LA Alliance for Human Rights Responds to Devastating Findings in Alvarez & Marsal Audit of Los Angeles’ Homelessness Programs

LOS ANGELES, CA – March 6, 2025 – Today, the Honorable Judge David O. Carter released the long-awaited Alvarez & Marsal (A&M) audit, exposing a deeply dysfunctional and mismanaged homelessness response system in Los Angeles. The findings are both alarming and damning, confirming what The LA Alliance for Human Rights has long argued: the City and County’s failure to act with focus and accountability has exacerbated the crisis on our streets. This audit validates the core allegations in LA Alliance’s landmark lawsuit against the City and County of Los Angeles, reinforcing the urgent need for systemic reform. The report reveals:

• A fractured, ineffective system plagued by poor oversight, lack of coordination, and negligible results.
• Severe financial mismanagement, leaving billions of taxpayer dollars vulnerable to fraud, waste, and abuse.
• Inaccurate and inconsistent data tracking, rendering housing, services, and funding efforts unreliable.
• A complete absence of accountability from the City, County, and LAHSA, making it impossible to assess the true impact of homelessness programs.

“These finding are not just troubling—they are deadly,” said Elizabeth Mitchell, Attorney for The LA Alliance for Human Rights. “The failure of financial integrity, programmatic oversight, and total dysfunction of the system has resulted in devastation on the streets, impacting both housed and unhoused. Billions have been squandered on ineffective bureaucracy while lives are lost daily. This is not just mismanagement; it is a moral failure.”

The A&M audit is just the latest in a growing body of evidence—from reports by the City Controller and the State Auditor to LA Alliance’s own investigations—exposing the systemic incompetence and waste within Los Angeles’ homelessness response. Los Angeles can no longer afford this dysfunction. The LA Alliance for Human Rights demands a full- scale overhaul of the homelessness system, including independent financial oversight, policy reforms, and a decisive shift toward solutions that deliver real, measurable outcomes.

“This crisis is not unsolvable—it is a matter of political will and public accountability,” added Mitchell.

“The time for excuses is over. The time for action is now.”