- California is struggling to determine whether the $24 billion spent on homelessness efforts over the past five years has had any meaningful impact.
- A state audit released Tuesday found the homelessness crisis in many cities is not improving.
- The audit also found that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness stopped tracking the program’s effectiveness in 2021.
California spent $24 billion to fight homelessness over the past five years, but didn’t consistently track whether the huge public spending actually improved the situation, according to a state audit released Tuesday. .
With makeshift tents lining the streets and disrupting business in cities and towns across California, homelessness is one of the most frustrating and seemingly intractable problems in the nation’s most populous state. It is one of the
An estimated 171,000 people are homeless in California, about 30% of all homeless people in the United States.
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Despite spending about $24 billion on homelessness prevention and housing programs from fiscal years 2018 to 2023, the problem did not improve in many cities, according to the state auditor’s report.
Among other things, the report states that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is responsible for coordinating agencies and allocating resources to anti-homelessness programs, will track spending on programs and whether they are working in 2021. announced that it had been cancelled. They also neglected to collect and evaluate outcome data. The audit found a lack of consistent methodology for these programs.
NextFILE – Homeless people wait in line for dinner outside Midnight Mission in the Skid Row neighborhood of Los Angeles on Wednesday, October 25, 2023. California spent $24 billion over five years to combat homelessness, but it was ineffective, a state audit found. Not consistently tracking program results or effectiveness. A report released Tuesday, April 9, 2024, seeks to assess the effectiveness of billions of dollars spent by the state and local cities to address California’s ongoing homelessness crisis. (AP Photo/Jae C. Hong, File)
The audit found that some data on program enrollment and bed inventory in the state system may not be accurate or reliable.
The council was created by lawmakers in 2017 to address the state’s homelessness problem, but it has only ever reported on homelessness spending once, according to the audit. Without reliable and up-to-date data on spending, “states will continue to lack complete and timely information about the ongoing costs and related outcomes of homelessness programs,” the report states.
Democratic state Sen. Dave Cortese, who requested the audit after touring a large homeless encampment in San Jose last year, said the audit represents a “data desert” when it comes to homelessness. The biggest problem, he said, is the lack of transparency at all levels.
“Despite the (comptroller’s office’s) expertise and best efforts, we cannot at this time draw any conclusions about whether the overhead costs are appropriate or whether they are too high,” Cortese said. They did not go so far as to request a cancellation. Leading to future spending on homelessness.
Republican state Sen. Roger Niello said the lack of accountability is a problem.
“California faces an alarming contradiction: Despite spending exorbitant amounts of money, the state’s homeless population is not decreasing,” Niello said in a statement. “These audit findings are a wake-up call to move toward solutions that prioritize self-sufficiency and cost-effectiveness.”
California funds more than 30 programs that address homelessness. The audit evaluated five initiatives and found that only two were “likely to be cost-effective”: efforts to convert hotel and motel rooms into housing and efforts to provide housing-related support. It turns out that there is something.
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The state comptroller also examined homelessness spending in two major cities, San Jose and San Diego, and found that both failed to effectively track income and expenses due to a lack of spending plans.
