LA Council considers liaison positions for homeless agency

The City Council voted Wednesday to explore creating liaison positions for the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in an effort to improve communication and collaboration.

The liaisons would be assigned to specific council districts, and provide offices with strategic communication, data and metrics, programmatic analysis, regional coordination and district-level knowledge and support.

The latest homeless count by LAHSA revealed 41,980 unhoused people in the city of Los Angeles, up 1.7% from 2020.

According to a motion by Councilwoman Nithya Raman, challenges in the relationship between LAHSA and city include inconsistencies in communication, gaps in knowledge at the district level, limits in data sharing and a “slower overall rate of progress addressing homelessness that the city desperately needs.”

She added that LAHSA lacks dedicated staff to facilitate communication between the agency and council offices regarding its operations, which has created a “disjointed approach across the city, with different council offices working with LAHSA to varying degrees on homeless strategies and interventions.”

The council sought for each liaison specifically to:

— expand capacity source information across internal departments at LAHSA, respond to urgent requests from council offices regarding client-level information and connect city partners with county support and vice versa;

— ensure standardized data and metrics are reported to council district offices;

— track performance of homeless services and programs at the council district level;

— collaborate with council office and mayor’s staff; and

— develop deep knowledge of stakeholders and the needs of unhoused people in their assigned council districts.

The council also voted to request that LAHSA release quarterly reports for one year following any place-based intervention.

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