Liz Palomino is an interim housing coordinator at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority.
I’ve spent the last eight years helping unhoused people find stability and housing. Soon, I may lose both my job and my home.
As a unionized employee of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), a joint city-county agency, I never imagined I might have to rely on the same homeless system I’ve dedicated my career to improving. I’ve worked in social services since 2016 and homeless services since 2020. This work has never been just a paycheck to me – it’s personal. My mother experienced homelessness for more than a decade, and I know firsthand what housing insecurity feels like.
When the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted April 1 to pull county funding from LAHSA and create its own Department of Homeless Services and Housing, I was nervous but hopeful. The agency wasn’t being disbanded, though many staff stood to lose jobs that the county would no longer be funding. The motion promised to develop a plan to transition affected LAHSA workers into the new department. It sounded fair – a recognition that those of us already doing the work who have developed expertise should not be left behind.
But in the months that followed, that promise unraveled.
LAHSA staff were reassured repeatedly by county representatives that a well-thought-out transition plan was in the works. So despite layoffs and restructuring after the city of Los Angeles passed a revised budget in May that reduced its share of funding to LAHSA, I stayed focused on serving the interim housing sites I oversee and supporting the people enrolled in our programs.
Then came Oct. 24. During a LAHSA Commission meeting, Sarah Mahin, director of the county’s Department of Homeless Services and Housing, acknowledged that LAHSA staff would not be prioritized for positions in the new department. This contradicts months of messages we’d received from county leadership.
That moment broke something in us. Staff morale, low beforehand, found a new basement: Already carrying heavier workloads and facing burnout, we wonder how much longer we can hold on.
I don’t fault anyone for leaving LAHSA in these circumstances – and yes, some employees have left. We all have families, bills and other responsibilities. But each departure takes more than just a colleague; it takes a piece of the mission to improve outcomes, build trust and help our unhoused neighbors — the mission we at LAHSA have been holding onto desperately through so much uncertainty.
Then on Nov. 4, Supervisor Lindsey Horvath asked the county’s acting chief executive Joe Nicchitta for an update on the transition plan. His response made clear there is no real plan — that LAHSA employees may apply for positions in the new department, with no guarantee of employment.
That’s not a transition. That’s just applying for a job. The county’s dismissive actions risk dismantling years of progress and further destabilizing a workforce that has responded to L.A. County’s homelessness crisis through many upheavals.
We expect honesty, transparency and fairness. Most importantly, we expect a transition plan for LAHSA staff that guarantees us job security at the new county department, as we were led to believe. Yes, we’ve been told applications from LAHSA employees will be “flagged,” but how can anyone trust that this will work in our favor?
LAHSA staff have carried this system on our backs for years; we deserve a guarantee that we won’t have to reapply for our own jobs because of a political power grab. We are advocating for a transition that protects LAHSA bargaining-unit employees, ensures job preservation and guarantees that every employee moving into the new county structure maintains their pay, benefits and employee status with no displacement.
Besides, Los Angeles County cannot end homelessness by making some of the people doing the work homeless.