The feds are betting the defunding happens quietly. These communities are betting enough people care enough to keep building. This week's Letters to the Housed is about who's right—and what housed neighbors can do. buff.ly/w8Ud8tP

On a South LA church parking lot, 138 affordable units just broke ground—unlocked by SB 4, the "Yes in God's Backyard" law. California's faith institutions hold enough underused land to build a city the size of Stockton. Cost: below new construction. Federal dollars: zero. buff.ly/w8Ud8tP

Community Builds What the Feds Won’t Fund

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA | August 4, 2026

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Community land trusts take land off the speculative market for good. Developed at market rate, it's gone forever. CLTs hold it in perpetuity—affordable today, in 30 years, in 50. T.R.U.S.T. South LA, El Sereno, and Downtown Crenshaw Rising are building it parcel by parcel. buff.ly/w8Ud8tP

Community Builds What the Feds Won’t Fund

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA | August 4, 2026

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While Washington dismantles LA's homelessness funding, a different housing infrastructure is quietly growing. No press office. No HUD line item. Just land trusts, church parking lots, and senior housing that's held its ground for 50 years.

Disinvestment doesn't save the money. It moves the cost downstream: to ERs, jails, and people. Every dollar not spent on stable housing tends to become two dollars spent on emergency intervention. Read the full piece 👇 buff.ly/czPa2Hu @naehomelessness.bsky.social · @ternerhousing.bsky.social

The Investment We Chose Not to Make | LA Housing Cost

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund | July 28, 2026

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Now the FY2027 federal budget proposes zeroing out CDBG, HOME, and the Continuum of Care — the coordination holding the system together. Disinvestment doesn't save the money. It moves the cost downstream: to ERs, jails, and people.

We keep asking whether LA can afford to invest in housing. The real question is whether we can afford not to. New from Letters to the Housed — what disinvestment actually costs, and who ends up paying. A thread.

This week in one line: LA's homelessness funding was suspended on evidence that doesn't hold up, and 11,423 people are caught in the balance. Aug 26 is the deadline. LAHSA is fighting it in court. We'll follow it 🔗 buff.ly/BZctRiK

LAHSA Sues Trump and HUD

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

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"The people who will be harmed by this decision are not bureaucrats. They are families, veterans, seniors, and formerly homeless Angelenos." — Gita O'Neill, LAHSA Interim CEO 11,423 people. That's who this is about. 🔗 buff.ly/BZctRiK

"A policy decision dressed up as a fraud investigation." LAHSA's complaint says a HUD official recommended cutting LA off a year before the fraud probe existed. What does oversight mean when the conclusion comes first? 🔗https://buff.ly/BZctRiK

The stakes: 11,423 people — incl. 1,923 children & 89 veterans — rely on the suspended funding. Aug 26 is the deadline for LA's 2026 CoC application. If the court doesn't act, LA loses years of funding. Full piece 🔗 buff.ly/BZctRiK #LAHSA #HUD

LAHSA Sues Trump and HUD

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

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A senior HUD appointee reportedly said in July 2025 he'd recommend zero HUD funding for LA. That's a year before the fraud investigation that "justified" the suspension existed. A policy decision dressed up as a fraud investigation.

HUD's letter cited $513M in "unspent funds" as proof of LAHSA's failure. That figure was from a City of LA budget announcement. LAHSA isn't even named in it. The one audit that governs federal compliance found LAHSA compliant. The letter skips it.

On June 30, LAHSA sued the federal government. Same day: 284 staff worked their last shift. Same day: LAHSA filed suit against HUD & Sec. Scott Turner over its suspended homelessness funding. I read the complaint. What stood out.

"The money is cut either way." Different mechanism than the CoC fight in May. Same destination for the people whose housing depends on it. Catch up on the series: buff.ly/wNx94tL #LAHSA #HomelessnessPolicy

"LAHSA deserved accountability. The people it housed deserved protection. Those two things are not in conflict. The administration chose one and not the other." Full story: buff.ly/wNx94tL #HousingJustice #HousingFirst

"The administration did not create LAHSA's accountability problems. It found them already well documented, and used them." Fraud allegations: real. Timing: not a coincidence. What do you think drove the decision? buff.ly/wNx94tL #LAHSA #HUD

A Different Road to the Same Destination

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund

secondgracela.substack.com

LAHSA deserved accountability. The people it housed deserved protection. Those two things were never in conflict. Full piece: buff.ly/ig321ef #LAHSA #HousingJustice

A Different Road to the Same Destination

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund

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LAHSA is a pass-through. The money funds subgrantees paying rent, case managers, leases for people already housed. When it freezes, they don't stop owing rent.

This isn't the ideological ESG swap that courts blocked twice this year. It's a fraud-based suspension — procedural, not policy. Harder to challenge, easier for HUD to defend.

HUD suspended close to $200M in federal funding to LAHSA the day the World Cup opened in LA. The letter cited "wanton mismanagement" and a "clear pattern of fraud."

"The clearings that happened near the fan zones were not a solution to homelessness. They were a solution to visibility." What does accountability look like in your city once the cameras leave? #HousingJustice #EndHomelessness

Read the final piece in the Staying Housed series: buff.ly/sxzSMED #HousingJustice #EndHomelessness #RadicalHospitality

Radical Hope isn't optimism. It's seeing clearly — including the hard parts — and showing up anyway. That's what outreach workers and small orgs did all month, cameras or not. buff.ly/sxzSMED @invisiblepeople.tv @naehomelessness.bsky.social

What We Owe Each Other: When the Party Is Over

Staying Housed: Part 4 of 4 | Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

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Public housing is not a social protection expenditure. It is economic infrastructure. When we frame the question as "can we afford it," we ask it backwards. The real question is what we can afford not to invest in. Part 3 of Staying Housed: buff.ly/0umobYf #HousingJustice #PublicHousing

Public Housing Pays Back: Staying Housed, Part 3 of 4

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

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Scaled to LA County's homeless population: Healthcare savings of $4–6 billion. GDP impact above $85 billion. 23,000 fewer people experiencing homelessness by 2050. Projections, not guarantees. They assume sustained investment that doesn't currently exist here.

The reduced-funding scenario, closest to what many North American cities are doing now, produces negative $8.8 billion in cumulative social value over 25 years. For every dollar saved on the front end, more than a dollar is lost on the back end. We pay either way.

A new study from Toronto modeled five public housing investment scenarios over 25 years. Every dollar invested in the combined pathway returns $2.80 in measurable value. Every dollar withheld costs more than a dollar downstream. The math is Canadian. The logic is universal.

This week in Staying Housed: the cascade. What triggers it, who's already inside it, and what actually stops it. Next week: what happens when it reaches the street. buff.ly/JDBSPjL #StayingHoused #HousingJustice #EndHomelessness

How Housing Falls Apart: Staying Housed, Part 2 of 4

Letters to the Housed by Paul Asplund of SecondGrace.LA

secondgracela.substack.com