Trump blasts LA homeless agency’s ‘abysmal record’ in plan to slash nearly $400M in federal funds

The Trump administration plans to slash nearly $400 million in federal funding for homeless programs while taking aim at Los Angeles’ under-fire homeless-services agency for its “abysmal record.”

The White House’s budget proposal, released Friday, said that the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority has failed in its job to house homeless people.

“LAHSA has an abysmal record of reducing what is the highest number of street homeless individuals in the United States, and an independent audit issued in March 2025 found that the authority failed to accurately track billions of Federal and local dollars,” the proposal stated.

The administration plans to cut $393 million in federal homeless assistance while eliminating Continuum of Care, a program funded by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Nonprofits serving the homeless should focus on the poorest and most vulnerable individuals,” the budget proposal said. “However, investigations across the Nation have uncovered fraud and corruption among the existing network of homeless service providers.”

LAHSA has been a target of criticism from local lawmakers in recent years. LA Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez argued for the city to break away from the agency last month, describing the city’s relationship with LAHSA as a “merry-go-round from hell.”

The agency believes any lost funding will only damage its mission.

“Cutting this funding or destabilizing the Continuum of Care program would directly result in more tents on our streets, not fewer,” Gita O’Neill, the agency’s interim chief executive, told the Los Angeles Times.

“If anything, we need additional funding to cover rising costs, not fewer, to maintain our current momentum,” the agency added.

LA pours more than $1 billion a year into homelessness programs, though the city remains one of the most maligned over the crisis. Many have accused the city of misspending the funds, and its a constant target of criticism for its failures to quiet the concerns.

“We’re hemorrhaging money on a homelessness system that was never designed to succeed — and no one is being held accountable for the failure,” Rodriguez said.

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