Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass will not show up for a congressional hearing on more than $1 billion in homelessness money, even as the city agency that handled those funds sits under an active federal fraud investigation.
Quick Take
- A House subcommittee asked Bass to testify September 15 about LA homelessness spending.
- Her attorney says she has a scheduling conflict, not that she’s refusing outright.
- Federal housing officials suspended LA’s homeless services agency in June over alleged fraud.
- Bass’s office says the city will still turn over requested records.
A Formal Summons Over Federal Money
Representative Tim Burchett, who leads the House Oversight Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, launched an investigation into what his office called fraud-plagued homelessness spending in Los Angeles. He sent Bass a letter demanding documents and testimony at a public hearing set for September 15, 2026.
The subcommittee’s request centers on more than $1 billion in federal homelessness funds and asks Bass to explain alleged waste, fraud, and abuse tied to contracting and grant-making decisions made through the city’s homelessness response system.
Burchett’s committee framed the hearing as a chance to press city leadership directly, rather than rely only on written answers, arguing that public testimony forces accountability that documents alone cannot provide.
Attorney Cites Scheduling Conflict
Bass’s attorney, David Michaelson, told the subcommittee in a letter that the mayor is not available on the requested date. He said her office had already reached out to committee staff to work out the conflict.
Bass’s office has also said the city will keep cooperating with the underlying document request, even without her personal appearance at the September 15 session. Reports describe her position as declining the specific hearing date while still pledging to hand over records.
Published accounts have not identified any explanation beyond the stated scheduling issue, leaving open whether a new hearing date will be set or whether the committee will push harder for compelled testimony.
Fraud Probe Already Underway
The congressional request did not appear out of nowhere. The Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority from receiving new federal grants in June, citing repeated false statements and weak financial controls at the agency.
That suspension put roughly $240 million in ongoing funding at risk for programs serving thousands of people experiencing homelessness across the region. A federal judge later blocked part of that suspension, ordering the money released while the underlying fraud investigation continued.
🚨 NEW CONGRESSIONAL INVESTIGATION
A House Oversight subcommittee has opened an investigation into the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s handling of federal homelessness funding.
Chairman Tim Burchett is demanding records from Mayor Karen Bass by September 14 and…
— FreedomFire1776 (@FreedomFire1776) September 3, 2026
The clash lands at the center of a fight both sides of the political spectrum increasingly share: frustration that federal money meant to help vulnerable people gets tied up in agency dysfunction, legal battles, and finger-pointing between local and federal officials instead of reaching the streets.
Whether Bass eventually appears before Congress or the city satisfies lawmakers through paperwork alone, taxpayers on both the left and right are left waiting for a straight answer on how more than a billion dollars in homelessness aid was actually spent.
Sources:
abc7.com, nypost.com, latimes.com, usatoday.com
