To the editor: In April 2024, The Times reported that L.A. taxpayers had not been given a clear answer to where billions of dollars earmarked for homeless programs had gone. Now, a year later, an update of a court-appointed audit — posted on the website of U.S. District Judge David O. Carter and reported by The Times — has found that the city, and in particular the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, has been unable to track exactly how much it spent on homeless programs and whether services were even provided. Ineptitude, obfuscation, waste and possibly fraud. Finally, the L.A. County Board of Supervisors has voted to create a new county homeless department, which will ultimately control the funds generated by Measure A — the new half-cent sales tax for the homeless that we, the taxpayers, voted for in November (“County supervisors create new homeless agency, despite warnings from L.A. mayor,” April 1). LAHSA had its chance. If something doesn’t work, quit throwing money at it. The city and county can manage without this dysfunctional entity.
Susan Scheding, Mar Vista
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To the editor: We do not need a new homeless agency. We need to use every dollar allocated to buy the homeless a recreational vehicle, a motor home, a Home Depot tool shed turned into a cabin or another prefab unit. This absurd political attitude of creating agencies that monitor the number of the homeless — of salaried personnel walking around with a pad asking the homeless if they are OK — is how California and Los Angeles squandered millions. In 2023, there were just under seven homeless people dying a day in Los Angeles. This is “change?” What change?
Michele Castagnetti, Los Angeles