The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission voted in Los Angeles County Supervisor Lindsey Horvath as its chair Friday.
Horvath will head the Commission for the next year as LAHSA seeks to align with the City and County of Los Angeles, partner agencies, and service providers to address the homelessness crisis in Los Angeles.
“As the author of LA County’s homelessness emergency declaration and in partnership with Mayor Bass and our regional leaders, I am honored to take up the gavel as the next Chair of LAHSA. We must use our seats of power to do absolutely everything we can to center the experiences of unhoused people in our work and to drive effective and efficient service delivery across the region,” Horvath said. “We have serious work ahead of us to strengthen the impact and accountability of LAHSA as we continue the critical work of housing those who are living on our streets while also acting urgently to prevent more Angelenos from falling into homelessness.”
Commissioner Wendy Greuel, who will serve as vice chair of the Commission, said she had been encouraged by the changes LAHSA has made in the past few months under the leadership of new CEO Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum and with Horvath serving on the Commission.
“Los Angeles' homeless rehousing system has grown a great deal in recent years, but the collaboration and interconnectedness we’re seeing now is what we’ve needed for a long time to really move the needle on homelessness,” Greuel said. “Supervisor Horvath has already provided a great deal of leadership with the county and on this Commission, and she’s well positioned to steer us toward addressing the homelessness crisis.”
Dr. Va Lecia Adams Kellum said it’s clear Supervisor Horvath is committed to solving homelessness in Los Angeles and she’s looking forward to working closely on new and novel life-saving solutions.
“I’m so excited to link arms with Supervisor Horvath to create sustainable solutions to homelessness in Los Angeles,” Dr. Adams Kellum said. “The leadership of our City and County has never been so united and focused on accomplishing one task: ending homelessness.”
Supervisor Horvath was elected to the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on November 8, 2022, and assumed office on December 5, 2022, making history as the youngest woman ever elected to Board. She is the first millennial and, currently, the only renter to serve on the Board.
In her first weeks in office, Supervisor Horvath authored Los Angeles County's homelessness emergency declaration and appointed herself to the LAHSA Commission to increase regional accountability. Supervisor Horvath also serves as a member of the Metro Board and the Clean Power Alliance.
Before being elected to the Board of Supervisors, she served as a city councilmember and the longest consecutively-serving mayor for the City of West Hollywood.
About LAHSA
LAHSA is a joint powers authority (JPA) of the city and county of Los Angeles, created in 1993 to address the problem of homelessness in Los Angeles County. LAHSA is the lead agency in the HUD-funded Los Angeles Continuum of Care, and coordinates and manages federal, state, county, and city funds for programs providing shelter, housing, and services to people experiencing homelessness. As a JPA, LAHSA’s Commission chair position alternates annually between a commissioner appointed by the city and a commissioner appointed by the county.