[Karen Bass DEI Queen...] LA's top homelessness official signed $2.1 million contract with husband's employer

https://laist.com/news/housing-homelessness/los-angeles-homeless-services-
authority-lahsa-va-lecia-adams-kellum-contracts-upward-bound-house

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Government documents show Va Lecia Adams Kellum, who leads an agency that 
manages over $700 million in homeless services contracts each year, inked 
deals with the nonprofit where her husband is a senior staffer.

State conflict of interest laws ban public officials from any involvement 
in contracts in which they have a financial interest, including agreements 
that financially benefit their spouse or groups that pay their spouse.

Los Angeles’ top homeless services executive told LAist in December that 
she stuck to those rules, saying she had been walled off and “completely 
recused” from business relating to her husband’s employer.

Through a public records request, LAist later discovered records that 
contradict her assertion.

The documents show that Va Lecia Adams Kellum, chief executive of the Los 
Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), signed a $2.1 million 
contract and two other contract amendments with Upward Bound House, the 
Santa Monica-based nonprofit where her husband Edward Kellum works in 
senior leadership. The contract names Adams Kellum as the LAHSA official 
authorized to administer it.

A LAHSA spokesperson told LAist the contracts had inadvertently ended up 
in front of Adams Kellum to sign.

LAist’s findings come amid mounting questions about oversight at LAHSA, 
the public agency tasked by the city and county with administering more 
than $700 million in annual contracts with nonprofits to provide homeless 
services. It is a creation of the city and county and jointly funded and 
overseen by both.

Upward Bound House is a longtime vendor of LAHSA that focuses on housing 
and services for unhoused families, as well as young adults. It began 
receiving public money from LAHSA years prior to Adams Kellum joining the 
agency in March 2023.

When employees sign LAHSA’s code of ethics they agree to avoid any 
activities that could be, or appear to be, conflicts of interest, 
according to a copy posted on LAHSA’s website. One of the examples given 
is immediate family relationships with the agency’s vendors.

The $2.1 million contract signed by Adams Kellum authorized federal 
taxpayer funds for Upward Bound House to pay rent for unhoused people in 
the region and help them find homes. The money also covered case 
management and administration costs at the nonprofit.

The records show Adams Kellum signed the three documents directly above 
the names of her husband’s employer and his boss.

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The signature sections of two contract amendments (dated the same day) and 
a $2.1 million contract Va Lecia Adams Kellum signed between the 
government agency she leads and her husband’s employer. LAist obtained the 
documents through a public records request.
(LAist)
Details of the contracts
In December, LAist asked LAHSA officials for copies of every contract 
between LAHSA and Upward Bound House that’s been in effect since Va Lecia 
Adams Kellum became LAHSA’s CEO in late March 2023.

In response, officials disclosed 13 agreements totaling nearly 1,000 
pages, which LAist reviewed.

The three LAHSA agreements Adams Kellum signed with Upward Bound House 
include a one-year contract, signed in May 2024, funding nearly $2.1 
million to Upward Bound House in federal dollars, to pay rent for unhoused 
people and to help them find longer-term housing. The budget included 
about $356,000 for Upward Bound House’s case managers and about $102,000 
for the nonprofit’s administration. The contract named Adams Kellum as the 
LAHSA official "authorized to administer” the agreement.
She signed the two other deals in March 2024. They amended two earlier 
contracts totaling $2.24 million between LAHSA and Upward Bound House for 
housing and support services for unhoused youth. Both amendments state 
that they were “updating the budget through a Scope of Work Change,” 
though a LAHSA spokesperson said they didn’t have any financial impacts.
The 10 other agreements were signed by subordinates of Adams Kellum. Eight 
of those agreements listed Adams Kellum’s name under the signature line 
for LAHSA.
The latest available public tax filing for Upward Bound House shows its 
total revenue was about $9 million in 2023.
LAist found that Adams Kellum’s interactions with Upward Bound House 
extended beyond signing contracts.

She also spoke with her husband's employer last year regarding complaints 
made during public comments alleging failures in Upward Bound House’s 
performance, according to the nonprofit’s chief executive.

Government ethics experts say conflict of interest laws forbid a wide 
range of involvement, including signing contracts.

“The laws are pretty specific that you can't have any participation 
whatsoever,” said Sean McMorris, who manages the ethics program for 
California Common Cause. “You should not be putting your signature on any 
such contract. You have to completely recuse yourself from the matter.”

McMorris said in the eyes of the law, a conflict of interest violation can 
take place even if the breach was unintentional. He told LAist that Adams 
Kellum’s signatures appear to violate California’s Political Reform Act 
and the state’s Government Code Section 1090.

Following ethics expectations, he added, is "extremely important because 
it speaks to the integrity and character of our representatives."

Adams Kellum said her conflict was disclosed
Adams Kellum previously told LAist she had steered clear of anything to do 
with her husband’s employer.

“This issue was disclosed when I was hired,” Adams Kellum wrote in a Dec. 
9 email, prior to LAist requesting public records that showed she had 
signed LAHSA contracts with her husband’s employer.

“LAHSA's [legal] counsel has put procedures in place that have been 
followed and these procedures ‘walled me off’ from any involvement in 
matters concerning Upward Bound House,” she added. “I am completely 
recused from matters that involve or impact Upward Bound House.”

Adams Kellum has not responded to follow-up questions and interview 
requests from LAist about the contracts she signed, including questions 
about whether conflict of interest laws may have been violated.

Edward Kellum, her husband, did not respond to LAist’s requests for 
comment. He is featured as one of six people on the “senior staff” section 
of Upward Bound House’s website, where his title is director of operations 
and compliance.

Also listed is the organization’s president and CEO, Christine Mirasy-
Glasco. She acknowledged to LAist that Adams Kellum, in her role as 
LAHSA’s top executive, spoke with her once regarding complaints from 
public commenters alleging Upward Bound House failed to provide required 
services and falsified documents.

In an email, Mirasy-Glasco wrote that Adams Kellum “shared that LAHSA 
would follow up with UBH,” and said a subordinate of Adams Kellum was 
assigned to work with the vendor to get the complainants into permanent 
housing. Mirasy-Glasco provided LAist with written responses to several of 
the complaints.

Paul Rubenstein, a spokesperson for LAHSA, also said follow-up on the 
complaints was handled by a subordinate of Adams Kellum.

Spokesperson says signatures were an ‘oversight’
As for the three agreements with her husband’s employer, Rubenstein said 
Adams Kellum “mistakenly signed” them after staffers inadvertently sent 
them to her. When the CEO has a conflict of interest, LAHSA’s standard 
practice is for contracts to instead be signed by the agency’s top 
programs officer, Rubenstein wrote.

“Dr. Adams Kellum has not been involved in any discussions regarding 
Upward Bound House contracts,” Rubenstein wrote in an email to LAist. He 
added that Adams Kellum “has never been involved in overseeing any 
programs or agreements with UBH."

“LAHSA is taking steps to further ensure this does not happen again, 
including requiring additional staff training,” he added, noting that all 
contracts go through multiple reviews and require “three staff signatures 
before being sent to the CEO or her designee.”

Rubenstein did not respond to an email asking how Adams Kellum’s 
signatures could be a mistake, given their close proximity to Upward Bound 
House’s name.

He also did not answer why, if Adams Kellum was completely recused, she 
was named in the $2.1 million contract with Upward Bound House as LAHSA's 
representative "authorized to administer" the agreements.

What the oversight commission knew
The 10-member LAHSA Commission is responsible for overseeing the agency 
and its CEO. Half of the commission is appointed by county supervisors, 
and half are appointed by L.A.’s mayor with confirmation by the City 
Council.

“The LAHSA Commission was fully informed and consulted with legal counsel 
about potential conflicts prior to Dr. Adams Kellum being offered the 
position,” Rubenstein said.

But LAist found that members of the LAHSA Commission had varying degrees 
of awareness of Adams Kellum’s conflict — and gave different instructions 
over time at the recommendation of staff.

In August 2023, LAHSA’s governing commission specifically excluded Adams 
Kellum from signing the $2.1 million contract when it came up for a vote, 
according to the meeting’s minutes. Instead, the commission authorized its 
chair to enter into the agreement. The meeting record shows Adams Kellum 
recused herself and stepped out of the room during the vote.

Despite the prohibition, she signed that contract months later.

In other instances later on, the LAHSA Commission apparently changed 
course. Despite Adams Kellum’s conflict of interest disclosure forms, 
commissioners voted to follow staff’s recommendation to authorize her to 
enter into contracts with Upward Bound House.

L.A. Mayor Karen Bass was among the commissioners who voted unanimously 
last year to allow Adams Kellum to sign other contracts with the service 
provider, according to meeting minutes and agendas. (Bass was not yet on 
the commission for the August 2023 vote.)

Asked for comment about the conflict of interest, Zach Seidl, a 
spokesperson for Bass, said work is underway to “make LAHSA more 
transparent and accountable,” including “initiating additional protocols 
to prevent future issues.”

The mayor’s relationship with Va Lecia Adams Kellum
L.A. Mayor Karen Bass directed LAHSA to hire Adams Kellum as a consultant, 
embedded in the mayor’s office, in early 2023 leading up to Adams Kellum 
becoming LAHSA’s CEO, according to an agreement LAist obtained through a 
public records request.

Adams Kellum was to be paid $60,000 across a month and a half via the no-
bid contract to advise Bass on building the mayor’s signature homelessness 
program Inside Safe.
A no-bid contract is one where a funder, such as LAHSA, does not hold a 
competitive process where multiple organizations submit proposals that are 
compared. 
The advisory role was described in a statement as Adams Kellum joining 
Bass’ administration before transitioning to the LAHSA CEO role.
Two other commission members who joined the LAHSA Commission after Adams 
Kellum was hired — L.A. County Supervisors Kathryn Barger and Lindsey 
Horvath — were not formally notified of the conflict prior to voting to 
allow her to enter agreements with Upward Bound House, according to their 
spokespeople.

Barger didn’t find out about the family tie until after she left the LAHSA 
Commission in October 2024, according to her spokesperson. Horvath was not 
officially notified about the conflict, though it was known among many who 
work in homeless services, according to Horvath’s spokesperson.

LAist reviewed those later contracts, and found Adams Kellum did not 
ultimately sign them. Instead, subordinates signed with Adams Kellum’s 
name printed below most of the signature lines.

What’s next
Questions about transparency and how LAHSA is handling hundreds of 
millions in public dollars have been a growing concern for local 
lawmakers.

Adams Kellum faced controversy recently over her hiring of Lilly Simmering 
for a top-level LAHSA leadership position that oversees all homelessness 
programs. Simmering oversaw an Orange County government department that 
paid out millions of dollars to an out-of-compliance nonprofit now 
embroiled in a fraud scandal involving former Orange County Supervisor 
Andrew Do. Simmering left after less than two weeks on the job, following 
questions about her history in Orange County.

LAHSA officials have removed the agency’s list of leaders and organization 
chart from its website. For at least two weeks, those pages have been 
replaced with a graphic labeled “under construction.”

In response to a request from LAist, Rubenstein provided a copy of the 
organization’s organization chart, dated Feb. 1. He said the website will 
be updated soon with the new info. The site was not updated as of Tuesday.

In November, Horvath called for the county to pull its funding from LAHSA 
after an audit found failures in the agency’s oversight of service 
providers. The county provides about half of LAHSA’s $875 million annual 
budget. The Board of Supervisors approved Horvath’s call for county staff 
to create a plan to have the county manage the spending directly.

Before she left the LAHSA Commission at the end of last month, Horvath 
planned to schedule a discussion on conflict of interest procedures at an 
upcoming commission meeting, her spokesperson told LAist.

L.A. City Councilmember Nithya Raman, who chairs the council’s housing and 
homelessness committee, said in an email to LAist: “At a time when there 
is a great deal of distrust in government and in the homeless services 
system, I think it is particularly important to ensure that we avoid even 
the appearance of a conflict of interest.”

In response to LAist’s reporting, Raman said she contacted Wendy Greuel — 
L.A.’s former controller and current chair of the LAHSA Commission — who 
assured Raman that conflict of interest policies would be rigorously 
enforced to prevent future lapses.

Greuel did not address concerns about the conflict when asked for comment 
by LAist.

L.A. City Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, a frequent critic of LAHSA’s 
oversight practices, called Adams Kellum’s signing of contracts with 
Upward Bound House “really problematic” and “absolutely unacceptable.”

Adams Kellum was hired at a base salary of $430,000 a year — nearly double 
the pay of elected City Council members and about 42% more than the mayor 
of L.A.

With such a high salary and responsibility over taxpayer dollars, 
Rodriguez said, LAHSA’s CEO should be adhering to high ethical standards.

“There need to be greater guardrails,” Rodriguez said.

Financial disclosure rules
Public officials must fill out annual disclosures — known as form 700s — 
about their personal financial interests, to provide public transparency 
and help avoid potential conflicts of interest.

Previous LAist reporting in December found that out of roughly 700 current 
employees at LAHSA, only the CEO had been required by the agency to file 
the disclosures, despite the agency acknowledging more than two years 
earlier that more of its staff needed to file the disclosures. (More LAHSA 
employees are scheduled to be required to file such disclosures, under a 
proposal up for final approval this month.)
Adams Kellum’s latest disclosure reports her share of her husband’s income 
from Upward Bound House, during the roughly nine months from when she 
started her job at LAHSA in late March 2023 to the end of that year. The 
dollar amount selected for her share was between $10,000 and $100,000. 
(Form instructions state that for income to the official’s spouse, the 
dollar amount disclosed on the form is half of the total income. 
California community property laws split income 50-50 between spouses.)
Last fall, Adams Kellum’s administration hired a new chief executive 
strategist who, according to state business filings, co-owns a consulting 
business with the leader of one of LAHSA’s largest contracted service 
providers. The new LAHSA executive is among the agency’s administrators 
who haven’t been required by the agency to file the forms in recent years.
Other local governments require many of their staff to file these 
disclosures. The L.A. city Housing Department has fewer staff than LAHSA, 
though its list of who has to file form 700s includes 72 position types — 
including finance officials and project managers.

LAHSA’s spokesperson has not responded to questions about what ethics 
training, if any, Adams Kellum received. State law requires ethics 
training for officials at cities, counties, special districts and the 
state. The spokesperson said that law doesn’t apply to LAHSA because the 
agency is a different type of local government body called a joint powers 
authority.

How to watchdog local government
One of the best things you can do to hold officials accountable is pay 
attention.

Your city council, board of supervisors, school board and more all hold 
public meetings that anybody can attend. These are times you can talk to 
your elected officials directly and hear about the policies they’re voting 
on that affect your community.

Read tips on how to get involved.
The next scheduled LAHSA Commission meeting is Friday, Feb. 28, at 9 a.m. 
You can check out the commission’s full calendar here. 
You can find the address to attend in person or attend the meeting 
virtually here. 
You can speak to the LAHSA Commission during any agenda item, or at the 
end of the meeting during general public comments, by submitting a 
“Request to Speak Form” to the commission’s secretary before the agenda 
item starts. 
You can see the list of all  LAHSA commissioners here (note one of the 
seats is currently vacant). LAHSA’s website for the commission does not 
include a way to contact the commissioners.


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