{"id":2656516,"date":"2026-09-09T08:02:02","date_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:02:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhomelessness-non-profits-are-killing-los-angeles\/"},"modified":"2026-09-09T08:05:44","modified_gmt":"2026-09-09T12:05:44","slug":"utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhomelessness-non-profits-are-killing-los-angeles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/utm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhomelessness-non-profits-are-killing-los-angeles\/","title":{"rendered":"Los Angeles Is Flooded With Government-Funded Non-Profits"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"mashsb-container mashsb-main mashsb-stretched\"><div class=\"mashsb-box\"><div class=\"mashsb-count mash-medium\" style=\"&quot;\"><div class=\"counts mashsbcount\">14<\/div><span class=\"mashsb-sharetext\">SHARES<\/span><\/div><div class=\"mashsb-buttons\"><a class=\"mashicon-facebook mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.conservativenewsdaily.net%2Fbreaking-news%2Futm_sourcerssutm_mediumrssutm_campaignhomelessness-non-profits-are-killing-los-angeles%2F\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Facebook<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-twitter mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/intent\/tweet?text=&amp;url=https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/?p=2656516&amp;via=ConservNewsDly\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Twitter<\/span><\/a><a class=\"mashicon-subscribe mash-medium mash-nomargin mashsb-noshadow\" href=\"#\" target=\"_top\" rel=\"nofollow\"><span class=\"icon\"><\/span><span class=\"text\">Subscribe<\/span><\/a><div class=\"onoffswitch2 mash-medium mashsb-noshadow\" style=\"display:none\"><\/div><\/div>\n            <\/div>\n                <div style=\"clear:both\"><\/div><\/aside>\n            <!-- Share buttons by mashshare.net - Version: 4.0.47--><p>The article examines the complex adn opaque system of homeless services funding and management in Los Angeles, focusing on the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) and its primary contractor, the non-profit organization Special Service for Groups (SSG). Despite funding more than 100 nonprofits and managing nearly $264 million in annual revenue-primarily from government grants-SSG operates without transparency obligations typical of government agencies. Its revenue has surged significantly over the years, especially after Measure H and Measure A sales tax increases dedicated to homeless services. <\/p>\n<p>SSG encompasses various divisions addressing issues like behavioral health, HIV\/AIDS support, and community justice, with some divisions actively engaged in homeless services. the organization received substantial funding to convert a former motel into supportive housing, though progress has been slow. <\/p>\n<p>Controversies include SSG\u2019s financial practices, notably its partnership with Alexander Soofer, who faces charges of diverting public funds for personal use. Reports reveal that SSG and LAHSA paid Soofer\u2019s for-profit company, Abundant Blessings from Above, despite claiming to distribute funds to a legitimate non-profit, Abundant blessings. Investigations suggest widespread lack of awareness or oversight in these transactions, raising concerns about misuse of public money and transparency. <\/p>\n<p>the piece highlights concerns about the oversight, efficiency, and accountability of LA\u2019s large, government-funded non-profit network for homeless services.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"readmore\">\n    <button onclick=\"showReadMore()\" id=\"readmorebtn\">Read more&#8230;<\/button>\n<\/p>\n<hr id=\"line\">\n<span id=\"more\"><\/p>\n<div>\n<p>Massive sums of money, washing into an endless system of creeks and gullies, diffusing and disappearing.<\/p>\n<p>The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, a county-city <a href=\"https:\/\/bbklaw.com\/resources\/the-ins-and-outs-of-joint-powers-authorities-in-california\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">joint powers authority<\/a> that has been <a href=\"https:\/\/file.lacounty.gov\/SDSInter\/bos\/supdocs\/201356.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">largely abandoned<\/a> by county officials over <a href=\"https:\/\/lindseyhorvath.lacounty.gov\/sounds-the-alarm-on-lahsa\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">serious concerns<\/a> about effectiveness, financial transparency, and basic operational competence, proudly <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lahsa.org\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">says<\/a> that it funds \u201cmore than 100 nonprofit partner agencies\u201d in a single county.<\/p>\n<p>To begin to understand what that giant system of non-profit corporations looks like in practice, look closely at a single example: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssg.org\/our-purpose\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Special Service for Groups<\/a> (SSG). The Charity Navigator website <a href=\"https:\/\/www.charitynavigator.org\/ein\/95-1716914#beacon-report\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">describes<\/a> SSG as an entity that performs a remarkably broad cluster of roles: \u201cProvide behavioral health, support for older adults, social justice\/anti hate, HIV\/AIDS related, an extensive array of homeless, substance abuse and health access initiatives and services to vulnerable communities.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Many divisions with different purposes live under SSG\u2019s corporate umbrella. The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssg.org\/divisions\/apifm\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Asian and Pacific Islander Forward Movement<\/a> (APIFM) works within that local population on \u201ccommunity health and environmental justice issues,\u201d for example, while <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssg.org\/divisions\/apait\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Access to Prevention Advocacy Intervention &#038; Treatment<\/a> (APAIT) provides advocacy, education, and health services to \u201cpeople at-risk for or living with HIV\/AIDS.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>You can read about APAIT\u2019s Trans Pride Gala <a href=\"https:\/\/www.apaitssg.org\/news\/celebrating-transtgi-pride\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">here<\/a>, as an example of their publicly funded work, and see a complete list of SSG\u2019s divisions on the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ssg.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">main SSG website<\/a> (where they scroll across a banner near the top).<\/p>\n<p>But SSG is becoming particularly important in homeless services, and is broadly funded as a homeless services agency. More about those details in a moment.<\/p>\n<p>After its function, the next thing to understand about SSG is where the money comes from. In fiscal year 2025, which ended in June of that year, the organization had a little more than $264 million in revenue. You can find that number in <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/951716914\/202611349349312366\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">their Form 990<\/a>, the financial disclosure document a non-profit corporation has to file annually with the IRS. But if you open that document, keep scrolling down until you get to the sources of that cash. It\u2019s on pg. 9, the \u201cstatement of revenue.\u201d Screenshot:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Of $264 million in annual revenue, about $260 million comes from government grants, or about 98.5 percent of SSG\u2019s total funding. As their <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/display_audit\/2025-06-GSAFAC-0000414108\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">audited financial statements<\/a> show, about $60 million of that public funding comes in the form of federal grants, much of which has been \u201cpassed through\u201d to SSG through state and local governments.<\/p>\n<p>So in practice, SSG is a government agency without really being one, providing government-funded services as a private corporation that has no obligation to comply with transparency laws like the California Public Records Act or the state\u2019s open meeting law for local governments. They spend public money under corporate transparency rules: private enterprise with government funds.<\/p>\n<p>Still, SSG has some financial disclosure requirements as a non-profit corporation, and we can see on their Form 990 what they pay their top employees:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>In its current form, SSG was created in September of 1993, from the bones of an older non-profit and a set of \u201crestated\u201d articles of incorporation.<\/p>\n<p>You can scroll through twenty-five years of SSG\u2019s financial history at ProPublica\u2019s Nonprofit Explorer website. It\u2019s a story of growth, then of <em>rapid<\/em> growth: In <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/display_990\/951716914\/2007_03_EO%2F95-1716914_990_200606\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2006<\/a>, about $23 million in government grants (and $26 million overall); in <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/951716914\/201711359349313061\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2016<\/a>, about $53 million in government grants; and then, in <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/951716914\/202041969349304734\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2019<\/a>, after the Measure H sales tax increases for homeless services <a href=\"https:\/\/ballotpedia.org\/Los_Angeles_County,_California,_Sales_Tax_for_Homeless_Services_and_Prevention,_Measure_H_(March_2017)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">passed<\/a> in 2017, a big jump to about $108 million in government grants. <\/p>\n<p>Finally, as Los Angeles County voters passed the larger <a href=\"https:\/\/homeless.lacounty.gov\/measure-a\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Measure A<\/a> sales tax increase for homeless services in 2024, SSG\u2019s annual revenue jumped in a single year by more than $50 million. You can go see that big jump for yourself, comparing fiscal year 2024 to fiscal year 2025 on the <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/951716914\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Nonprofit Explorer page for SSG<\/a>. Also compare fiscal year 2023 to 2024, because they added almost $100 million in annual revenue in just three explosive years:<\/p>\n<p>Around $167 million to $264 million, as a non-profit that had $26 million in revenue just 10 years ago.<\/p>\n<p>As SSG has pushed more aggressively into the broad funding and delivery of homeless services, where a <em>lot<\/em> of public funding is available, its record has suggested that the non-profit may be growing beyond its expertise. With close to $8.5 million in <a href=\"https:\/\/cityclerk.lacity.org\/onlinedocs\/2026\/26-0632_misc_4-29-26.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">city, state<\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hiltonfoundation.org\/grant\/special-service-for-groups-inc-2\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">foundation<\/a> funding, SSG now owns a <a href=\"https:\/\/ecmotel.thelosangeleshotels.com\/en\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">former motel<\/a> in South Los Angeles that it plans to convert into supportive housing for the homeless. Six years after the City of Los Angeles bought that property and passed it to SSG, a motel that was in operation and hosting guests when it was taken over now looks like this:<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>City officials have given SSG a few more years to find additional funding to begin the project, but for now a working motel has been turned into a stripped and gutted property with a security fence around it.<\/p>\n<p>More controversially, SSG had a significant financial partnership for years with a Los Angeles businessman named Alexander Soofer, who is now awaiting trial in <a href=\"https:\/\/lacounty.gov\/2026\/01\/23\/los-angeles-county-district-attorneys-office-charges-ceo-of-nonprofit-abundant-blessings-with-defrauding-los-angeles-homeless-services-authority\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">state<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.justice.gov\/usao-cdca\/pr\/executive-director-south-la-based-charity-arrested-federal-complaint-alleging-23\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">federal<\/a> courts on a long list of fraud charges. Prosecutors allege that Soofer diverted $10 million in public funding that was intended for homeless services to his personal accounts, using the money to fund luxury travel and a $7 million house. <\/p>\n<p>An <em>interesting <\/em>wrinkle in Soofer\u2019s prosecution recently appeared in reporting from the Los Angeles news organization LAist, which <a href=\"https:\/\/laist.com\/news\/housing-homelessness\/la-homeless-nonprofit-soofer\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">pointed out for the first time<\/a> that Soofer had <em>two<\/em> corporations with similar names: Abundant Blessings, a non-profit, and Abundant Blessings from Above, a for-profit corporation. Both LAHSA and SSG paid both of Soofer\u2019s corporations with public funds to provide services like transitional housing to the homeless, but they <em>don\u2019t appear to have noticed<\/em> that Soofer was using his for-profit corporation to collect homeless services funds. You can see this detail in SSG\u2019s Form 990, for several years in a row. Here\u2019s the most recent example, from the <a href=\"https:\/\/projects.propublica.org\/nonprofits\/organizations\/951716914\/202611349349312366\/full\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">2025 form<\/a>:<\/p>\n<figure><figcaption>\n<div>\n<p>         <span>Image Credit<\/span>Screenshot       <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>For several years, SSG reported to the IRS that it was providing passed-through public funds to Abundant Blessings from Above, a 501(c)(3). But that was never true:<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>Distributing millions of dollars a year in public funds, they appear to have had no idea who they were paying.<\/p>\n<p>The Federalist made a significant effort to discuss SSG\u2019s use of public funds with SSG and LAHSA (which provides funding to SSG). The news media contact listed on SSG\u2019s website, an executive at a private public relations firm, didn\u2019t respond to messages, and an email message sent to SSG Executive Director Herbert Hatanaka was blocked by SSG\u2019s email system. Finally, a reporter from The Federalist tried to visit SSG headquarters in person, but was denied access to the office.<\/p>\n<figure><\/figure>\n<p>LAHSA alone funds \u201cmore than 100 nonprofit partner agencies\u201d in Los Angeles County. There\u2019s <em>one<\/em>, with $260 million in annual taxpayer funding from all government sources, an emptied and gutted motel, and one of their major financial partners awaiting trial.<\/p>\n<hr>\n<p>      Chris Bray is a senior correspondent at The Federalist and a former infantry sergeant in the U.S. Army. He has a history PhD from the University of California Los Angeles, not that it did him any good. He also posts on Substack, at &#8220;Tell Me How This Ends,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/chrisbray.substack.com\/\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Massive funds flow into LA homeless system, opaque and unaccountable<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2086,"featured_media":2656517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/skid-row-scaled.jpg","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[33651],"tags":[38753,6353,51601,36585,22898],"class_list":["post-2656516","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-the-western-journal","tag-community-support","tag-flooding","tag-government-funding-2","tag-los-angeles","tag-non-profits"],"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/thefederalist.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/skid-row-scaled.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656516","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2086"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2656516"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656516\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2656520,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2656516\/revisions\/2656520"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2656517"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2656516"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2656516"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.conservativenewsdaily.net\/breaking-news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2656516"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}