LAHSA Commission Empowers Administrative Oversight Team To Assume Direct Management and Contract Oversight

At a special meeting this afternoon, the Commission of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority voted to give the administrative oversight team appointed by the L.A. County Chief Administrative Officer and the City of L.A. Mayor’s Office direct management and contract oversight.

Here is the motion that was distributed at the meeting, and approved by the commission. Some of the wording was changed during the commission discussion so part of the actual bullet points below may not be exact wording:

MOTION

The LA City Controller and the LA County Auditor-Controller issued their final report in early August, which detailed LAHSA’s serious financial and contracting problems. Co-mingling of federal dollars was cited, and a significant amount of unpaid invoices were identified along with other fiscal management deficiencies. Since that time, this Commission took action to respond to the grave concerns raised. At the advice of our Executive Director, an outside accounting firm was hired to provide assistance, and a fiscal oversight committee was established to receive progress reports on a weekly basis. An administrative team composed of LA County and LA City staff was also deployed to monitor progress and provide assistance.

Our problems were disclosed in detail to the US Department of Housing and Urban Development. After a third meeting with HUD, their representatives asked for a plan of action and imposed a deadline of September 30, 2005, to resolve all critical issues identified.

It is clear to me that this Commission needs to take further action to put LAHSA on a track that will inspire confidence from HUD, the LA County Board of Supervisors, the LA City Mayor and the LA City Council.

I THEREFORE MOVE that the LAHSA Commission invite and empower the administrative oversight team appointed by the LA County Chief Administrative Officer and the City of Los Angeles Mayor’s office to:

* Assume direct management and contract oversight over the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, through at least December 31, 2005, or until all fiscal and contract management issues are resolved to the satisfaction of the LAHSA Commission with the consultation of the LA County Board of Supervisors, the LA City Mayor and the LA City Council.

* Instruct the Executive Director to report to the County/City administrative oversight team, and

* Request that the County/City team provide bi-monthly progress reports to this Commission as to progress made.

I FURTHER MOVE that the LAHSA Commission:

* Send a letter within seven business days to HUD, the LA County Board of Supervisors, the LA City Mayor and the LA City Council, outlining this action taken by our Commission, and clearly stating our unequivocal goal of doing whatever is necessary to restore the integrity of LAHSA.