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An LA nonprofit bankrolled with millions in taxpayer funds through mayoral candidate Nithya Raman’s eviction-defense program more than tripled its revenue in five years, even as reported housing and eviction-defense spending plunged, a California Post investigation found.
The Legal Aid Foundation of Los Angeles (LAFLA) saw its annual revenue soar from $17.6 million in 2019 to $58.6 million in 2024, while its net assets doubled to nearly $44 million, according to its IRS returns.
But City Attorney Hydee Feldstein Soto’s office found that LAFLA’s reported housing and eviction-defense spending plunged from $17.6 million in 2022 to $4.4 million in 2024.
Feldstein Soto is now demanding a full audit, warning that $55 million to $87 million in city and county funding cannot be reconciled with the nonprofit’s public financial records.
LAFLA fiercely disputes the findings, insisting every dollar is accounted for.
The figures provide a closer look at the nonprofit’s finances a day after The Post reported on the City Attorney’s Oct. 9 findings, which raised questions about years of taxpayer-funded contracts.
“Taxpayers deserve transparency and accountability and to know that their money is being used as intended, in this case to protect vulnerable tenants at risk of unlawful detainers in the City of Los Angeles,” Feldstein Soto told The Post Thursday.
LAFLA helps operate Stay Housed LA, a city and county program providing free legal assistance to renters facing eviction.
The program is a signature achievement for Councilmember Nithya Raman, who is challenging Mayor Karen Bass in the Nov. 3 election and has made tenant protections a centerpiece of her campaign.
The council approved a $177 million tenant-protection contract with a 12-1 vote on March 10, following a closed-door briefing with Feldstein Soto, as previously reported by The Post. $106.6 million of that was earmarked for LAFLA over three years.
“Graffiti contractors are required to provide more documentation just to get paid,” Councilmember Monica Rodriguez warned during the debate.
The financial questions stretch back to LAFLA’s original $7 million eviction-defense contract in 2021, awarded without competitive bidding under a pandemic emergency exception.
According to the City Attorney’s report, nine amendments and extensions eventually pushed that contract beyond $90 million, without the city obtaining or enforcing all the detailed financial reporting required under the original agreement.
Of LAFLA’s $58.6 million in revenue in 2024, approximately $54.1 million came from government contracts, accounting for more than 92%.
The nonprofit also reported $58.9 million in total expenses that year and nearly $44 million in net assets.
The latest publicly available federal tax return reviewed covers 2024. A 2025 Form 990 was not available, meaning the City Attorney’s analysis of tax-return spending focuses on earlier years.
City and county governments provided LAFLA approximately $103.8 million between 2020 and 2024, according to Feldstein Soto’s Oct. 9 report.
During those same five years, LAFLA’s tax returns reported $48.9 million in spending under housing and eviction defense, according to the City Attorney’s analysis.
That spending peaked at $17.6 million in 2022, fell to $8.9 million in 2023 and dropped again to $4.4 million in 2024, the report states.
The City Attorney calculated a potential discrepancy of $54.9 million to $86.6 million between government funding and spending disclosed under the categories examined.
LAFLA has pushed back against those conclusions.
Barbara Schultz, the nonprofit’s director of housing justice, previously called the City Attorney’s claims “inaccurate and misleading,” maintaining that the organization answered numerous requests for information and submitted monthly reports to the city’s Housing Department.
She also said that attorney-client confidentiality prevents LAFLA from releasing certain information about the tenants it represents.
Housing Department officials have also defended the nonprofit, saying that it satisfied their requests for financial information.
Despite the ongoing dispute, LAFLA’s new $106.6 million city contract has been signed, allowing funding to move forward.
Feldstein Soto maintains that additional documentation is still needed to reconcile the public funding with the nonprofit’s reported spending.
Her report calls for a full audit but does not identify who will conduct it or when it will begin.