is being spent.
“These are difficult times and expectations on the department’s performance are high,” she said.
Times staff writers David Zahniser and Rebecca Ellis contributed to this report.
This story originally appeared on LA Times
