Leroy N. Soetoro
2024-04-13 18:48:09 UTC
https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2024-04-09/state-audit-
california-fails-to-track-homeless-spending-billions-dollars
SACRAMENTO California has failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of
its vast spending on homelessness programs, according to a state audit
released Tuesday, raising questions about whether billions of dollars
meant to thwart the crisis has been worth it as the number of people
living unsheltered has soared.
A new report from the California State Auditors Office found that a state
council created to oversee the implementation of homelessness programs has
not consistently tracked spending or the outcomes of those programs.
That dearth of information means the state lacks pertinent data and that
policymakers are likely to struggle to understand homelessness programs
ongoing costs and achieved outcomes, the audit says.
The state must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its
homelessness programs, California State Auditor Grant Parks said in a
letter sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers Tuesday accompanying
the audit.
California has spent $20 billion over the past five years dedicated to the
states homelessness crisis, including funneling money toward supporting
shelters and subsidizing rent. Still, homelessness grew 6% in 2023 from
the year prior, to more than 180,000 people, according to federal point
in time data. Since 2013, homelessness has grown in California by 53%.
The California Interagency Council on Homelessness created in 2016 to
oversee the states implementation of programs dedicated to the worsening
crisis has not ensured the accuracy of the information in a state data
system and has not evaluated homelessness programs success, according to
the state auditor.
The audit recommends that the state Legislature require that the council
report spending plans and outcomes of state funded homelessness programs
annually and to make that information public. It recommends a type of
scorecard to track the success of programs.
The council consists of state officials including Health and Human
Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly and California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation Secretary Jeff Macomber.
The governors office referred questions about the audit to the California
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, which cited a law Newsom
signed in 2021 that requires entities receiving state homeless funds to
collect data. Since the law took effect last year, the California
Interagency Council on Homelessness has made significant progress,
spokesperson Russ Heimerich said in an email.
The State Auditors findings highlight the significant progress made in
recent years to address homelessness at the state level, including the
completion of a statewide assessment of homelessness programs. But it also
underscores a need to continue to hold local governments accountable, who
are primarily responsible for implementing these programs and collecting
data on outcomes that the state can use to evaluate program
effectiveness, he wrote on behalf of the California Interagency Council
on Homelessness.
The response echoes frustrations among state and local leaders over which
level of government is responsible for solving Californias homeless
problem. In 2022, Newsom got tough on mayors when he rejected every local
homeless action plan in the state, deeming them not ambitious enough.
Out of five state programs analyzed, auditors found that two were likely
cost effective: Project Homekey Newsoms COVID driven project to convert
hotels into housing and the CalWORKs Housing Support Program, which
offers financial assistance and other services to low income residents.
The others analyzed, including a state rental assistance program, could
not be reviewed because the state has not collected sufficient data on
the outcomes of these programs, according to auditors.
Collecting and reporting all state homelessness programs financial data
allows for more complete and timely information about the states overall
spending on homelessness. It also makes possible greater coordination of
homelessness programs funding and may enable cost-effectiveness
comparisons, the audit stated.
Based on the data available, the audit also revealed that most people
involved in state programs are placed into interim housing such as
shelters and do not end up in permanent housing.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers including state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San
Jose) and Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) requested that the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee authorize a state audit of the efficacy of
state homeless funding last year as Californias unhoused population the
nations largest has continued to grow despite record state funding
invested to combat it.
The biggest conclusion that the auditors came back with is theres just
inadequate transparency and data and information available, Cortese told
reporters in Sacramento on Tuesday.
Cortese said the audit will act as a blueprint for the Legislature to
consider stricter reporting on homelessness spending in the future and
said it should not deter the state from funding homelessness responses.
I think our constituents want us to continue to invest, and I think our
constituents are going to want us to continue to audit the effectiveness
of our efforts, he said. I dont think its a time to stop.
State Republicans chastised the Newsom administration for the lack of data
and said its proof that Democrat-backed strategies are not working as the
state grapples with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
California is facing a concerning paradox: despite an exorbitant amount
of dollars spent, the states homeless population is not slowing down,
Sen. Roger Niello (R-Roseville) said in a statement. These audit results
are a wake-up call for a shift toward solutions that prioritize self-
sufficiency and cost effectiveness.
Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara), chair of the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee, said Tuesday he plans to conduct an oversight
hearing to further investigate the audit results.
Tuesdays audit comes just weeks after voters approved Proposition 1,
Newsoms $6.4-billion bond measure that aims to address one aspect of
homelessness by building more treatment facilities for people who have
problems with drug addiction or mental illness.
Another part of the audit examined spending by the cities of San José and
San Diego, which have both struggled to help unhoused residents. The audit
found that neither of those cities have evaluated the effectiveness of
their programs despite millions in funding to respond to homelessness.
San José and San Diego identified hundreds of millions of dollars in
spending of federal, state, and local funding in recent years to respond
to the homelessness crisis. However, neither city could definitively
identify all its revenues and expenditures related to its homelessness
efforts because neither has an established mechanism, such as a spending
plan, to track and report its spending, the audit states. The absence of
such a mechanism limits the transparency and accountability of the cities
uses of funding to address homelessness.
Cortese whose Silicon Valley district has long been home to some of the
nations largest homelessness encampments, a stark juxtaposition against
the backdrop of stunning wealth said the findings regarding the two
major cities could be a harbinger for future data discoveries.
If those two cities are experiencing issues or if theres symptoms of
challenges that we need to correct, that probably exists in many, many
other cities in the state of California, he said.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.
california-fails-to-track-homeless-spending-billions-dollars
SACRAMENTO California has failed to adequately monitor the outcomes of
its vast spending on homelessness programs, according to a state audit
released Tuesday, raising questions about whether billions of dollars
meant to thwart the crisis has been worth it as the number of people
living unsheltered has soared.
A new report from the California State Auditors Office found that a state
council created to oversee the implementation of homelessness programs has
not consistently tracked spending or the outcomes of those programs.
That dearth of information means the state lacks pertinent data and that
policymakers are likely to struggle to understand homelessness programs
ongoing costs and achieved outcomes, the audit says.
The state must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its
homelessness programs, California State Auditor Grant Parks said in a
letter sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom and state lawmakers Tuesday accompanying
the audit.
California has spent $20 billion over the past five years dedicated to the
states homelessness crisis, including funneling money toward supporting
shelters and subsidizing rent. Still, homelessness grew 6% in 2023 from
the year prior, to more than 180,000 people, according to federal point
in time data. Since 2013, homelessness has grown in California by 53%.
The California Interagency Council on Homelessness created in 2016 to
oversee the states implementation of programs dedicated to the worsening
crisis has not ensured the accuracy of the information in a state data
system and has not evaluated homelessness programs success, according to
the state auditor.
The audit recommends that the state Legislature require that the council
report spending plans and outcomes of state funded homelessness programs
annually and to make that information public. It recommends a type of
scorecard to track the success of programs.
The council consists of state officials including Health and Human
Services Secretary Dr. Mark Ghaly and California Department of Corrections
and Rehabilitation Secretary Jeff Macomber.
The governors office referred questions about the audit to the California
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency, which cited a law Newsom
signed in 2021 that requires entities receiving state homeless funds to
collect data. Since the law took effect last year, the California
Interagency Council on Homelessness has made significant progress,
spokesperson Russ Heimerich said in an email.
The State Auditors findings highlight the significant progress made in
recent years to address homelessness at the state level, including the
completion of a statewide assessment of homelessness programs. But it also
underscores a need to continue to hold local governments accountable, who
are primarily responsible for implementing these programs and collecting
data on outcomes that the state can use to evaluate program
effectiveness, he wrote on behalf of the California Interagency Council
on Homelessness.
The response echoes frustrations among state and local leaders over which
level of government is responsible for solving Californias homeless
problem. In 2022, Newsom got tough on mayors when he rejected every local
homeless action plan in the state, deeming them not ambitious enough.
Out of five state programs analyzed, auditors found that two were likely
cost effective: Project Homekey Newsoms COVID driven project to convert
hotels into housing and the CalWORKs Housing Support Program, which
offers financial assistance and other services to low income residents.
The others analyzed, including a state rental assistance program, could
not be reviewed because the state has not collected sufficient data on
the outcomes of these programs, according to auditors.
Collecting and reporting all state homelessness programs financial data
allows for more complete and timely information about the states overall
spending on homelessness. It also makes possible greater coordination of
homelessness programs funding and may enable cost-effectiveness
comparisons, the audit stated.
Based on the data available, the audit also revealed that most people
involved in state programs are placed into interim housing such as
shelters and do not end up in permanent housing.
A bipartisan group of lawmakers including state Sen. Dave Cortese (D-San
Jose) and Assemblyman Josh Hoover (R-Folsom) requested that the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee authorize a state audit of the efficacy of
state homeless funding last year as Californias unhoused population the
nations largest has continued to grow despite record state funding
invested to combat it.
The biggest conclusion that the auditors came back with is theres just
inadequate transparency and data and information available, Cortese told
reporters in Sacramento on Tuesday.
Cortese said the audit will act as a blueprint for the Legislature to
consider stricter reporting on homelessness spending in the future and
said it should not deter the state from funding homelessness responses.
I think our constituents want us to continue to invest, and I think our
constituents are going to want us to continue to audit the effectiveness
of our efforts, he said. I dont think its a time to stop.
State Republicans chastised the Newsom administration for the lack of data
and said its proof that Democrat-backed strategies are not working as the
state grapples with a multibillion-dollar budget deficit.
California is facing a concerning paradox: despite an exorbitant amount
of dollars spent, the states homeless population is not slowing down,
Sen. Roger Niello (R-Roseville) said in a statement. These audit results
are a wake-up call for a shift toward solutions that prioritize self-
sufficiency and cost effectiveness.
Assemblymember Gregg Hart (D-Santa Barbara), chair of the Joint
Legislative Audit Committee, said Tuesday he plans to conduct an oversight
hearing to further investigate the audit results.
Tuesdays audit comes just weeks after voters approved Proposition 1,
Newsoms $6.4-billion bond measure that aims to address one aspect of
homelessness by building more treatment facilities for people who have
problems with drug addiction or mental illness.
Another part of the audit examined spending by the cities of San José and
San Diego, which have both struggled to help unhoused residents. The audit
found that neither of those cities have evaluated the effectiveness of
their programs despite millions in funding to respond to homelessness.
San José and San Diego identified hundreds of millions of dollars in
spending of federal, state, and local funding in recent years to respond
to the homelessness crisis. However, neither city could definitively
identify all its revenues and expenditures related to its homelessness
efforts because neither has an established mechanism, such as a spending
plan, to track and report its spending, the audit states. The absence of
such a mechanism limits the transparency and accountability of the cities
uses of funding to address homelessness.
Cortese whose Silicon Valley district has long been home to some of the
nations largest homelessness encampments, a stark juxtaposition against
the backdrop of stunning wealth said the findings regarding the two
major cities could be a harbinger for future data discoveries.
If those two cities are experiencing issues or if theres symptoms of
challenges that we need to correct, that probably exists in many, many
other cities in the state of California, he said.
--
We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.
Durham Report: The FBI has an integrity problem. It has none.
No collusion - Special Counsel Robert Swan Mueller III, March 2019.
Officially made Nancy Pelosi a two-time impeachment loser.
Thank you for cleaning up the disaster of the 2008-2017 Obama / Biden
fiasco, President Trump.
Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.
President Trump boosted the economy, reduced illegal invasions, appointed
dozens of judges and three SCOTUS justices.