LA Homeless Services Authority CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum resigns

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) CEO Va Lecia Adams Kellum announced her resignation on Friday just days after L.A. County voted to dial back its dependency on LAHSA by creating their own homeless services department.

In an interview with Eyewitness News, Adams Kellum said, "It was clear that many of the areas of work that have been our focus would likely be moving to the county."

"It seemed to me clear that it was an appropriate time for me to transition as CEO," she added.

Adams Kellum served as CEO for two years, which saw LAHSA experience great change in restructuring data and financial systems.

Homelessness in L.A. County also went down for the first time in years last year, and raw data showed promising results for the 2025 count.

But a series of audits, which included the first year of Adams Kellum's time as CEO, found waste in the city and county's homeless spending with money missing and services not tracked. This is part of the reason why L.A. County voted to create a new county-run homeless services department with more accountability.

Work on the new department is underway and will be completed by July 1, 2026.

"I am sad. It is a somber day for me because I care so much about the people who are hurting outside and hope that we will continue to focus the momentum we started in the last couple of years," said Adams Kellum. "I would have loved more time and I am proud of the work we did."

Adams Kellum said she's committed to a seamless handover and will stay on for a 120-day transition period or longer if needed.

"I am incredibly proud of LAHSA's talented and dedicated staff and deeply grateful for their tireless work," Adams Kellum said in a statement.

Mayor Karen Bass released a statement regarding Adams Kellum's resignation that read in part: "[Dr. Adams Kellum] helped us move the needle to save lives, restore neighborhoods and show that homelessness can be solved. She is an agent of change. I thank her for her work and wish her the best in all that she will do moving forward."

She added that Adams Kellum worked with the mayor's office to "create Inside Safe - the first and only citywide program to resolve entire encampments and bring people inside" and that "despite knowing that LAHSA was broken, she answered the call of service to serve as CEO because she knows that above all else, we must work to save lives."

Bass supported keeping the city and county partnership on homelessness in place and called the county's decision "disappointing."

She also said she worries the new county department will set progress back -- and the city of L.A. will have to see how it will respond to the change.

In a statement, councilmember Nithya Raman said, "Under Dr. Adams Kellum's leadership, we saw in the City the first signs of real progress in our homelessness response: a 10% drop in the number of people living on the street citywide and better data that allowed us to make improvements across the system."

"I deeply hope that this momentum won't be lost, because it would be the most vulnerable people - those on our streets - who would suffer," she added.

LAHSA has seen many leadership changes over the years.

After Mike Arnold served as executive director from 2009 to 2014, Peter Lynn took over as executive director from 2014 to 2019. Then, Heidi Marsten was executive director from 2020 to 2022, followed by Kristina Dixon and Molly Rysman serving as acting co-executive directors in 2022.

Then, Stephen David Simon served as interim executive director for one year before Adams Kellum took over in 2023.