Supervisors appoint first director of county’s new Department of Homeless Services and Housing 

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News release 

The L.A. County Board of Supervisors has approved the appointment of Sarah Mahin as the first director of the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing, the county’s consolidated department focused on homelessness solutions, according to a news release from the county. 

In her role, Mahin will help lead the county’s realignment of its homelessness and housing services system into the new department, overseeing the transition of services from multiple county departments into a central agency, the release said. 

“We need bold, effective leadership to tackle the homelessness crisis and I believe Sarah Mahin is the right choice to lead our county’s new Department of Homeless Services and Housing,” Supervisor Kathryn Barger, chair of the Board of Supervisors and also the Santa Clarita Valley’s representative on the board, said in the release. “Her decades of experience and proven ability to deliver system-wide results will help us build a more accountable, coordinated response. I’m confident she will bring the focus and innovation this moment demands.”  

Mahin has served as the director of Housing for Health, the division in the L.A. County Department of Health Services that is the blueprint for the new Department of Homeless Services and Housing, the release said.  

For the past six years, Mahin has served on the leadership team of HFH, where she oversees a $875 million budget, more than 600 staff and contracts with hundreds of community-based organizations, the release said. 

Mahin has worked in homeless services for two decades, including at the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs and Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority. At LAHSA, she served as the director of policy and systems and coordinated services across hundreds of organizations and multiple county and city departments. 

“I am honored to serve as the inaugural director of the Department of Homeless Services and Housing, and I am grateful to the Board of Supervisors,” Mahin said in the release. “For me, this work has always been rooted in innovation, collaboration, and accountability to the people and communities that we serve. I am committed to leading with those values at the forefront. Together — with housed and unhoused neighbors, frontline workers, community partners and local leaders — we will build a department grounded in dignity, inclusion and real solutions that meet this moment and the future.” 

Mahin earned a master of public affairs degree from the University of Texas at Austin and a bachelor’s degree in government from Georgetown University. 

On April 1, the Board of Supervisors approved a motion, authored by Supervisor Lindsey Horvath and co-authored by Barger, to establish the county’s first-ever department focused on homelessness solutions. On July 1, the board approved the new department name.  

“The goal of this new department is increased accountability, improved service delivery for people experiencing homelessness, and reducing the burden on the providers who serve them every day,” the release said.  

DHSH will be officially established by Jan. 1, 2026. 

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