California spent $24B on homeless crisis but didn't track effectiveness: Audit — GOP leaders demand accountability

A state audit released Tuesday revealed that California spent nearly $24 billion during the last five fiscal years to address the homeless crisis but failed to track the effectiveness of the funded programs.

State Republican leaders are demanding answers and accountability from Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom's administration regarding the untracked spending.

The state auditor's report, requested last year by Democratic state Sen. Dave Cortese, revealed that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, the government agency responsible for providing resources to the state's homeless population, did not consistently track or evaluate efforts to end homelessness. Additionally, the audit found that only two of the five state-funded programs meant to address the issue were "likely cost-effective." The other three programs lacked sufficient outcome data to assess their cost-effectiveness, it noted.

"In general, this report concludes that the State must do more to assess the cost-effectiveness of its homelessness programs," wrote California State Auditor Grant Parks. "Although Cal ICH reported in 2023 financial information covering fiscal years 2018-19 through 2020-21 related to all state-funded homelessness programs, it has not continued to track and report this data since that time, despite the significant amount of additional funding the State awarded to these efforts in the past two years."

Parks stated that Cal ICH's plan to end homelessness also lacks "a consistent method for gathering information on the costs and outcomes for individual programs."

The state auditor recommended that lawmakers require state agencies and Cal ICH to report on costs and outcomes.

Sen. Cortese acknowledged that the audit "highlights the need for improved data and greater transparency at both the state and local levels."

"Unfortunately, there is a balkanized approach to data collection and outcomes, with no centralized system for tracking our investments," Cortese said. "This audit underscores the urgent need to establish best practices and create a blueprint for how the State of California and our cities can address our most visible challenge."

California Assembly Republican leader James Gallagher blasted Newsom for failing to solve the state's growing homeless problem.

"This is standard Gavin Newsom – make a splashy announcement, waste a bunch of taxpayer money, and completely fail to deliver," Gallagher told Fox News Digital. "Californians are tired of the homeless crisis, and they're even more tired of Gavin's excuses. We need results – period, full stop."

Republican state Sen. Roger Niello told Fox News Digital that he "wasn't terribly surprised" by the audit's results but noted its findings were "troubling."

"The one issue I had with the audit was that the focus was mostly on housing and shelter issues, which is certainly important, but really very little about actual results, getting people out of homelessness, not just into shelter," Niello stated. "That's sort of half the job, maybe not even quite half the job. And, so that was a little bit of a disappointment."

Cal ICH responded to the audit, stating it "generally agrees with the recommendations provided by CSA and will take appropriate measures to implement where possible." It also insisted that local municipalities are "primarily responsible for implementing these programs and collecting data on outcomes that the state can use to evaluate program effectiveness," Fox News Digital reported.

"The Council continues to improve its ability to ensure that taxpayer dollars are spent judiciously and effectively, including by providing technical support to local jurisdictions to help align data standards and reporting," Cal ICH added.

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