05/05/2026
Funding cuts have already begun to cause significant changes within homeless services.
This trend has led Shawn Pleasants, Chair of LAHSA’s Lived Experience Advisory Board, to worry about the future of this critical work. In an interview with CalMatters.org, he warns that people like himself, “who have worked hard to thrive in supportive housing, will be retraumatized by housing insecurity because we can’t afford increasing rents. Too many others will remain on or return to the streets, disconnected from family, friends, their past lives, and the futures we all hope to see.”
Shawn, like many employees and clients of homeless services, is looking to the State of California to fill in the gaps so that progress in reducing homelessness across Los Angeles and the state can continue. Homelessness has decreased over the past two years but sustaining that progress is extremely difficult without adequate resources. Thank you, Shawn, for continuing to share the often unheard truths of people experiencing homelessness. To read more about this story, click the link below.
https://calmatters.org/commentary/2026/04/funding-cuts-homelessness-california-budget/