It’s Barely Been a Week… Election 2026: What Changes for Small LA Nonprofits

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We are still the answer to significant change | Image by Jorge Urosa for Pexels

Letters to the Housed | November 10, 2026 | By Paul Asplund | Second Grace LA

A week after the election, what a new Congress, a new governor, and a new mayor could mean for small nonprofits, and what we might ask of each.

Dear Readers,

It’s only been a week since the tectonic shift in American governance appeared and it’s taken me a few days to research what’s been said so far, and what this might mean for those of us in small, under-funded nonprofits.

I’ll try to keep my personal feelings in check, but I admit to feeling more optimistic than I have in many years. The change on the wind bodes well for making some progress but it will require all of us to stay as engaged (and energized) as we were last Tuesday.

We’re still the answer, but everything I read indicates we will have a government working with us, not against us.

I’m grateful, and this is what I’ve learned so far.

The forecast for Washington

With Democrats leading both chambers of Congress, the AP is reporting in The Chronicle of Philanthropy that nonprofit leaders are hoping for a normal relationship with Washington again. Akilah Watkins of Independent Sector wants Congress to restore federal dollars for human services, and others point out that a Democratic Congress can take back the spending power the last one handed to the administration.

The White House did not change, and that matters. A nonprofit law blog reminds us that the IRS, Treasury, and the budget office still answer to the administration, so a new Congress can hold hearings and shape spending bills in January without being able to make those agencies ease up.

The first test arrives before the new members are sworn in. The stopgap that funds the government runs through December 11, and the president's budget proposed eliminating the Continuum of Care, the program behind much of our permanent supportive housing. A House subcommittee rejected that idea, though it would still trim the funding, and the Senate has not released its bill. In the meantime the courts have been steady allies. A July ruling reinstated funding for 1,180 grants worth about $5.4 billion across 23 states.

Housing moves on a longer clock. Congressman Kevin Mullin told Mission Local that the recently enacted Affordable Housing Credit Improvement Act should help finance nearly 1.6 million affordable homes over the next decade, and that a public housing investment bill he cosponsors would need a Democratic trifecta. Democrats now hold both chambers, and the presidency is the missing piece.

What we might expect from Sacramento

California's news is better than I expected a month ago. The state budget restored $900 million for HHAP, the grant program that sends homelessness money to cities, counties, and the regional groups that coordinate providers, nearly double what the governor proposed in May. Voters passed Proposition 1, the $11.25 billion housing bond, with nearly 60 percent of the vote, and Xavier Becerra won the race for governor. Bond dollars go toward building and preserving housing, which leaves the question about who pays the case managers once people move in unanswered.

The mayors of the state's thirteen largest cities gathered in Riverside the week before the election. San Jose's Matt Mahan asked for more transparency and outcome tracking across city and county systems, a theme heard everywhere. The coalition's chair, Patricia Lock Dawson, called the restoration of HHAP "just the beginning," and the mayors' next request is for at least $1 billion a year, sustained. That word, sustained, matters to small organizations, because each HHAP round has been one-time money, and a program is hard to plan when staff are paid month to month. The new round also sets aside at least ten percent for youth. UCLA researchers found that student homelessness in LA County rose 30 percent between the 2022-23 and 2023-24 school years, so that set-aside is overdue.

What we should expect from City Hall

Full disclosure: I have worked with Nithya Raman on a few projects in her district over the years. I respect her and expect great things from her as LA’s mayor. Please weigh what follows with that in mind.

She takes office in mid-December. On the campaign trail she promised to audit every dollar spent on homelessness on her first day, to hire more staff to oversee contracts, and to tie every program's budget to its results. I hope this is a chance to fund more programs in smaller organizations working close to the ground, with the simpler funding requirements and streamlined reporting many of us have been asking for. Audits and performance budgets will reach organizations like ours too, so it is worth getting our own numbers in order now.

The detail I am watching most closely is how fast the city pays. LAHSA acknowledged it owed providers more than $50 million for services already delivered, and several providers told LAist they had dipped into reserves or taken on debt to keep going. Raman called the delays unacceptable, and in April the council's housing committee approved a framework to overhaul homelessness contracting after nonprofits warned of millions in unpaid bills.

New York offers a preview. Mayor Mamdani's administration faced a new law requiring the city to advance half of each nonprofit's annual contract at the start of the fiscal year. When it floated delaying those payments, nonprofit leaders were furious, and the administration backed off. This fall the city said it was cutting red tape to pay hundreds of nonprofits faster, although older backlogs remain.

Good intentions at the top still have to travel through a payment system, and that unglamorous work decides whether a small organization makes it through the winter.

The structure around her is changing too. A federal judge has kept HUD's suspension of LAHSA on hold while the parties near a settlement, and the region's four federal roles are moving to LA County in stages, no later than the end of 2027. One government will be in charge of the core systems, which should make accountability easier to find. One sticking point is harm reduction. A HUD lawyer said federal dollars can no longer pay for it, the region's attorney disputes that, and Raman has said she would keep the city's needle exchange. Organizations that do this work should expect to hear more.

The numbers need to be accurate, and how we can help in January

The state reports that unsheltered homelessness fell 6.5 percent between January 2025 and January 2026, and total homelessness fell 3.4 percent. RAND researchers, comparing their own professional counts in Hollywood, Venice, and Skid Row with the annual count, found the two diverging by roughly a third in 2025 and 2026, a gap one RAND scientist links to fewer tent encampments and more people sleeping in vehicles. The City Council has asked for a review of this year's count.

Next year’s count needs to be our best yet, and you can help. LAHSA plans to run it in January, and RAND notes that the annual count leans on volunteers who receive limited training. When the notices go out asking for volunteers, please sign up and ask for good training. It’s one way we can hang out with our neighbors, colleagues, and friends, and do something critical to ending homelessness.

What I am hoping for

I have three requests, one for each level of government: pay small organizations on time, fund us for longer than a single year, and count outcomes with us so the stories behind the numbers get heard.

I said at the top that we are still the answer, and a week of reading has only deepened that belief, because every plan above, from the mayors' summit to the courtroom, assumes that organizations like ours will do the work. What remains to be seen is whether the systems around us will finally help us do it. Last Tuesday gave us the chance to ask. I plan to keep asking, and I hope you will ask with me.

With gratitude,
Paul

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Letters to the Housed, PolicyPaul AsplundLetters to the Housed, nonprofits, homelessness, Los Angeles, 2026 election, HHAP, Proposition 1, Nithya Raman, LAHSA, Continuum of Care, homeless count, housing justiceComment