Gentle reader,
If you spend a lot of time in the courthouse reporting on public corruption in City Hall, you’ll hear some interesting stuff—and not all of it under oath.
When Los Angeles had newspapers based in Downtown Los Angeles, major stories could break after a clerk flagged an interesting filing and mentioned it to a reporter, who started digging to figure out of there was anything there.
A lawsuit is not reporting: it is an inherently biased assertion meant to advance the interests of one party in a conflict. It’s irresponsible to amplify the claims made in a complaint without clearly stating that these statements are merely opinion and have not been proven in a court of law.
Today, we’d like to share one such complaint, with that caveat.
The person who tipped us off wanted us to read and report on it.
We’d hoped that a year from now, the matter would be brought before a judge and argued, because the disturbing allegations in Kamelia Reed vs. Hope The Mission et al. (Superior Court Case No. 25STCV09838), a case brought against the primary operator of Los Angeles tiny home villages are of direct interest to citizens who have taxed themselves to fund transitional housing for people experiencing homelessness.
It is in the interest of every Angeleno that these facilities are well managed and that residents dealing with the trauma of recent homelessness are treated with the respect they deserve.
But in April of this year, both parties chose to settle, snapping a lid on any further airing of Kamelia Reed’s allegations.
We think citizens have a right to know what was alleged—especially because the case was not merely an employee-employer dispute, but a whistleblower claim. And by filing it as a public document, the blast of the whistle isn’t muted by a confidential settlement.
You can read the original complaint for yourself below.
Here is what is alleged:
Between March 2021 and February 2024, Kamelia Reed was employed as a Case Manager, Housing Focused Case Manager and Assistant Program Manager by Hope the Mission, a faith-based non-profit previously known as Hope of the Valley Rescue Mission. (And speaking of Rescue Missions, shout out to the URM, which has a great model worth emulating.)
The organization grew significantly through contracts to manage tiny house compounds for the City of Los Angeles, a program financed with Federal CARES Act funds and pledged FEMA reimbursements to construct individual shelters early in the Covid pandemic.
Hope The Mission financials from its 990 filings:
Total revenue 2019: $7,710,565
Total revenue 2020: $15,196,291
Total revenue 2021: $32,523,146
Total revenue 2022: $49,061,246
Total revenue 2023: $119,352,333
Total revenue 2024: $88,440,127
Shortly before Reed was hired, Hope the Mission opened L.A.’s first tiny home village, on Chandler Boulevard in North Hollywood, with prefab 64-square foot Pallet structures tucked into a narrow parcel flanking the 170 freeway and Los Angeles River.
The compact campus with its Mondrian-inspired color scheme was designed by Lehrer Architects LA. It contained 39 units, which could each house two people, and shared restroom facilities.
Hope the Mission’s facilities ramped up quickly:
• Chandler Boulevard in North Hollywood opened in 2/2021 with 39 units
• Alexandria Park in North Hollywood in 5/2021 with 103 units
• Reseda aka Sycamore Cabin Community in 6/2021 with 52 units
• Tarzana aka Sun Flower Cabin Community in 7/2021 with 74 units, a site which is soon to shutter after years of serious issues
• Whitsett West in North Hollywood in 9/2021 with 77 units
Kamelia Reed was hired to work at the largest tiny house village, Alexandria Park. As could be expected with a new type of non-congregate social housing serving dozens of individuals dealing with complex trauma that was rushed online during the Covid pandemic, there were problems.
According to Reed, the following improprieties occurred, were reported to supervisors and human resources, and went unaddressed:
In September 2021, Reed observed a Hygiene Monitor named Jasmine recording a resident experiencing a mental health crisis and posting the footage on Instagram. Reed believed this conduct directly violated Hope the Mission’s policies regarding client privacy and confidentiality, as well as California law. When Reed objected, Jasmine cussed her out.
Reed complained about Jasmine to a Program Manager, got nowhere, and escalated her complaints to senior management.
Word got back to Jasmine, who subjected Reed to more verbal abuse and deemed her a “snitch.” Reed documented the behavior and kept trying to find a supervisor who would hold Jasmine accountable, without success. Soon, other co-workers began bullying Reed, using sexualized language.
In October 2022, Reed went out on medical leave due to ulcerative colitis. She returned in December to find her case load packed with only the most challenging, high-acuity clients, and those residents with whom she’d built a rapport no longer under her care. The workplace bullying continued.
Reed escalated her complaints to senior staff and further alleged co-workers were using drugs and engaging in time fraud. She reported there was no working fire panel on site.
In March 2023, Reed complained to senior management and human resources that she was being subjected to race-based discrimination.
In May 2023, Reed complained that a disabled resident had been denied access to an accessible restroom.
In summer 2023, Reed alleged that co-workers were using clients’ social security numbers to commit fraud. (Possibly by applying for EBT cards, similar to this recently filed case in Los Angeles County.)
In late 2023, Reed alleged that the Department of Public Health had inspected Alexandria Park and found the restrooms lacked hot water. The facility was ordered to fix the violation, but did not do so. (Oddly, we can find no inspection records for Alexandria Park on the DPH portal.)
She also complained about residents smoking in their units—a serious threat to their safety due to how flammable the structures are—and the continued lack of a working fire panel.
In February 2024, after shooting a video of a supervisor making what Reed characterized as racially discriminatory remarks, she was placed on administrative leave and terminated. In April 2025, she sued.
Again, the above claims are merely allegations that have not been proven in a court of law. Many workplaces are toxic, and it’s not uncommon for conscientious, busybody employees to be bullied by slackers.
But it troubles us that the City of Los Angeles has outsourced so many services to non-profits like Hope the Mission, that are often not subject to public records requests, which makes it extremely difficult to know what’s going on inside the City’s shelters.
When journalists actually seek out residents and let them tell their own stories, many of them support the allegations made in Reed’s lawsuit, including her complaints about lack of accountability when serious issues were reported to senior staff. Residents also complain about high turnover among case managers, which implies poor supervision.
We’re glad that the Feds, City and non-profit partners treated safe pandemic housing with such urgency, and grateful that so many people were brought in off the streets and given an opportunity to change their lives. It can’t have been easy to grow an organization like Hope the Mission so quickly.
But Los Angeles isn’t going to make it if it continues to hand out tens of millions of dollars without proper oversight, trusting the recipients to follow the law and abide by their contracts, against clear evidence that the failure to monitor encourages fraud.
Did a Hygiene Monitor actually publish video of a client in distress on their personal Instagram account? Were residents really forced to live without access to hot water or accessible restrooms? Did City and County inspectors look the other way about serious fire safety and hygiene violations? Were the identities of vulnerable residents stolen for financial gain?
These are all questions that should be answered, apart from any settlement entered into by Reed with her former employer.
We hope that the City of Los Angeles will take a long, hard look in the mirror and implement new policies by which a frustrated Case Manager like Reed can file complaints directly with City Hall and have their allegations investigated and issues resolved.
Had the City done this, perhaps the Feds would not have brought the hammer down and withdrawn funding from the city’s mismanaged and unaccountable pass-through agency LAHSA, after years of court hearings and missed milestones, forcing clients and employees to navigate serious lifestyle disruptions.
“Nobody is asking our providers what they did or what services they performed. We may have providers who committed fraud and we may never know. If we’re so short on money, why aren’t these providers being sued? - Judge David O. Carter
For years, this one Federal judge has been “investigating,” while people suffer and die on the streets. His public hearings barely made a blip in the news cycle unless a politician was called to testify. You can scroll through the public record of the docket on the L.A. Alliance case here, and we’ve pulled out one especially horrible transcript to highlight.
Part One is City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s slideshow about how tiny house villages aren’t a good use of resources (which hasn’t stopped the City from building them), Part Two is some LAHSA data, and Part Three is a 14-page public comment timeline of all the abuse claimed by a pair of senior citizens stuck in the homeless services system, including allegations of rigged legal settlements by City Hall cronies. It’s awful reading.
As above, these are merely claims not proven in a court of law, and as above, if 10% of this is true, we have got real problems and everyone involved should be ashamed of themselves.
The idea of the City cleaning its own house might sound nuts if you’ve tried to get help solving a community problem and encountered dismissive council staff who blow you off, checked out inspectors who close out unresolved violations or police officers who express sympathy, but suggest they’re “not allowed” to do anything.
But the truth is that all of this misrule is a choice that comes directly from those who are in charge, and it can change today. This is the only way forward for a great City that has lost its way.
This Saturday’s Know Your Downtown L.A. tour is sold out, with a waiting list. Email us with the number in your party if you’d like to know if spots open up.
And we’ve got room for you on June 27 for the Westlake Park Time Travel Trip, a jaunt through the peaceful western side of MacArthur Park and the lovely historic neighborhood that surrounds it. We won’t sugarcoat this: Westlake is having a tough time. But we think you’ll be surprised by the charm and hospitality of this special corner of Los Angeles, and fascinated by tales of the oddball and entertaining Angelenos who once called it home. Join us, do!
Yours for Los Angeles,
Kim & Richard
Esotouric
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Our work—leading tours and historic preservation and cultural landmark advocacy—is about building a bridge between Los Angeles’ past and its future, and not allowing the corrupt, greedy, inept and misguided players who hold present power to destroy the city’s soul and body. If you’d like to support our efforts to be the voice of places worth preserving, we have a tip jar, vintage Los Angeles webinars available to stream, in-person tours and a souvenir shop you can browse in. We’ve also got recommended reading bookshelves on Amazon and the Bookshop indie bookstore site. And did you know we offer private versions of our walking tours for groups big or small? Or just share this link with other people who care.
UPCOMING WALKING TOURS
• Know Your Downtown LA: Bradbury Building, Basements of Yore and the Dutch Chocolate Shop (6/20) • Westlake Park Time Travel Trip (6/27) • Hotel Horrors & Main Street Vice (7/11) • Hollywood Noir (7/18) • Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (7/25) • Raymond Chandler’s Noir Downtown L.A. (8/1) • Film Noir / Real Noir (8/8) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (8/29) • Franklin Village Old Hollywood (9/12) • Westlake Park Time Travel Trip (9/26) • Bunker Noir! True Crime on Los Angeles’ Bunker Hill with Nathan Marsak (10/3) • Charles Bukowski’s Westlake (10/10) • Film Noir / Real Noir (10/24) • Hallowe’en at Evergreen Cemetery, 1877 (10/31) • The Real Black Dahlia (11/7) • Richard’s Birthday Weird West Adams Tour & Elmer McCurdy Museum Visit (11/14) • Angelino Heights & Carroll Avenue (11/21) • Hollywood Noir (11/28)
CLOSELY WATCHED TRAINS
On Thursday, June 18, the Cultural Heritage Commissioners meet at 10am in City Hall to discuss the proposed demolition for no new project of the landmarked, in-litigation Barry Building.
Angelenos for Historic Preservation and the Los Angeles Conservancy have sued the City and are urging concerned citizens to ask the CHC to impose an 180-day demolition stay during which efforts can be made to find a mutually agreeable solution. This could be a initiating plans for new development to surround the landmark, finding a preservation-minded buyer for the land or even moving the building in pieces to Altadena or Pacific Palisades.
Taking time to try to make things work is simply good public policy and how civilized people behave, and we really hope the Mayoral appointees on the CHC use their considerable powers to help save the Barry Building, that councilmember Traci Park will be consistent and show the same concern for this Brentwood landmark burdened by disgruntled owners as she has for Marilyn Monroe’s house, and that the Munger family will be willing to come to the table.
If the fate of the Barry Building and the dangerous legal precedent of using years of “demolition by neglect” to justify tearing down a useful and beloved landmark for no new project moves you, you are encouraged attend the hearing in person, email a written public comment, or Zoom or call in.
All the details are on this agenda with talking points here, and if you live in Los Angeles, you can ask your councilmember’s office for free parking in the City Hall lot.
At Rancho Los Amigos, where we’ve advocated for Los Angeles County to provide a water truck a few times a year for the benefit of the heritage trees, after all the irrigation lines were taken by metal thieves. The trees are so happy now!
Real estate broker Oleg Korolov is fascinated by adaptive reuse of old buildings. Yuval Bar-Zemer shares the tale of the Toy Factory Lofts and a very different time when visionary developers could work with the city on something cool: The Arts District.
Just posted in the bottom of the page updates to our Curren Price trial newsletter is Deputy D.A. Casey Higgins’ 25 page reply to the councilmember’s doorstop 995 motion seeking to throw the case out.
Higgins writes: “Defense asks this court to lower the bar of accountability for politicians, allow politicians to hide behind their at-will staff, and allow politicians to shirk their responsibility to the public. Our forefathers would roll over in their graves at such a proposal…. California chose to root out corruption and prevent the very scenario that unfolds in Washington, D.C., where politicians become millionaires in office…. If the court grants the defense motion and entertains the defense arguments, a giant loophole in Government Code 1090 will be created. California will be no better than Washington, D.C. and the will of the California voters will be thwarted. This is not hyperbole, but reality.”
Price’s next court date is August 7. For further analysis of the doorstop 995 motion, see daniel.guss’ newsletter.
Meet the astroturfed movement that wants to shut you up, uses Sacramento to do it. New documents reveal Abundance/Yimby funders as self-proclaimed “elite” who hate democracy, boast they “flipped Santa Monica City Council”—where none of them live or vote.
Good news for citizens worried that Karen Bass would simply fence MacArthur Park without asking the community who uses it what they want: we’ve confirmed that because it is landmarked, the Cultural Heritage Commission must discuss any aesthetic changes, with public comment taken. We’ll be there to speak for the 19th century trees, whose roots spread flush up to the edge of the park.
File under: failed stewardship with a silver lining. One of the replica Port of LA Waterfront Red Cars, lost to Ports o’ Call redevelopment, will be moving to Griffith Park’s Travel Town. The matter is to be discussed at the 6/18 RAP Commission hearing.
If the allegations of District Attorney Nathan Hochman, that the Los Angeles Supervisors bankrupted the County by blithely signing off on a largely fraudulent $5B child sex abuse settlement are correct, what other dumb stuff have they done? (ahem, LACMA… which seems to be missing quite a lot.)
In Echo Park, a row of Victorian houses are held vacant for years with vague redevelopment plans, as squatters trash and eventually burn them. Your rent is high and your neighborhood filthy because the city lets bad property owners squat on good housing.
Holland Partner Group appeals haul route restrictions imposed by the Board of Building and Safety Commissioners for removing a mind-boggling 43,125 cubic yards of earth from the Taix French Restaurant site. It’s a fake landmark.
