Mayor Karen Bass stepping down from LA Homeless Service Authority commission
LOS ANGELES (CNS) -- Mayor Karen Bass will formally step down Thursday as a member of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Commission, the governing board overseeing the agency's budgetary, funding, planning and program policy decisions.
The Mayor's Office said in a statement Tuesday that Bass will be appointing a new appointee to fill her spot. In an interview last week, Bass told KFI's Gary and Shannon she would be leaving the LAHSA Commission due to scheduling conflicts and other time constraints.
"The mayor's first-hand experience at LAHSA reinforced her understanding that our current system is broken and in need of major overhaul, which is why she is developing a transition plan to build a city-led homelessness response system committed to delivering results for the city of Los Angeles," according to a statement from the Mayor's Office.
Bass told KFI Friday in a live interview that she appointed herself to the commission to learn much more about homelessness and the agency.
Bass said she was resigning because of "time and all."
"And I came to the conclusion that the city needs to have its own system," she said.
Bass faced criticism last week after LAist reported that she skipped more than half of LAHSA Commission meetings since she appointed herself to the board in 2023. Bass missed 13 out of 21 LAHSA meetings held over a year, which was above four absences that could trigger removal under LAHSA's bylaws, according to LAist.
The mayor had appointed herself for a three-year term on the commission that expired June 30, but she remained on as a member as of Tuesday.
LAHSA has come under scrutiny from city and county elected officials. Los Angeles County earlier this year began a homelessness department and moved $300 million in taxpayer dollars away from LAHSA to support its new agency.
LAHSA has been criticized for its alleged failure and mismanagement of taxpayer dollars. The Trump administration has attempted to suspend LAHSA from tapping into millions of dollars from the U.S. Housing and Development.
The Los Angeles City Council and Bass are exploring a potential plan to separate from LAHSA.
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