California Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Homeless Crisis Center is in limbo after state audit report reveals city council failed to track how billions of dollars were spent on crisis efforts over the past five years After that, the responsibility was transferred to local governments.
A senior spokesperson for the California Interagency Council (CICH), which coordinates the state’s homeless program, told Fox News Digital on Wednesday that the audit results “highlight significant progress in recent years in addressing homelessness at the state level. A statewide evaluation of homeless programs has been completed.”
The spokesperson added that local governments are “primarily responsible for implementing these programs and collecting data on outcomes that the state can use to evaluate the effectiveness of the programs.”
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Homeless camps line the streets of Oakland, California, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Homelessness continues to plague the city as neighborhood businesses close due to safety concerns. (DWS on Fox News Digital)
“The Council is committed to improving its ability to ensure that taxpayer funds are used wisely and effectively, including by providing technical assistance to local jurisdictions to help harmonize data standards and reporting. “We continue to do so,” the spokesperson said.
But the state comptroller’s office found that nine state agencies spent a combined $24 billion in state funds over the past five years to administer at least 30 programs dedicated to tackling the homelessness crisis. He said Newsom’s Homeless Council would be “responsible for coordinating, developing and evaluating policy.” The efforts of these nine institutions. ”
The state’s independent audit released Tuesday noted that CICH, which is required by law to report financials related to all state-funded homelessness programs, stopped reporting in 2021.
Over the past five years, CICH did not consistently track whether the funds actually improved the situation, the audit concluded. The lack of a consistent methodology also precluded the collection and evaluation of outcome data for these programs.
“The state must do more to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of homelessness programs,” the state auditor said in a letter to the governor.
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Homeless camps line the streets of Oakland, California, on Friday, March 15, 2024. Homelessness continues to plague the city as neighborhood businesses close due to safety concerns. (DWS on Fox News Digital)
Billions of dollars spent on homelessness and housing programs from fiscal years 2018 to 2023 did not improve the problem in many cities, according to the state auditor’s report. Since 2013, the number of homeless people has soared by more than 53%. The state estimates that about 180,000 people will be homeless in the state in 2023, more than anywhere else in the United States.
“Furthermore, they have not aligned their action plans to address homelessness with statutory targets, nor have they ensured that accurate, complete and comparable financial and performance information is collected from homelessness programs.” states. state audit.
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Under Gov. Gavin Newsom, the number of homeless people in California increased from 151,000 in 2019 to 181,000 in 2024. (Fox)
The audit found that some data on program enrollment and bed inventory in the state system may not be accurate or reliable.
CICH was created in 2017 to track data on homelessness in the state, but has only produced one report on homelessness spending since its creation.
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The Associated Press contributed to this report.
