LA homelessness fraud cases expose deeper problem than stolen millions, oversight hawk warns
One suspect nonprofit took more than $75 million. Prosecutors say some of it bought a nightclub.
Summary
- Fox News reports federal prosecutors charged three defendants Wednesday in separate Los Angeles homelessness-fraud cases involving alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, including money allegedly spent on a nightclub and adjacent bingo hall and bribes tied to fake housing referrals.
- Los Angeles' homelessness agency paid one of the suspect nonprofits more than $75 million, according to federal prosecutors. Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, told Fox after a House Oversight hearing on federally funded programs in Los Angeles, Seattle, and elsewhere that the people getting upward mobility appear to be the people running the programs.
- Cloud said government too often judges success by how much money goes out the door instead of whether spending helps people or has safeguards, describing the system as incentivized for fraud. He said some programs keep a person in a cycle of dependency so a program manager has job security.
- He pointed to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass stepping down from the LAHSA commission as Democrats resist controls. He described a funding philosophy that prioritizes placement with less immediate regard for sobriety or mental-health treatment.
Commentary
A shop dad still counts a payroll on a kitchen table and knows a shelter check is supposed to buy a cot, not a nightclub. He did not clock a double so a $75 million nonprofit could light a bingo hall on his levy.
Three defendants. Seventy-five million. Fake referrals. A nightclub. The linoleum in that LAHSA hallway still sticks. The honest household already bought the overtime for the agents who finally filed the charges.
Look every working father who still steps over a sidewalk tent after a night shift in the eye and answer this: if a homelessness pot already bought a nightclub, who still owns the next LA file a program desk left open?
Comments
$75 million. Nightclub. Fake referrals. Keep the three.
I stood a gate so a shelter check still meant a cot. A bingo hall is not housing.
Cloud. Three defendants. Bass off the commission. Print the three.
Allied cities still treat a grant as a ledger, not a vibe.
Incentivized for fraud. Dependency as job security. File both.
I still step over a tent at 2 a.m. I want the next dollar to buy a bed that exists.
A nightclub on a shelter invoice is not charity. It is a warning the street already paid.
A fake referral is a second border around every honest till.
Fox printed $75 million, the nightclub, and Cloud. Argue those nouns.
Honor the charge. Kill the next pot. A bingo hall is not a souvenir.
