City Council

(13) 23-0148 HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS COMMITTEE REPORT relative to addressing factors within the Housing Authority of the City of Los Angeles’ (HACLA) control that cause delays in moving Emergency Housing Voucher (EHV) holders into permanent housing; and related matters. Recommendation for Council action, pursuant to Motion (Raman - Yaroslavsky): DIRECT the HACLA, with the assistance of the Los Angeles Homelessness Services Authority (LAHSA) and any other City departments, as needed, to report within 30 days, with a plan to address the factors within its control that cause the most significant delays in moving voucher-holders into permanent housing units. The report should specify the ways in which HACLA will adjust its internal processes and procedures to achieve improvements in the rate of voucher utilization and the speed with which voucher placements are made, including, but not limited to: Matching multiple clients, instead of only one, to each voucher. Processing and prioritizing the hundreds of voucher applications of clients who are awaiting EHVs but who are currently housed by service providers using time-limited subsidy funds. Consolidating voucher-holder document review, rent negotiation and unit inspection into one concurrent process rather than three sequenced processes. Allowing for greater flexibility on rent comps to expedite the rent negotiation process. Participating regularly in LAHSA's project-based Permanent Supportive Housing lease up meetings as a means of solving voucher process issues in a coordinated way, modeled on the Brynhurst pilot. Reporting to the Housing and Homelessness Committee on a regular basis until improvements are implemented and yielding results.