Los Angeles County supervisors voted 4-0 on Tuesday to lock in exactly how $69.5 million will be spent on housing assistance, jail diversion, job training and other programs designed to keep people out of custody. The money touches everything from motel vouchers for people facing homelessness to a long-promised step toward closing Men's Central Jail.
The report lists figures including $12.1 million for housing assistance such as motel and other housing vouchers, $11.6 million for jail diversion including housing and services, and $10 million for job training. Community-based youth development programs and community-based restorative justice programs each received $8.3 million, while $4 million went to the Justice, Care and Opportunities Department's rapid diversion program. The county also set aside $4.4 million for the Office of the Public Defender to run a court-based program connecting defendants with social workers and mental-health workers, and $2.6 million for the Department of Public Health's substance-abuse prevention efforts. The listed figures, including $11 million toward the eventual closing of Men's Central Jail, add up to $72.3 million, exceeding the stated $69.5 million total. The funding decision was initiated by Los Angeles County Chief Executive Officer Joseph Nicchitta, according to the same report.
Measure J's Rocky Road to This Vote
The spending plan exists because of Measure J, the 2020 ballot measure that 57% of county voters approved, according to the Los Angeles Times. The measure requires that at least 10% of the county's locally generated, unrestricted revenue be steered toward alternatives to incarceration, covering investments in housing and jail diversion.
That requirement nearly vanished. The Times reports that ballot language tied to a 2024 measure, Measure G, had the unintended effect of repealing Measure J. County officials have since moved to fix the error through Measure E, which the Times notes would ensure Measure J remains in effect. Accounts differ on how supervisors first acted to protect the funding: LA Public Press reported that four supervisors voted in favor of the July motion and Supervisor Kathryn Barger abstained, while LAist reported a 4-0 vote on a measure meant to continue uninterrupted the county's commitment to community investment and alternatives to incarceration.
Supervisors Defend the Approach
First District Supervisor Hilda Solis said the plan puts care first and jails last into practice by connecting people to treatment instead of custody, per the Daily News report. The outlet also noted that Second District Supervisor Holly Mitchell raised concerns that a large amount of care-first, jails-last funding had gone unspent in the past.
Adam Bettino, senior deputy director of the Justice, Care and Opportunities Department, said the unspent funds resulted from hiring delays and other contracting issues, the Daily News reported. He added that there are no delays once the board approves the spending plan, and county departments have received authority to use sole-source contracting to prevent similar holdups going forward.
A Pattern of Unspent Money
The concerns about idle funding aren't new. An audit conducted in February 2025 found $219 million in unspent Care First Community Investment funds, according to Knock LA. That June, the Board of Supervisors approved reallocating roughly $150 million of that unspent money, Knock LA reported, restructuring the funding process into a full $219 million Tier I pool and a shrunken $50 million Tier II pool.
Despite the stumbles, Measure J has generated more than $300 million in funding for programs aiming to reduce justice-system involvement since it passed, according to LA Public Press. The Times separately reported that the 10% allocation amounted to about $288 million in fiscal year 2025 alone. For context, the Los Angeles County Justice, Care and Opportunities Department notes that the very first year of funding, in 2020, brought an unprecedented $187.7 million spending package for community investments and incarceration alternatives.
Advocacy group JusticeLA has continued to push for more jail-diversion and alternatives-to-incarceration programs under Measure J's mandate, according to the Daily News. The group's Robyn Williams called for the closure of Men's Central Jail at a press conference in Los Angeles last year. The $11 million set aside Tuesday toward that eventual closure suggests county officials are, at least on paper, inching toward that goal.
