Records show the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority continued sending public money to a nonprofit its own compliance team had already flagged as "High-Risk."
The agency approved at least $3.5 million in 2024 contracts for Abundant Blessings even after a delinquency notice cited "significant concerns," LAist reported.
Here's what to know
Records reviewed by LAist show the agency kept renewing and adding to Abundant Blessings' contracts after finding the nonprofit had not met basic obligations under multiple agreements.
Alex Soofer, who led the nonprofit, was charged with fraud. Prosecutors allege he diverted at least $10 million in homelessness money routed through the agency to Abundant Blessings and a separate for-profit business, Abundant Blessings From Above. They say the spending included a $7 million house, a Range Rover, private-school tuition, private-jet trips, and stays at luxury resorts. Soofer has pleaded not guilty.
Amy Williams, the agency's former director of compliance, told LAist that the warning signs were not treated "with the gravitas that it needed." Records show the nonprofit kept billing on one contract despite having "no enrolled participants to provide rental assistance to."
More background
The funds are supposed to help vulnerable residents staying at motels in El Sereno and Boyle Heights, including paying for meals, security, and welfare checks.
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Prosecutors allege that in June 2024, residents were served instant ramen in violation of the contract while Soofer and his family spent more than $100,000 on personal expenses.
The amount prosecutors say Soofer diverted, LAist reported, could have funded roughly two years of housing assistance for around 200 families in a city-funded rental subsidy program through LAHSA.
Federal auditors found the agency took about eight months to notify federal funders after it had credible evidence of possible crimes, even though the law requires prompt disclosure.
What's being done?
The agency says it has started reorganizing internally. LAHSA spokesperson Ahmad Chapman told LAist, "At the time, LAHSA's structure hindered internal communications regarding Abundant Blessings, leading to an errant contract recommendation."
It said it consolidated departments and added procedures meant to ensure high-risk providers are flagged agency-wide and with key funders.
External pressure is mounting, too. LAist reported that county supervisors have moved to take county homelessness funding away from the agency and manage it themselves, while federal officials announced a suspension of federal dollars to the agency before a judge temporarily paused it.
Multiple elected officials are calling for wider changes to compliance, finance, and contracting.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Janice Hahn described the lapse as a failure of coordination. "It sounds like the right hand didn't know what the left hand was doing," Hahn told LAist.
"It is decisions like this that have undermined the public's trust in LAHSA and why my colleagues and I made the decision to pull the County's funding."
Where can I learn more?
The following articles look at related strains around nonprofits, public accountability, and the way funding decisions ripple through vulnerable communities. They don't track the LAHSA allegations point for point, but they do show how housing efforts, legal oversight, and major public commitments can influence trust in institutions.
• In Massachusetts, a land trust made a bold move to address housing shortages while conserving land.
• In Minnesota, an environmental group launched a legal battle against cities over data center transparency.
• In Pakistan, a multimillion-dollar initiative began to combat a dire obstacle threatening farms and vulnerable communities.
• At ClientEarth, leaders say litigation can change the rules of corporate environmental decision-making.
• U.S. officials confirmed they were rescinding a massive international climate funding pledge as others stepped in.
Read side by side, they offer a wider view of what can happen when governments and nonprofits make big decisions in the name of the public. That context helps explain why questions about contracting, transparency, and stewardship are drawing such intense scrutiny in Los Angeles.
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