Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA), the lead agency in the push to address homelessness in the city, has been dealt a major blow in its controversial history as federal authorities filed charges of corruption and fraud against the embattled organization and arrested three nonprofit executives in the process.
Assistant Attorney General Colin M. McDonald was appointed to the National Fraud Enforcement Division on April 1 and has facilitated significant arrests in Florida, Iowa, and Minnesota before establishing a West Coast Health Care Fraud Strike Force on April 30.
On Sept. 18, he made the announcement of the recent series of charges in Los Angeles, targeting the nation’s largest distributor of funds directed at the homelessness crisis.
“Today the Department of Justice, with the full force of the federal government, is announcing charges in a major fraud takedown targeting schemes that stole millions from programs meant to house California’s homeless,” said McDonald.
The government alleges the defendants used millions of taxpayer dollars to finance a nightclub/restaurant, the Six Seven Five Lounge on La Brea Avenue in Inglewood, and created shell corporations to misappropriate funds for personal use, including the restoration of a vintage Chevrolet Impala.
“As alleged, Michael Young, through Home at Last, received more than $100 million in taxpayer funds and misappropriated more than $12 million, diverting that money into shell companies, real estate, and even a nightclub and bingo hall,” McDonald continued.
The defendants included Lakiya Malone of the human services agency Special Service for Groups, Donye Mitchell, CEO of the Big Blue Umbrella Non Profit, and Young, who headed Home at Last, a nonprofit based in Culver City.
Young had previously been associated with the ongoing corruption case of former Los Angeles City Councilman Curren Price. This separate trial involves conflict of interest, embezzlement, and perjury for failing to disclose ties to companies benefiting from government funding.
U.S. Attorneys accuse Price of voting on funding and lease measures directly benefiting Young and Home at Last.
These revelations came on the heels of Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass announcing that she was stepping down from the helm of LAHSA (see https://www.ourweekly.com/2026/09/10/mayor-bass-steps-down-from-lahsa-commission/).
Since 1993, LAHSA has been plagued by corruption and malfeasance allegations, especially within its presiding entity, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). After this latest event, LAHSA decided to waive its responsibilities, as LA County will divert over $300 million away from the troubled entity.
