California GOP leaders are calling for extra accountability after an audit launched earlier this week indicated that the state spent round $24 billion to tackle the homeless crisis over the previous 5 years however didn’t constantly monitor whether or not the massive outlay of public cash did something to truly enhance the issue.
The state auditor’s report discovered that regardless of roughly $24 billion spent on homeless and housing packages in the course of the 2018-2023 fiscal years, the problem didn’t improve in lots of cities, in response to the state auditor’s report.
Amongst different issues, the report discovered that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH), which is liable for coordinating companies and allocating assets for the homelessness packages, stopped monitoring whether or not the packages have been working in 2021.
It additionally failed to gather and consider final result knowledge for these packages because of the lack of a constant methodology, the audit discovered.
California Meeting Republican Chief James Gallagher laid the blame squarely on the Newsom administration.
“That is customary Gavin Newsom – make a splashy announcement, waste a bunch of taxpayer cash, and utterly fail to ship,” Gallagher mentioned in an announcement to Fox Information Digital.
“Californians are bored with the homeless disaster, and so they’re much more bored with Gavin’s excuses. We’d like outcomes – interval, full cease.”
Republican state Sen. Roger Niello has known as the audit “troubling” however advised Fox Information Digital he “wasn’t terribly stunned.
“The one problem I had with the audit was that the main target was totally on housing and shelter points, which is actually essential, however actually little or no about precise outcomes, getting individuals out of homelessness, not simply into shelter,” he mentioned. “That’s form of half the job, possibly not even fairly half the job. And, in order that was somewhat little bit of a disappointment.”
Democratic state Sen. Dave Cortese, who requested the audit final 12 months after touring a big homeless encampment in San Jose, mentioned the audit “highlights the necessity for improved knowledge and better transparency at each the state and native ranges.”
“Sadly, there’s a balkanized method to knowledge assortment and outcomes, with no centralized system for monitoring our investments,” he mentioned. “This audit underscores the pressing want to determine finest practices and create a blueprint for a way the State of California and our cities can handle our most seen problem.”
Former MLB All-Star Steve Garvey, who’s operating towards Rep. Adam Schiff in California’s U.S. Senate race as a Republican, mentioned it might take “actual political braveness to make obligatory modifications.”
“Since day one, I’ve advocated for a federal audit of California’s homelessness crisis,” he mentioned. “I’m glad that the state has achieved this, however now we’d like actual political braveness to make obligatory modifications. Our unhoused individuals and our taxpayers deserve actual outcomes, no more failed insurance policies.”
Regardless of the audit’s findings, Cal ICH mentioned it has made enhancements in knowledge assortment after AB 977 took impact on January 1, 2023. The legislation requires that grantees of state-funded homelessness packages to enter particular knowledge components associated to people and households into their native Homeless Administration Info System (HMIS).
Nonetheless, Cal ICH is shifting blame to native governments, saying these municipalities have to be held extra accountable as they’re those “primarily liable for implementing these packages and accumulating knowledge on outcomes that the state can use to guage program effectiveness.”
“The Council continues to enhance its capability to make sure that taxpayer {dollars} are spent judiciously and successfully, together with by offering technical assist to native jurisdictions to assist align knowledge requirements and reporting,” Cal ICH mentioned.
