LA homeless services CEO to officially step down on Friday
The resignation of Va Lecia Adams Kellum came days after the L.A. County Board of Supervisors voted to strip LAHSA of more than $300 million and create a new county department of homelessness.
In a letter to the LAHSA Commission, Adams Kellum wrote it was the "right time" for her to step down after serving as head of the department since March 2023.
"I am incredibly proud of LAHSA's talented and dedicated staff and deeply grateful for their tireless work. I thank them and the Commission for the opportunity to serve as CEO and for our partnership in reducing homelessness in our region," Adams Kellum wrote in her resignation letter.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass credited Adams Kellum as the architect of Inside Safe, a program intended to address street encampments and bring people into temporary housing.
Under her leadership, the annual point-in-time homeless count showed there was a 4% decrease in homeless people across the county, while in the city of Los Angeles, there was a 3.4% drop.
The 2025 Greater Los Angeles Homeless Count showed that unsheltered homelessness in the county declined by 9.5% in 2025 compared to the prior year, and it has dropped by 14% over the last two years.
While the count showed a decline in homeless numbers, the board of supervisors felt more could be done. Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing is expected to "streamline services, break through bureaucracy, and deliver results across all 88 cities and unincorporated communities."
The LAHSA agency had come under fire when a recent federal court review faulted it for losing track of billions in taxpayer funds while failing to address the region's homelessness crisis. An audit revealed that LAHSA could not account for tens of millions of dollars.
The board of supervisors voted in April to essentially defund the joint city-county LAHSA and instead form its own department. In early July, Sarah Mahin was appointed as director of the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing. She served as the Director of Policy and Systems at LAHSA and coordinated services across a range of organizations and multiple county and city departments.
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