Every year, Los Angeles spends enormous sums to house people experiencing homelessness, and every year residents ask 2 questions that rarely get a straight answer: how much is this actually costing us as taxpayers and are the intended recipients receiving it? This article aims to answer both in plain language that anyone can understand using facts from the government's own reporting.

Kahn Scolnick — Federalist Society member and named partner at Gibson Dunn Crutcher — defended Los Angeles in federal court over its homelessness fraud while simultaneously working as Board President of the Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles, the nonprofit collecting those same dollars. Behind this conflict of interest stands the hidden hand of the Federalist Society and international finance.