Fraud Alarm Blasts LA — Funding Cut

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass has told a House subcommittee she will not show up to answer questions about more than $1 billion in federal homelessness money that may have been wasted or stolen.

Quick Take

A House subcommittee summoned Bass to testify September 15 about alleged fraud in Los Angeles homelessness spending.
Bass’s attorney says she has a scheduling conflict and cannot attend.
The federal housing agency already cut off funding to the city’s homeless authority over fraud concerns.
Bass’s allies call the investigation partisan, while the homeless agency denies any wrongdoing.

House Panel Demands Testimony Over Billions in Homeless Funds

The House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency sent Bass a letter on September 3, asking her to testify at a public hearing on September 15. Subcommittee Chairman Tim Burchett wants documents and communications tied to what he calls corrupt contracting inside the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, the agency that has received more than $1 billion in federal money since 2021.

Burchett’s letter accuses the homeless authority of self-enrichment schemes and grant-making abuses that let taxpayer money slip away without proper checks. The subcommittee wants to know what Bass’s office knew about the problems and when city officials first learned about them.

Mayor’s Office Cites Scheduling Conflict

Bass will not appear at the hearing. Her attorney, David Michaelson, wrote to Burchett saying she is “not available on that date”. City officials say they are still cooperating with the subcommittee’s request for records, even though the mayor herself won’t testify in person on September 15.

Bass has spoken about fraud concerns before. In an earlier statement, she said her administration has “zero tolerance for corruption” and was working with federal prosecutors to hold anyone who commits fraud against the city accountable. Critics say that promise has not matched what federal investigators later found inside the homeless authority’s books.

Federal Housing Agency Already Cut Off Funding

The dispute did not start with the subpoena. The Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended all federal funding to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority in June, after its inspector general opened a fraud investigation. A HUD official said the agency’s “failures have been so severe and pervasive” that the city could no longer be trusted to safely manage the money.

That freeze came after reports of vacant apartments funded by taxpayer dollars sitting empty while people remained on the street. The suspension turned an internal compliance problem into a bigger fight over who actually controls oversight of homelessness spending in Los Angeles.

Partisan Lines Harden Over Accountability

The homeless services authority denies any fraud or corruption and says it welcomes outside audits. Bass’s allies and other Democrats call the House probe partisan, arguing it’s really an attempt to justify cutting homelessness funding nationwide. Republicans counter that a billion taxpayer dollars deserve real answers, not a scheduling excuse.

🚨 NEW CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION

A House Oversight subcommittee has opened an investigation into the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s handling of federal homelessness funding.

Chairman Tim Burchett is demanding records from Mayor Karen Bass by September 14 and…

— FreedomFire1776 (@FreedomFire1776) September 3, 2026

Whichever side is right, the standoff feeds a frustration shared by voters across the spectrum: local leaders avoiding hard questions about where public money actually goes. Whether Bass eventually appears before Congress, or the fight drags on in court and in the press, taxpayers on the left and right are left waiting for a straight answer about a billion dollars meant to help people off the streets.