SACRAMENTO – Senator Brian Jones (R-Santee) and Assemblyman Kevin Kiley (R-Rocklin) announced today that they have requested a statewide audit of homelessness spending in California. Joining them as coauthors on the request are Assemblymembers Phillip Chen, Steven Choi, James Gallagher, Tom Lackey, and Jay Obernolte. The Joint Legislative Audit Committee will consider the request on February 19, 2020.
“Solving this dire crisis will definitely take aggressive funding, but simply throwing money at the problem is not a smart solution,” said Senator Jones. “We need to ensure taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars are being spent wisely and used effectively. This audit is necessary and will show us what’s working – and what’s not working – so we can make informed decisions moving forward that will actually help us start making a dent in the problem.”
This week the Governor’s homelessness taskforce led by Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg and Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas recognized the need to evaluate past and current spending citing, “In order to expand access to mental health and substance abuse treatment for individuals experiencing homelessness, the state should work in tandem with counties to ensure that existing funding, funding proposed in the Governor’s budget, and proposed Medi-Cal reforms align with the state’s goals to improve access to treatment.”
“The Governor is approaching our homelessness crisis with the sense of urgency it requires, but it’s important that we do not measure success just by how many dollars we spend,” Assemblyman Kiley said. “Billions have been spent in recent years, yet people are not getting the help they need and the problem continues to grow. For the Governor’s proposed investments to make a difference, we need a much better understanding of what is and is not working in our use of existing resources.”
See the audit request attached for more information.
