{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://cloud.house.gov/posts/la-homelessness-fraud-cases-expose-deeper-problem-than-stolen-millions-oversight-hawk-warns", "LA Homelessness Fraud Cases Expose Deeper Problem than Stolen Millions, Oversight Hawk Warns", "2026-09-19", "2026", "2026-09", "Republican", "House", "TX", "Michael Cloud", "C001115", "cloud.house.gov", "cloud", "https://cloud.house.gov/press", "scraper", "Rep Cloud says LA homelessness funding rewards programs, not people\n\nFOX News\n\nCharles Creitz | September 19th, 2026\n\nFederal charges alleging that millions of dollars were siphoned from Los Angeles homelessness programs are exposing what one lawmaker told Fox News Digital is a deeper failure in the way Washington funds and measures such programs.\n\nThe latest cases out of Los Angeles fuel the concern of Rep. Michael Cloud, R-Texas, that not only are corrupt providers stealing taxpayer money, but that the programs aren\u2019t meeting their goal of getting people off the streets.\n\n\u201cThe only people really getting upward mobility in these programs, it would seem, is the people running the programs,\u201d Cloud told Fox News Digital after a House Oversight hearing examining federally funded homelessness programs in Los Angeles, Seattle and elsewhere.\n\n\u201cAnd that\u2019s not really what the program\u2019s supposed to be about.\u201d\n\nMichael Young, 46, Lakiya Malone, 48, and Donye Mitchell, 55, were charged in the federal fraud crackdown. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong; Department of Justice)\n\nFederal prosecutors charged three defendants Wednesday in separate homelessness fraud cases involving alleged misuse of taxpayer funds, including money allegedly spent on a nightclub and adjacent bingo hall and bribes allegedly tied to fake housing referrals.\n\nLos Angeles\u2019 homelessness agency paid one of the suspect nonprofits more than $75 million, according to federal prosecutors, leading Cloud to seek out the real culprits blazing the money trail.\n\nCloud said the fraud itself is only one piece of a broader problem and that the system appears to reward spending and program activity without adequately measuring lasting outcomes.\n\nGovernment too often judges success by \u201chow much money we send out the door\u201d instead of whether the spending is \u201cactually helping people\u201d or whether safeguards are in place to ensure taxpayer dollars are being used properly, Cloud said, describing the system as having been \u201cincentivized for fraud.\u201d\n\n\u201cWe\u2019ve got to take those incentives out and get back to making sure that all these programs have incentives for oversight and that the dollars are managed well.\u201d\n\nSome programs can keep a person \u201ckind of in a cycle of dependency so that the program manager has job security, in a sense, and gets to live off the government dime,\u201d Cloud said.\n\n\u201cYou [are seeing], as we begin to look into waste, fraud and abuse, why is it that these Democrat-led states are saying, \u2018No, we don\u2019t want the controls in place,'\u201d he said, pointing to Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass\u2019 decision to step down from the LAHSA commission.\n\nLos Angeles is not alone, he said, citing what has been called the feds\u2019 \u201cHousing First\u201d philosophy, generally prioritizing placing homeless in housing with less immediate regard for sobriety, mental health treatment or overall stabilizing services.\n\nCloud did not use the term \u201chousing first\u201d during the interview, but he described the concern behind that critique, arguing that some homelessness programs define success in ways that leave people dependent on government rather than moving toward independence.\n\nHousing First is distinct from HUD\u2019s \u201cContinuum of Care\u201d framework, which is the local funding and coordination structure through which nonprofit providers, state and local governments and other organizations receive federal homelessness money.\n\nIn Los Angeles, LAHSA leads the local Continuum of Care, which HUD says received nearly $1 billion in taxpayer dollars over the previous five years.\n\nUnder Secretary Scott Turner, HUD moved to suspend LAHSA this year, citing alleged failures involving financial management, internal controls and safeguards against conflicts of interest. LAHSA has challenged the federal action in court.\n\n\u201cThe \u2018housing first\u2019 experiment failed Americans by warehousing the vulnerable without results,\u201d Turner said in June when HUD announced a $4.04 billion Continuum of Care funding opportunity.\n\nA homeless encampment along the 101 Northbound off-ramp, at right, near City Hall in downtown Los Angeles. (Christina House/Getty Images)\n\n\u201cThis ideology promised to end homelessness. Instead, billions of taxpayer dollars were spent while homelessness increased to record levels.\u201d\n\nThat funding will focus on organizations aiding treatment and recovery, while setting aside $1.3 billion for new projects prioritizing transitional housing and supportive services and adding measures intended to prevent fraud, waste and abuse.", 1, "2026-09-22T09:42:49Z", "2026-09-22T09:44:35Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://cloud.house.gov/posts/la-homelessness-fraud-cases-expose-deeper-problem-than-stolen-millions-oversight-hawk-warns"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 30.267442110925913, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}