How effective are California’s homelessness programs? Audit finds state hasn’t kept track well

By TRÂN NGUYỄN
Associated Press

SACRAMENTO, Calif. (AP) — A state audit has found that California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the past five years but didn’t consistently track whether the spending actually helped alleviate the problem. The report released Tuesday attempts to assess how effective the state and municipalities have been spending billions of dollars to address the ongoing homelessness crisis in California. An estimated 171,000 people are homeless in California, which would amount to roughly 30% of all of the homeless people in the U.S. Despite the billions in spending, the problem is not improving in many cities. Among other things, the report found that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness stopped tracking data related to five initiatives in 2021, despite the continuous state funding.