SACRAMENTO, California — California spent $24 billion over five years to address homelessness but did not consistently track the outcomes or effectiveness of its programs, the state audit released Tuesday found.
The report seeks to assess how effectively the state and local cities have spent billions of dollars to address California’s ongoing homelessness crisis.
An estimated 171,000 people are homeless in California, representing roughly 30% of all homeless people in the US. Despite spending roughly $24 billion on homelessness and housing programs in the 2018-2023 budget years, the problem has not improved. many cities.
The report found, among other things, that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, which is responsible for coordinating agencies and allocating resources for homelessness programs, stopped tracking program spending and outcomes in 2021, despite ongoing financing from the state. It also failed to collect and evaluate outcome data from these programs due to the lack of a consistent methodology.
As makeshift tents line the streets and disrupt businesses in communities across the state, homelessness has become one of the most frustrating issues in California.
The report notes that some data on the number of program participants and bed inventory in the state system may not be accurate or reliable.
The council, which was created by lawmakers to help the state address the homelessness problem, has also reported on homelessness spending only once since its creation in 2017, according to the report.
Without reliable and up-to-date data on its spending, “the state will continue to lack complete and timely information on the ongoing costs and related outcomes of its homelessness programs,” the audit said.
California funds more than thirty programs to address homelessness. The audit reviews five initiatives and finds that only two of them – efforts to convert hotel and motel rooms into housing and housing-related support programs – are “likely to be cost-effective.” The remaining programs, which have received a combined $9.4 billion since 2020, did not have sufficient data to be fully assessed, the report said.
The state auditor also reviewed homelessness spending in two major cities, San Jose and San Diego, and found that both failed to effectively track revenues and expenses due to the lack of spending plans.
