{"id":40210,"date":"2026-08-12T06:22:18","date_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:22:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40210"},"modified":"2026-08-12T06:22:18","modified_gmt":"2026-08-12T01:22:18","slug":"trump-agency-heads-rip-l-a-homeless-agencies-and-endorse-faith-based-alternatives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=40210","title":{"rendered":"Trump agency heads rip L.A. homeless agencies and endorse faith-based alternatives"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-element=\"story-body\" data-subscriber-content=\"\">\n<p>As a federal judge weighs whether to block the Trump administration\u2019s suspension of the region\u2019s lead homelessness agency, two members of the president\u2019s cabinet came to in Los Angeles to plead their case.<\/p>\n<p>At a press conference Tuesday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. excoriated the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority as an agency beset by mismanagement and abuse.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOur aim is that LAHSA does not receive another dollar until it has accountability,\u201d Turner said, framed by American flags and jumbo TV screens blaring the words \u201cCancel Corruption.\u201d <\/p>\n<p>As an example of money wasted by LAHSA\u2019s lack of financial controls, Turner cited the recent <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-01-23\/la-homeless-services-fraudster-enjoyed-l-authorities-charge\">federal indictment<\/a> alleging a homeless services provider fleeced the system of $23 million in fraudulent billings.<\/p>\n<p>Kennedy said his agency is rooting out \u201cbillions and billions of dollars\u201d of Medicare fraud inherited from the Biden administration.<\/p>\n<p>Their appearance fell on the day U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter was expected to issue a ruling in a <a class=\"link\" href=\"https:\/\/www.latimes.com\/california\/story\/2026-07-24\/l-a-s-homeless-authority-is-in-fight-for-its-survival\">lawsuit filed by LAHSA<\/a> challenging HUD\u2019s suspension that prevents the agency from filing applications, due August 26, for about $240 million in federal homelessness funds on behalf of service providers across the region. In a follow-up letter, HUD said that because LAHSA was suspended, those providers would have to apply directly to HUD.<\/p>\n<p>LAHSA\u2019s lawsuit alleges that the suspension was a pretext for HUD\u2019s plan to overhaul homeless policy. The administration wants to spend more on recovery-based transitional housing and less on programs known as housing first, which provide permanent subsidized housing with no pre-conditions or requirement to receive treatment.<\/p>\n<p>A federal court in Rhode Island has blocked the funding shift for now, ruling that HUD made the changes in its 2025 funding offer without a required review process. On Friday, the same judge set aside HUD\u2019s 2026 funding offer, an action that may invalidate the August 26 deadline that is driving the Los Angeles case.<\/p>\n<p>Asked about the lawsuit during questioning, Turner said, \u201cWe\u2019re working on that right now,\u201d then shifted to a brown lunch bag pulled from the lectern from which he extracted several items. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis is a bag that I learned they\u2019re giving our homeless neighbors with American taxpayer dollars,\u201d he said. \u201cThis is drug paraphernalia that\u2019s in this bag. This brown bag that\u2019s handed to people, homeless people addicted to drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bag, he said, was an example of why the administration considers housing-first a failed model.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe playbook that they\u2019ve been running, that\u2019s a bad playbook,\u201d Turner said.<\/p>\n<p>Both Turner and Kennedy endorsed faith-based recovery programs as alternatives prefered by the administration over housing first.<\/p>\n<p>To underscore the message they held the press conference at the LA Dream Center, a former hospital converted into a faith-based residential treatment center, touting it as an example of the type of program the Trump administration backs as a more effective solution to homelessness than expensive permanent housing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI\u2019ve been to about nine or ten faith-based agencies that help out homeless neighbors around the country, that do tremendous work and have results, real results,\u201d Turner said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s what HUD is about. We\u2019re about funding results, not just funding the amount of people that are in beds.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As he left, Turner gave a brief faith-laced pep talk for a group of young Dream Center residents in the audience.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe Lord got your back,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As a federal judge weighs whether to block the Trump administration\u2019s suspension of the region\u2019s lead homelessness agency, two members of the president\u2019s cabinet came to in Los Angeles to plead their case. At a press conference Tuesday, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Secretary Scott Turner and Health and Human Services Secretary Robert&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":40211,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ca-times.brightspotcdn.com\/dims4\/default\/f31d6ef\/2147483647\/strip\/true\/crop\/6000x3150+0+425\/resize\/1200x630!\/quality\/75\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F34%2F58%2Fd3c5c9e14c1482c55dcff9ac09f5%2Ftrump-7566.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40210","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-hub"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40210","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=40210"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40210\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/40211"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=40210"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=40210"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=40210"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}