Homeless service providers worry that funding cuts will reverse the city’s progress on homelessness

This month, six of Los Angeles County’s homeless service providers, includingHomeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System (HOPICS),LA Family Housing,the People Concern,PATH Home,St. Joseph’s Center andUnion Station Homeless Services, releaseda new report that warns how cuts from city, county, state and federal budgets could set Los Angeles back when it comes to reducing homelessness.

The report titled “Los Angeles Homelessness Response Stands at a Crossroads” states that the frontline effects of budget cuts are immediate and devastating for both service providers and the thousands of people experiencing homelessness in L.A. County.

Homelessness in L.A. County declined for the second consecutive year, according to results from the2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count. The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which oversees the annual count, concluded that there were 72,308 people experiencing homelessness countywide – including 43,699 in the City of L.A. That marks a 4% drop across the county and a 3.4% decrease in the city compared to last year's count.

Ryan J. Smith, president of St. Joseph Center, a homeless service agency that provides a continuum of homeless services and specializes in behavioral health care in South Central L.A., said that despite these great numbers in homelessness decline, service providers worry that without additional investment into homeless services in L.A.,  the county might actually fall back into higher-than-expected homelessness rates. 

“We are excited about the decrease in homelessness and we need to honor that because there are things we need to celebrate, particularly in our movement to end homelessness here in L.A. County, yet tectonic changes are happening in the homeless service sector, “ he said. “We've seen many of our municipal agencies, like the county and the city, suffer from budget cuts and structural deficits that have absolutely impacted our work.”  

Funds

The report explains that despite tax funding allocators likeMeasure H andMeasure A, a half-cent county sales tax that would help create a permanent funding source for reducing homelessness and building more affordable housing, the tax increase will not mitigate the funding costs from the state and city.   

Kelvin Driscoll, chief executive officer of HOPICS, explained that this is because the landscape and economy have changed since 2017, when Measure H was approved. 

Today, there's an increased number of people now housed and supported, but the rising costs of delivering services are also greater. 

“We see progress when, as a county, we put resources where our values are and to sustain decreases in homelessness, you have to fund the folks who are doing the work. There is no way you can provide their services and continue to ask us to bring people inside at the same rate that we have been able to do over the last couple of years,” Driscoll said. 

The report states that 80-90% of funding comes from the local and federal government, with only 10-20% from philanthropy. “Broader pressures on philanthropy from demands to support public media, scientific research, global aid and disaster recovery after this year's wildfires create deep uncertainty about how much will be left for homelessness in the years ahead,” it reads. 

(HOPICS), LA Family Housing, the People Concern, PATH Home, St. Joseph’s Center and Union Station Homeless Services said they have all begun seeing the effects of the looming budget for the housing infrastructure in L.A. 

Leslie Giron, senior director for housing at St. Joseph Center, explained how getting clients into stable and affordable housing has become much more difficult.Application for Section 8, a federally funded program that provides rental assistance to low-income families, is currently on pause in L.A. due to federal funding reductions with theHousing Authority of the City of Los Angeles (HACLA). Since March, this has affected new applications and the processing of existing ones for voucher issuance.

“Currently, right now, without an HCV (Housing Choice Voucher) voucher or Section 8, which is currently completely stopped, there's nothing. Meaning that at this point, we're not able to open any more slots for new clients to come in because we still have so many clients that do not have permanent housing,” she said. “The only way we are able to take in new clients is if someone who we are already helping passes away and that is such a sad reality.” 

John Maceri, the chief executive officer of the People Concern, said the negative impact due to the cuts is not just going to be felt in the inability to get people off the streets. It will be felt throughout the system, including mental health services, interim housing, prevention, stabilization and permanent housing. 

“The entire system is going to be bottlenecked,” he said. “Without adequate funding, we will not be able to take any new clients; we are not going to be able to keep people who are currently housed and the people in interim housing are going to be languishing in temporary living situations for a longer period of time because there's not going to be an exit strategy for them.”

Immigration 

In response to increased immigration apprehensions in L.A. and other cities in the United States, homeless service providers have expressed the chilling effect on many of their immigrant clients. Last week,in a 6-3 decision, the Supreme Court sided with the Donald Trump administration,ruling that federal immigration officers may briefly detain and question individuals about their legal status solely based on appearance, speaking Spanish or frequenting known day laborer gathering spots. 

“There's no doubt that the recent ICE activity has had a chilling effect on people's willingness and ability to seek services,” Maceri said. “We have seen this at our access centers and at any of our public service facilities across the county, where people are cautious and many reluctant because they don't want to interface in any way with ICE.” 

Giron said she also worries, today more than ever, about the Latino immigrant families of L.A. that are housing insecure, as many of them do not qualify for federal assistance programs due to their immigration status. 

“At this point, these individuals are pretty much staying in a loop where they are not getting any support, and obviously, with the ICE raids also at an all-time high, they are unable to work. We worry that soon more families will end up on the streets. 

Despite this, Maceri said they try to adapt to the community's needs and comfort level, especially in times of increasing federal agent activities. 

“As an organization, we have been committed and will remain committed to serving our entire community regardless of their status and we've been very clear about that,” he said.

For Smith, it is not just the services for homelessness that he worries about, but also the cuts to staff and the looming layoffs. 

“Service providers, case workers, are the folks who have dedicated their careers to ensuring that we move the needle on the issue of housing, and yet our staff have been impacted. We are seeing layoffs across our sector and we are hearing from the county that we need to prepare for even deeper cuts next year,” he said.

Olympics 

The upcoming global events, such as the2026 World Cup and the2028 Summer Olympics, are also points of concern for these service providers, all of which are located in Black and Brown neighborhoods.  

They believe the encampment sweeps and the clearing of unhoused residents from public view are shortsighted and harmful. 

“With outreach and shelter capacity shrinking due to cuts, sweeps will not move people into housing. Instead, they will shuffle residents from street to street or in and out of jail, increase trauma, drive up enforcement costs and worsen community tensions,” they stated in the report. 

According to Smith, the upcoming games are an opportunity for both the city and the county to set an example of how homelessness should be treated and cared for, after all, in places that will host games and tourists. 

“This is the time for L.A. to stand up and fight for our unhoused neighbors, and we're going to do it with dignity and compassion, no matter where pressures are coming from,” he said.

Cristina Nieto, associate director of contracts, compliance and performance at HOPICS, said she wishes there would be more partnership and open communication between service providers and the city when it comes to the Olympics and their housing plans. 

“I think that we are being left out of the conversation when it comes to the Olympics,” she said. “We need collaboration to have an opportunity to get it right and to make sure it's a positive impact for the people who are still left in the community even after the Olympics leave.”

L.A. County is dedicating$908 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year to address homelessness. This funding is allocated to homelessness prevention, outreach, interim and permanent housing, support services and encampment response, with $656 million coming from Measure A and $209 million from unspentMeasure H funds. 

“We see progress when we put resources where our values are. At the end of the day, to sustain decreases in homelessness, you have to fund the folks who are doing the work,” Smith said. 

Giron said she believes all housing service providers wish to meet the expectations put on the table for them, but in recent months, it has been harder to do so. 

“The city and county continue to ask us to bring people inside, the way we've been able to do over the last couple of years, but homelessness in L.A. needs resources …because we are committed to this work, but we want to make sure that we can continue the momentum, and for that, we need support.”

Read the full report here.