Mayor Karen Bass graded her own performance on homelessness a B+ on Thursday, Sept. 17, even as the city's homeless population grew.

Bass made the self-assessment at a "Pancakes and Politics" forum hosted by KTLA and nonprofit Hope the Mission at The Original Pantry Café in downtown Los Angeles. She was the third and final mayoral candidate to appear at the two-day event.

"I would give myself a B+," Bass told the audience. She added that "too many people are on our streets" and called homelessness "still an emergency."

The grade arrives at a difficult moment.

The 2026 point-in-time count found 45,194 people experiencing homelessness in the city, a 3.4% increase from the prior year, according to the Daily News. Unsheltered homelessness rose 7.9%, to an estimated 29,115 people.

Bass's Inside Safe program has spent $300 million since 2022 and moved more than 6,000 people into hotels and motels. But a Los Angeles Times report found 40% of those initially sheltered returned to homelessness, according to the KTLA forum discussion.

Bass stepped down from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) Commission on Sept. 9 after joining the board in late 2023. She was the first L.A. mayor to appoint herself to the panel. An LAist analysis found she missed 25 of 47 meetings during her tenure.

In a Sept. 9 KFI AM 640 radio interview, Bass called LAHSA "a completely dysfunctional construct," according to LA Magazine.

On Sept. 15, Bass declined a summons to testify before the House Subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, which is investigating alleged waste, fraud and abuse of federal homelessness funds. Her attorney, David Michaelson, told the panel Bass was "unavailable." She was instead at a groundbreaking ceremony for the fire-damaged Palisades Recreation Center, the SGV Tribune reported.

Rep. Tim Burchett, the subcommittee chairman, warned that "every tool" would be used to compel Bass's testimony, according to LA Magazine.

Federal pressure on Bass goes further than the hearing. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development suspended further federal funding to LAHSA in June, citing financial mismanagement. A federal judge initially blocked the suspension, but the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overruled that injunction, according to the Westside Current. LAHSA has received more than $1 billion in federal funds since 2021. Nearly $241 million already earmarked by Congress for the Los Angeles region is at stake.

On Wednesday, Sept. 16, the LAHSA Commission voted not to seek renewal as the lead agency coordinating federal homelessness funds. The DOJ also arrested two people that day involved with nonprofits accused of misusing more than $7.5 million in taxpayer funds connected to LAHSA. Bass addressed the arrests at the forum, saying anyone who steals from those in need "should be held accountable to the fullest extent of the law."

Her mayoral challenger, Councilmember Nithya Raman, has framed the race around oversight. At a Sept. 9 news conference, Raman said the city does not have a spending shortage on homelessness but rather "a crisis of accountability."

The general election is Tuesday, Nov. 3. Applications for a new lead agency to replace LAHSA are due Friday, Sept. 25.