Margarita Lares, chief packages officer for the Housing Authority of Los Angeles, to a fee overseeing the joint metropolis and county homeless company. Council members voted unanimously to approve Lares for a spot on the Los Angeles Homeless Companies Authority Fee, for a time period that’s scheduled to finish on June 30, 2026.
She’s going to fill a emptiness left by the departure of Melissa Chincilla. Lares will be a part of Mayor Karen Bass, Wendy Greuel, Tanisha Saunders and Stephanie Graves on the fee as representatives for the town. The fee additionally contains 5 members confirmed by the L.A. County Board of Supervisors: Katie Hill, Yasmine-Imani McMorrin, Amy Perkins, Amber Sheikh and Justin Szlasa.
“I’ve a observe file of managing, administrating very giant operations, very efficiently and absolutely compliant,” Lares mentioned. “I’m very acquainted with the latest assessments and audits which were (carried out) with LAHSA, and I do imagine that my expertise with remodeling organizations, reshaping organizations, will probably be precious as a LAHSA commissioner.”
Councilwoman Monica Rodriguez, a stout critic of LAHSA, requested Lares about points or considerations that she has recognized. In response, Lares mentioned she’ll study the company’s techniques in place over funds, program administration and inner controls.
“I’m conscious of discrepancies with the system and the contractor that’s been used,” Lares mentioned, referring to a contract LAHSA has with an organization that assists within the annual homeless depend. “Programs are pretty much as good as the data that you simply put in, and techniques do must be audited and information must be scrubbed earlier than any stories are made.”
Rodriguez has lengthy criticized the company for its lack of transparency and failure in offering well timed information and knowledge in regard to contracts and homelessness outcomes, amongst different issues — points highlighted in latest court-mandated audits.
The county will transfer some $300 million in Measure A funding away from LAHSA because it undertakes an effort to ascertain a brand new homelessness division subsequent yr. In the meantime, the Metropolis Council has taken steps to bolster information administration and licensed a brand new bureau within the Housing Division to observe homeless service supplier contracts, which has been a problem.
“What i actually assume goes to be vital on this function is ensuring there’s higher transparency in regards to the work that’s being carried out and that data is being transmitted to the town of Los Angeles as a result of it doesn’t matter if it’s the CAO, or if it’s a brand new housing bureau, if we’re not given the info then it actually doesn’t matter who it’s being report back to if it’s being withheld,” Rodriguez mentioned.
The fee has the authority to make budgetary, funding, planning and program insurance policies. Conferences are each fourth Friday of the month at 9 a.m. In response to a report from the Mayor’s Workplace, Lares has served with the Housing Authority of the town of Los Angeles since 2018. She has supplied oversight of main federal housing packages and voucher subsidies, and applied new rental help packages, amongst different duties.
Lares beforehand served as director for the Los Angeles County Improvement Authority from 2006 to 2018, the place she directed the assisted housing division of the Housing Authority and managed a number of rental subsidy packages.
She obtained a bachelor of science in enterprise administration from Cal State Los Angeles, in addition to a basic training and biology diploma from Loyola Marymount College.
