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M O N D AY, A U G U S T 07- A U G U S T 13, 2023
V O L U M E 9,
N O. 131
LA council committee expresses frustration about homelessness data
Orange County judge arrested in shooting death of wife
By City News Service
By City News Service
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Los Angeles City committee Thursday expressed its continued frustration with the lack of data related to its efforts to address homelessness — with some members saying they are considering halting further funds to the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority until they get access to that information. In its fifth report to the council’s Housing and Homelessness Committee Wednesday afternoon, Mayor Karen Bass’ office, LAHSA representatives and the chief administrative officer provided details on homelessness spending as well as data on the mayor’s Inside Safe initiative. Matt Szabo, city administrative officer, informed the panel that LAHSA developed a data module within the Homeless Management Information System, or HMIS, to track key metrics of the mayor’s Inside Safe initiative, an effort to bring unhoused Angelenos inside to motels and address encampments. The data also covers a number of individuals who, through Inside Safe, are currently permanently housed and those currently in interim housing, those who exited the program and those who are being served from the streets. “My office and the mayor’s office continue to work with LAHSA and service providers to receive leveraged funding information which will be included in future reports,” Szabo said. “I know this has been something that this committee has asked for each time before ... we are still working on that information.” Councilwoman Nithya Raman, chair of the housing committee, noted the report “increased in length, but hasn’t changed significantly.”
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Los Angeles City Hall looms over a nearby homeless encampment. | Photo courtesy of Ron Reiring/ Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Councilman Bob Blumenfield, a member of the committee, thanked the mayor’s efforts to obtain data from LAHSA while also keeping track of the same data. “There’s much more improvement to data collecting on the front end, but there’s a lot more work to do in terms of the exit data, not only for Inside Safe participants but for those in the tiny home program .” Officials said while they continue to make improve-
ments in their data collecting, there are gaps in the exit data. Blumenfield said that presented a “big problem,” as the city may be paying for rooms without anybody being in there. “That’s horrifying, so we could be paying for weeks with for an empty room when somebody left two weeks earlier, and we could be using that room to house someone,” he added. Mercedes Marques, the mayor’s chief of housing
and homelessness solutions, noted that collecting exit data is a requirement, but it has not been completely followed through, citing capacity issues with service providers. Marquez said the mayor’s office would need to provide training to address that issue. Marquez reassured the committee that the mayor’s office is “constantly” verifying invoices and checking in See Homelessness Page 28
range County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson was arrested on suspicion of murder in the fatal shooting of his wife at their Anaheim Hills home, authorities said Friday. Anaheim Police Department officers arrested Ferguson, 72, after they were called to his home just after 8 p.m. Thursday in the 8500 block of East Canyon Vista Drive regarding reports of a shooting. Inside the home, officers found 65-year-old Sheryl Ferguson, the judge’s wife, suffering from at least one gunshot wound, said Anaheim police Sgt. Jonathan McClintock. Sheryl Ferguson was pronounced dead at the scene. Judge Ferguson was booked into the Anaheim Police Department’s Detention Facility on suspicion of murder and was held on $1 million bail, McClintock said. Other details were not released by police. The investigation was ongoing. “Our thoughts go to the family,” Orange County Superior Court Presiding Judge Maria Hernandez said in a statement Friday morning. “We all pray for their comfort during this trying time,” Hernandez said. “Although no case has been filed with our court, when appropriate, we will take all necessary steps to ensure full compliance with our legal and ethical obligations. As this is a pending matter still under investigation, the court is unable to provide any further information at this time.” Orange County Superior Court leaders were advised of the arrest on Thursday night by Anaheim police, Hernandez said. Law enforcement sources told the Los Angeles Times that a son of the judge and his wife were at the home.
Orange County Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Ferguson. | Photo courtesy of Anaheim Police Department
Ferguson and his wife had two sons, Kevin and Phillip, both adults. Ferguson, a native of Oakland, earned a bachelor’s degree in biological sciences and social ecology from UC Irvine in 1973. He earned his law degree in 1982 from Western State College of Law, beginning his legal career the following year in the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, where he later became a senior prosecutor assigned to the Major Narcotics Enforcement Team. He was president of the North Orange County Bar Association from 2012-14. The Orange County Narcotics Officers Association named him prosecutor of the year four times. He became a judge in 2015. In 2017, he was admonished by the state Commission on Judicial Performance for comments he made on Facebook about a prosecutor who was campaigning to be a jurist and for maintaining “friends” status with three defense attorneys who had cases before him. Sheryl Ferguson previously worked for the Santa Barbara and Orange County probation departments and later for the American Funds Service Company for almost 20 years prior to becoming a full-time mother.