What Happened
The council met on June 3, 2025, with 11-14 members present. The council confirmed Margarita de Lares (Lis) to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission (Item 21, CF 25-1200-S19) after extended questioning from Council Members Monica Rodriguez and Nithya Raman about LAHSA's data-sharing failures, an inoperable homeless-count app that remained under contract despite the malfunction, and the agency's relationship with a planned Los Angeles Housing Department Bureau of Homeless Oversight; de Lares, a 26-year affordable-housing veteran, said she would push for greater transparency and systems audits and was confirmed unanimously, 14-0.
Most other items passed without debate, including revenue bond authorizations for a Council District 5 facility acquisition at 5800 Wilshire Boulevard (Item 2, CF 25-0556) and the 56-unit Washington Crossing affordable housing project in Council District 10 (Item 3, CF 19-1275). No action was taken on the mayor's budget veto message (Item 18) because the Fiscal Year 2025-26 budget remained pending. Council Member Curren Price recused himself from Item 5 due to a potential conflict through his wife's employer.
Contested Votes
The council adopted, 12-1-2, the Housing and Homelessness Committee's Mid-Year Funding and Reconciliation Report and interim-housing bed rate increases (Item 5, CF 23-1348). Council Member Monica Rodriguez cast the lone no vote after questioning CAO staff and establishing that the rate increases, retroactive to January 1, were being funded by redirecting unspent Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant dollars from other eligible uses toward existing interim-housing services — money that, once shifted to general-fund-adjacent service costs, cannot be reallocated back toward standing up new shelter beds. Rodriguez said this "double hit" — rising per-bed service costs consuming HHAP funds that would otherwise fund new bed capacity — undermines the city's ability to meet its obligations under the Alliance for Human Rights settlement agreement, especially as the state's next HHAP round (Round 6) is funded at roughly $143 million citywide-and-countywide combined, down from about $164 million.
The council adopted, 10-4-1, a resolution from Council Members Heather Hutt and John Lee designating locations in Council District 10 for enforcement against sitting, lying, sleeping, or storing personal property in the public right-of-way under LAMC Section 41.18 (Item 13, CF 25-4118-S6). Council Members Eunisses Hernandez, Ysabel Jurado, Nithya Raman, and Hugo Soto-Martinez voted no; Raman's vote was corrected after a vote-button malfunction to ensure it was recorded.
Public Comment
Tenant organizers from the Los Angeles Community Action Network and residents of buildings recently purchased by Hope for an Affordable LA (formerly the Skid Row Housing Trust portfolio) delivered a letter demanding immediate restoration of on-site mail delivery and 24/7 tenant-protective security staffing across 15 occupied buildings, describing unlocked fire doors, pest infestations, and an assault on a resident; organizers said they would keep returning until conditions improved. A recently terminated emergency-appointed paramedic said the city had abruptly cut five EAP medics mid-shift despite an ongoing citywide paramedic shortage. Multiple cannabis-industry speakers, including social equity operators, urged the council to lower cannabis tax rates toward parity with alcohol and tobacco taxation, citing $280 million in city back taxes owed industry-wide and competition from an estimated 4,000 illegal dispensaries citywide. A speaker also alleged the mayor's office was improperly asserting authority over the city's Charter Reform Commission appointment process. Students from Council Member John Lee's youth leadership program spoke about the value of civic-engagement programming.