Los Angeles cannot track money spent on homeless programs, independent audit finds
An independent audit commissioned by a federal judge raised serious concerns about how Los Angeles city and county are handling the billions of taxpayer dollars spent on the homelessness crisis.
Sergio Moreno's business sits in the heart of Skid Row, where he sees homeless people overdosing on drugs.
"There were days we'd see two to three overdoses," he said.
The things Moreno has witnessed made him suspicious on how the city has managed the response to the homeless crisis.
"It's not dollars we're talking about," he said. "Those dollars translate into people's lives."
His feelings have been heightened following the independent audit released on Thursday. It claims that Los Angeles city and county leaders cannot account for the billions of taxpayer dollars spent on the homeless crisis last year. The LA Alliance for Human Rights pressed for a series of audits in recent years.
"It's heartbreaking," said Elizabeth Mitchell, an attorney for LA Alliance for Human Rights. "It's atrocious. It's immoral. It's unjustified. But, what it is not, is surprising."
Many of the problems identified were at the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, known as LAHSA.
The auditors said the agency's paper trail was so poor that tracking the $2.5 billion spent last year was nearly impossible.
"It is an actual infrastructure disaster," Mitchell said. "The truth is everybody is in charge and nobody is in charge. There are no checks and balances."
The office of LA County Supervisor Linsey Horvath called for accountability, results and an end to this "nightmare."
"This audit is another reminder of what we already know - the current homelessness services system is broken," she said in a statement. "We need accountability and results right now, which is why I'm proceeding with the creation of a consolidated County department that will end this nightmare."
The president of the Downtown LA Neighborhood Council believes there are other record-keeping problems.
"Even the homeless count is not accurate," Claudia Olviveira said. "Nothing is accurate and based on data."
Mayor Karen Bass' office said they are working with their county counterparts and LAHSA to improve the system.
"The broken system the audit identifies is what I've been fighting against since I took office," her office said in a statement. "This audit validates our work to change what's festered for decades. We still have work to do, but changes we've made helped turn around years of increases in homelessness to a decrease by 10% – the first one in years."
LAHSA did not respond to KCAL News' request for comment.
