L.A. could lose $100M of federal funding

The city of Los Angeles could lose a substantial amount of federal funding, but Mayor Karen Bass is spending some of her Washington trip working to prevent it.

During a meeting with Secretary Marcia Fudge of the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Mayor Bass and six council members learned that the city of L.A. is at risk of losing more than $100 million in VA benefits, money that would help house homeless veterans in Los Angeles.

In an exclusive interview, the mayor told KNX News reporter Craig Fiegener that Congress wants to "claw back" the use-it-or lose-it funding to balance the budget, and saving it would require a legislative fix.

She said the meeting on Tuesday put that fix in motion, and not only is she aiming to keep the $100 million, she has her eyes set on securing even more money.

"In addition, we learned that many cities have not utilized their [housing] vouchers, so needless to say, I wanted to be first in line to make sure that L.A. gets any unused vouchers that other cities don't need," said Bass.

She said, "There should never be a situation where a veteran has to choose between veteran benefits and housing. You should be able to qualify for both."

The mayor said this trip was all about staying on the radar, and her campaign promise of leveraging relationships in Washington appears to be helping her do that.

Only time will tell if being well-liked on Capital Hill will result in money for Angelenos, but as Congressman John Garamendi sees it, "The programs are there, the money is there. The creativity to use it? Nobody has greater creativity and capability than Karen Bass."

Bass and the city council members will be in D.C. through Wednesday.

Correction: a previous version of this story erroneously stated that the issue arose during a meeting with Secretary Denis R. McDonough of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs. We regret the error.

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