Los Angeles' homelessness system is taking another hit, as the regional agency in charge moves to cut ties with a major service provider caught in a swirl of financial trouble and federal scrutiny.
The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) said Tuesday it will terminate contracts with Home At Last Community Development Corp. after the nonprofit moved to close two interim housing sites and federal agents seized cash tied to the group's founder. LAHSA said it has already placed most of the roughly 181 residents from those shuttering sites into other shelter or housing and expects the terminations to take effect on July 22, 2026. The move adds to mounting federal and local questions over how taxpayer money is spent in the fight against homelessness in Los Angeles.
LAHSA Cancels Contracts
LAHSA said it is terminating Home At Last's contracts "for cause," accusing the provider of failing to perform contracted services after the nonprofit notified the agency it planned to shut down two temporary sites. The agency also disclosed that the IRS told LAHSA last month that federal agents had seized cash at an address linked to Home At Last founder Michael Young, that the money may be subject to criminal forfeiture, and that LAHSA might be able to claim some of those funds.
As reported by the Los Angeles Times, the contract termination is expected to become effective July 22. That timeline gives LAHSA a tight window to find replacement providers while the money trail gets picked over by investigators.
Founder Pay and Finances
Home At Last's 2024 tax filings show the nonprofit handling millions in revenue while reporting executive compensation for its leadership. Nonprofit data from ProPublica lists Michael Young's 2024 pay at about $156,659. The same filings flag conflict-of-interest transactions and spell out program revenue and expenses that have fed broader worries about oversight in Los Angeles' nonprofit homelessness sector.
Those disclosures help explain why LAHSA and federal authorities moved quickly once Home At Last announced the site closures and the IRS notice surfaced. With that much public money on the line, the combination of interim sites going dark and cash tied to the founder being seized was always going to trigger a hard pivot from funders.
Federal Scrutiny and Recent Prosecutions
The Home At Last situation is unfolding as federal prosecutors tighten their focus on how homelessness dollars are used in Southern California. In January, the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Central District of California charged the head of Abundant Blessings with allegedly diverting millions that were supposed to fund housing and services, according to a Department of Justice release.
At the same time, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development has suspended LAHSA's federal funding this month while its inspector general investigates, a development reported by NBC Los Angeles. Put together, these moves signal a far more aggressive posture from federal overseers toward Los Angeles' homeless services network.
What This Means for Residents
LAHSA said its priority was getting people out of limbo and into new placements. The agency says most of the roughly 181 people displaced from the two Home At Last sites have been rehoused, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Gita O'Neill, LAHSA's interim CEO, said in the agency's statement that the organization’s "absolute priority throughout this transition was the safety, stability, and well‑being of the unhoused residents," language pulled directly from LAHSA's release. The formal termination gives LAHSA roughly a month to lock in new providers while investigators and funders determine whether any of the seized cash ultimately finds its way back to taxpayers.
