LOS ANGELES—The Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority’s (LAHSA) executive director submitted her resignation letter on April 25, citing disagreements over compensation for staff.
Heidi Marston noted that LAHSA previously paid employees as low as $33,119 a year, and as executive director she raised the 196 lowest compensated employees’ pay to $50,000 a year in March 2021.
“The employees of the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority should not make so little that they qualify for homeless services themselves,” she said.
Along with increasing the compensation floor for LAHSA’s employees, Marston also stopped increasing the pay of the 10 highest-paid employees, according to the letter.
Following her decision, she said she was accused of “undermining management’s position” in labor negotiations. She added that service providers believed she was trying to “poach” LAHSA’s staff.
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