The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority CEO announced her resignation Friday, following the LA County Board of Supervisors decision earlier this week to slash millions from the joint city-county agency’s budget and reposition hundreds of workers.
Va Lecia Adams Kellum is expected to exit her post after a 120-day or longer transition period, according to a letter she sent to LAHSA’s Board of Commissioners on Friday afternoon that was first reported by the Los Angeles Times.
“I am incredibly proud of LAHSA’s talented and dedicated staff and deeply grateful for their tireless work. I thank them and the commission for the opportunity to serve as CEO and for our partnership in reducing homelessness in our region,” Adams Kellum said in a statement to City News Service.
In her resignation letter, Adams Kellum said “now is the right time for me to resign as CEO” after county supervisors approved a recommendation Tuesday from the 2020 Blue Ribbon Commission on Homelessness, which calls for shifting key responsibilities from LAHSA.
The board advanced a proposal to create its own department to coordinate regional services to address homelessness, which effectively strips LAHSA’s funding. The agency has overseen such programs since 1993 but has drawn criticism as the homeless crisis persists.
Officials expect to establish the new county homelessness department by Jan. 1, with all funding pulled from LAHSA and transferred to the new department by July 1, 2026, according to Tuesday’s motion by Supervisors Lindsey Horvath and Kathryn Barger.
LAHSA has reported unsheltered homelessness is likely to decrease by 5% to 10% for the second year in a row, according to preliminary results from the 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. That would be the second consecutive year the region saw a decrease in unhoused residents after a six-year run of increases.
LAHSA is the lead agency that coordinates and manages federal, state, county and city funding for shelter, housing and supportive services for people experiencing homelessness within the Los Angeles Continuum of Care encompassing all cities in the area except Long Beach, Pasadena and Glendale.
The agency has drawn criticism, including recent scathing audits, for allegedly lacking transparency while spending millions without easing the homelessness crisis.
A 2024 audit by the LA County Auditor-Controller reported that LAHSA provided $50.8 million of Measure H funding to nonprofit service providers in the 2017-18 fiscal year without formal agreements to determine how and when the funds would be repaid. LAHSA has attempted to recoup those funds but as of July 8 has only recovered $2.5 million, or 5%.
Approximately $409,000 also was distributed to six recipients who no longer work with LAHSA. Agency officials allegedly misused funds by paying for services under another government funder’s contract or grant, according to county auditors.
The most recent audit of the agency, authorized by a federal judge and funded by the city of LA, found that LAHSA made it impossible to accurately track spending or the performance outcomes of its vendors.
Alleged ethics violations by Adams Kellum also surfaced after she approved a $2.1 million contract with her husband’s employer. She has denied any wrongdoing.
“Many long-standing issues with LAHSA and the rehousing effort stem from years of needed reform, and meaningful change takes time,” Adams Kellum wrote in her resignation letter. “Our work was guided by challenges we identified from the start — none of which were new revelations in audits that primarily reviewed the period before my tenure.”
LAHSA officials have disputed some of the audits’ findings, and the agency has begun efforts to improve transparency via 20 new data databases that better track available shelter beds, outcomes of services and other metrics.
The agency also highlighted updates to the contracting process and efforts to ensure timely payments to service providers. LAHSA also says it pioneered master leasing, which rents entire apartment buildings to house people experiencing homelessness significantly faster.
