President Trump's budget, released Friday, calls for eliminating federal homeless housing funding and names the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority as justification, citing an independent audit from March 2025 that found the agency "failed to accurately track billions of Federal and local dollars." [1]
The budget document singles out LAHSA specifically among agencies administering the Continuum of Care program, which funds housing and services for homeless Americans nationwide. [1]
The White House cited "fraud and corruption" among local agencies as grounds for eliminating the program entirely. [1]
March 2025 Audit
The budget references an independent audit issued in March 2025. [1]
What that audit actually concluded, who commissioned it, and whether the phrase "failed to accurately track" referred to missing funds or inadequate documentation systems is not specified in the budget document. The word "fraud" does not appear to have been used by the auditors themselves.
The gap between "failed to track" in an audit and "fraud and corruption" in a presidential budget is the width of a legal standard.
LAHSA Response
LAHSA's interim chief executive Gita O'Neill stated that unsheltered homelessness in Los Angeles has fallen 15% under the agency's leadership. [1]
O'Neill reported that 90% of the program's funding goes directly to rental assistance. [1]
Whether LAHSA disputes the audit findings, accepted them, or had already begun implementing corrections before being named in a presidential budget document remains unclear. Whether the agency was contacted by the White House or HUD before publication is not addressed in available records.
The Program
The Continuum of Care program distributes federal funds to agencies across the country. [1]
No other agencies were named in the budget document as examples of mismanagement.
Trump stated at a private Easter lunch at the White House on Wednesday that the federal government should no longer be responsible for funding social programs. [1]
Congress appropriates Continuum of Care funding. The budget is a request, not a directive.
But the naming of LAHSA in a federal budget document, before any investigation or hearing, functions as something other than procedural. It is a target painted in ink that HUD, the city, and private partners will all read.
The budget does not specify whether HUD has opened a fraud investigation into LAHSA, or whether the agency was contacted before being named in the document. [1]
What remains is a public accusation in a budget line, an audit referenced but not reproduced, and an agency that serves 75,000 unhoused people now operating under a federal cloud with no clear path to rebuttal.
The budget will now move to Congress, where the allegation will either be investigated, ignored, or used as precedent for cuts elsewhere.
