Panel conflicted over how to distribute Measure H funds

Biggie said it best: Mo money, mo problems.

Members of a 50-member panel appointed to oversee the distribution of $355 million in funds created by Measure H to combat homelessnes has yet to reach a consensus over how the money should be spent.

So far, nearly 90 percent of the group agreed on the fund’s four biggest investments, KPCC reported. About $260 million will go toward short-term rental subsidies for people who are currently homeless or are on the brink; Up to $300 million would be funneled into emergency housing, or homeless shelters with on-site services; Outreach and coordination services would receive $166 million; And another $124 million would be directed to services that help keep people in housing once they have it.

Still up in the air, however, is the matter of the L.A. County affordable housing fund and whether it should also receive up to $45 million over three years from the Measure H honeypot.

Those against that proposal say Measure H should create new initiatives and not be used as an easy supplement to existing programs.

“What’s being proposed now is that we’re going to take this preexisting commitment, before anyone had heard of the letter ‘H’ ,” Greg Spiegel of the Inner City Law Center told KCPP. “And saying, ‘oh! that’s come along, we’re going to use it to fill this prior obligation,’ instead of using it to expand.”

The committee, made up of county officials, city lawmakers and nonprofit experts, will have its final meeting Wednesday before sending its recommendations to the County Board of Supervisors.  [KPCC] — Cathaleen Chen