Democrats and Republicans expressed frustration Monday as they grilled Gov. Gavin Newsom’s high housing officers in a tense legislative listening to about how billions of state {dollars} have been spent on the worsening homelessness disaster.
The listening to by the Meeting finances subcommittee on accountability and oversight got here after a state audit launched final month discovered that California has did not adequately observe the outcomes of its huge spending on homelessness applications, elevating questions on efficacy and transparency.
California has spent greater than $20 billion over the previous 5 years to assist folks get off the streets, however homelessness has continued to rise — leaping by 6% in 2023 to greater than 180,000 folks. California has been the state with the biggest homeless inhabitants for greater than a decade, in response to the newest federal knowledge.
The audit raised issues within the Legislature about whether or not the spending has labored and will hamper requests by cities and counties for more cash to handle the disaster because the state faces an enormous finances deficit.
Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) hammered Newsom officers Monday, demanding knowledge concerning how particular applications have labored to get homeless folks sheltered. The officers repeatedly stated the knowledge just isn’t but accessible.
“You come to a finances committee, and there’s no numbers,” Ting stated. “How many individuals have we helped? How many individuals are off the road? … As a result of that’s what the general public needs to know. What’s the cash been spent on?”
Meghan Marshall, govt officer of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness, stated the system is present process a “transformation,” and officers are nonetheless engaged on reporting necessities mandated by a regulation Newsom signed in 2021.
New knowledge about how homelessness funding has been spent ought to be accessible as quickly as July, Marshall stated, including that the state is “working by means of knowledge high quality points.”
A annoyed Ting stated, “That feels like an excuse.”
Final month’s state audit discovered that Marshall’s council has not evaluated program success or persistently monitored spending. The audit stated California “should do extra to evaluate the cost-effectiveness of its homelessness applications.”
Megan Kirkeby, a deputy director for the California Division of Housing and Neighborhood Growth, stated cities and counties that acquired some grants weren’t beforehand required to point out the state how they spent homelessness program funding.
“I don’t suppose that’s one thing to be pleased with. I don’t suppose that’s one thing we be ok with. I don’t suppose that’s one thing that we settle for,” Kirkeby stated, including that the state has made important progress and is in “the primary phases of a tradition change.”
The audit outcomes have rekindled debate about state and native officers’ roles in dealing with the disaster.
Final month, Newsom, a Democrat, known as for extra oversight of cities and counties and threatened to withhold homelessness funding from people who fail to produce outcomes, saying, “I’m not thinking about funding failure any longer.”
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg — all Democrats — and different leaders of California’s largest cities traveled to the state Capitol final month to foyer for extra homelessness funding.
Newsom has proposed ending grants which were given to some cities and counties since 2019 to fight homelessness, whereas sustaining different applications devoted to the disaster, as he and lawmakers negotiate the way to reduce the finances deficit.
Gloria on Monday urged lawmakers to extend that funding by $1 billion, pointing to just lately compiled knowledge displaying that at the least 150,000 folks have been served by means of applications in Fresno, Riverside and different cities.
“We welcome being held accountable,” Gloria stated.
Republicans pointed to the shortage of knowledge because the fallout of the Democrats’ agency grip on energy in Sacramento, with some suggesting that the spending has gone unchecked due to one-party rule.
“The lengthy and in need of it’s now we have to cease measuring success by what number of {dollars} we’re spending,” stated Assembymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom), who was amongst those that known as for the state audit. “I’m annoyed by the shortage of urgency that I see at this time and the shortage of knowledge.”
Democrats, too, voiced frustrations with metropolis and county leaders who’re asking for more cash — and with Newsom officers who couldn’t provide them with the knowledge they sought.
“We are able to’t simply be shoveling cash at an issue with out figuring out if we’re spending the cash correctly, in essentially the most cost-effective means,” Assemblymember Al Muratsuchi (D-Rolling Hills Estates) stated. “This shouldn’t be a purpose for us to cease addressing this disaster, however we have to get smarter by way of how we’re spending the cash.”
