Employees at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) are facing layoffs, a spokesperson for LAHSA confirmed.
In total, 11 staff members received layoff notices earlier this year, according to Ahmad Chapman, LAHSA’s director of communications. The homeless services agency currently has more than 750 people on staff.
Chapman declined to specify the job titles of the affected employees.
“To respect the affected staff’s privacy, we will not be releasing the job titles at this time,” he said.
Chapman attributed the layoffs to “deficits” in last year’s budget and not their more recent financial hurdles.
In April, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to move hundreds of millions of dollars away from LAHSA to create their own homeless services agency. Last year, county funding represented roughly 40 percent of LAHSA’s annual budget.
On May 21, Keisha Douglas, LAHSA’s deputy chief talent officer, sent out a company-wide email urging staff members to “voluntarily separate” in order to avoid layoffs. The email was leaked to L.A. TACO by an anonymous source who previously worked for LAHSA.
“In an effort to minimize the impact of involuntary layoffs among various employees and departments, LAHSA is informing all employees (those who may be impacted by layoffs and those who might not) to evaluate and consider whether voluntary separation from employment with LAHSA is a practical choice based on your near-term career plans, especially for those employees who are planning for retirement or a change in employment within this calendar year,” Douglas wrote.
Chapman told L.A. TACO that “LAHSA’s Memorandum of Understanding with its union requires the agency to send an email requesting volunteer separations in the event of layoffs.” He added that “LAHSA is currently working with the 11 staff members to place them in similar roles within the agency. However, in order to be compliant with the MOU, LAHSA needed to send the email in case that does not occur.”
A representative for SEIU 721, the union that represents LAHSA employees, told L.A. TACO that the notice abides by their union contract with LAHSA.
“Bargaining over the effects of any layoff is part and parcel of our LAHSA union contract but make no mistake—we will hold LAHSA accountable to every aspect of it,” said David Green, SEIU 721’s president and executive director, in a written statement to L.A. TACO. “Our union will vehemently defend our LAHSA members from layoff impacts with every tool at our disposal.”
In her email, Douglas cited “organizational and budgetary changes” as the reason for why LAHSA needs to reduce the size of their staff.
According to Douglas’ email, employees who “voluntarily separate” will be eligible to receive a “cash-out of any unused vacation time in accordance with LAHSA policy and may elect to continue their health benefits through COBRA at their own expense, as provided by law.”
“Please know that LAHSA is doing everything possible to preserve as many positions as we can and minimize the number of employees affected by this reduction,” Douglas continued. “By notifying all staff in our organization about our current situation and allowing each employee to decide whether voluntary separation aligns with their upcoming career or retirement plans, we hope to reduce the need for involuntary layoffs and provide employees with an option to make decisions that work best for their personal and professional needs.”
If enough staff members do not elect to “voluntarily separate” within 15 days, Douglas warned employees in her email that LAHSA would have to proceed with “the implementation of layoffs on June 30, 2025, as previously noticed to affected employees.”
Douglas explained that layoffs would be implemented on a “reverse-seniority basis,” meaning that employees with the least amount of time on the job would be impacted first.
“However, LAHSA retains the discretion to exempt employees from layoff to retain critical employees whose specialized skills, training, or expertise are essential to ongoing operations,” Douglas clarified.
“We understand the uncertainty this situation creates and assure you that LAHSA is committed to handling this process as fairly, transparently, and compassionately as possible,” she concluded.
