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The L.A. nonprofit HOPICS received $140 million in public funding to support housing for the homeless. Unfortunately, the organization faced challenges with rent payments, leading to some clients returning to homelessness. As a consequence, 306 individuals lost their taxpayer-funded homes in South Los Angeles.
Although more than half of these individuals were relocated to permanent or temporary housing, there remains ambiguity surrounding the circumstances of 119 people, as HOPICS and Los Angeles housing authorities did not provide information about their situation after the housing loss.
The predicament arose due to the Homeless Outreach Program Integrated Care System (HOPICS), a nonprofit inundated with a sudden surge of emergency COVID funds during the pandemic.
To implement this initiative, HOPICS engaged intermediary organizations, many of which were recently established nonprofits, to secure accommodations for the unhoused.
However, HOPICS encountered issues in timely payments to these intermediaries. They attribute the delays to the need for thorough scrutiny and approval of rent bills received from landlords they had selected to collaborate with. Additionally, HOPICS claims that some of the invoiced charges appeared questionable, contributing to the payment delays.
“The notion that we just don’t pay, it’s just absurd,” she said. “We want to be good stewards of public funds,” said HOPICS Director Veronica Lewis.
Lewis mentioned that her organization's payment delays might occur due to their efforts in confirming their clients' residency in the respective housing units.