Bass in the Hot Seat: House Republicans Want Answers on LA's Billion-Dollar Homelessness Bonanza

Sep 03, 2026 9:09 PM
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Bass in the Hot Seat: House Republicans Want Answers on LA's Billion-Dollar Homelessness Bonanza
AP Photo/Jae C. Hong

Homelessness and endemic corruption have been two of the top stories of the year, and there’s plenty of both in Los Angeles. 

RedState’s Managing Editor Jennifer Van Laar and other journalists have shone an unwanted light on the huge sums spent by the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (a joint operation between LA City and LA County) and local and state authorities that didn't produce many — if any — positive results.

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Although this video is from 2025, I’ve been down to Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA) recently, and I can tell you the situation has not improved. It goes on for block after block:

The tweet from frequent Fox News contributor Dr. Houman David Hemmati continues:

Skid Row in downtown @LACity had always been bad but under @MayorOfLA @KarenBassLA it’s unbearably worse.

Read this entire thread by @MattFinnFNC to get a peek at the outrageously inhumane conditions and despicable animal cruelty happening in the open.

While they cite honest homeowners for having a fence that’s an inch too high or a dumpster provided by an “unapproved hauler,” the very same government officials look the other way when a humanitarian crisis is occurring in plain city, just steps from city hall.

The ENTIRE LA City government - minus @TraciParkforLA - should go immediately. @RecallBassNow

Now Republicans in Congress want some answers, and they want LA Mayor Karen Bass to provide them:

The US House is calling on Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass to testify over alleged “waste, fraud and abuse” involving more than $1 billion in federal homelessness funding funneled through the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), according to a letter obtained by The California Post.

The Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, led by Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), summoned Bass to a Sept. 15 public hearing titled “Fixing Fraud and Failure in Federally Funded Homelessness Services.”

The hearing is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Room 2154 of the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, DC.

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The subcommittee is also asking for specific communications between the mayor’s office, LAHSA, and the L.A. County Board of Supervisors going back to 2020. Meanwhile, the Trump administration pulled federal funding for the agency in June as the Department of Housing and Urban Development accused them of "obvious fraud" and "wanton mismanagement."

There are all sorts of red flags: LAHSA’s former top official, Va Lecia Adams Kellum, reportedly signed a $2.1 million contract and two other contract amendments with a Santa Monica-based nonprofit where her husband worked in senior leadership. She had said earlier that she had recused herself from that matter, but then claimed the documents ended up on her desk “inadvertently.”

Meanwhile, Carol Adelkoff, the CEO of 1736 Family Crisis Center, a contractor that has received tens of millions from LAHSA since 2021, received $1.6 million in total compensation over two years, according to tax filings — while living in Hawaii.

According to Burchett’s letter, LAHSA has received more than $1 billion in federal funding since 2021, including $220 million in 2024 alone. And yet, there are an estimated 73,040 homeless people in the county, with approximately 45,194 in the city proper.

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The $64,000 question is: will she show? My guess is no — the mayor will conveniently find she’s scheduled to attend an important event in Ghana or something. If she does, however, you can bet I’ll plop down on the couch with a can of cold beverage and enjoy the show.

Editor’s Note: Gavin Newsom, Karen Bass, and the “progressives” are ruining California.

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