A federal audit has revealed that the state of California has misused funds intended for homeless assistance. According to the audit results released yesterday (6th), relevant California departments received the lowest score in managing homeless funds due to a lack of adequate policies to prevent or respond to fraud.

The audit found that the California government failed to properly protect the $319.5 million in federal homeless funds distributed during the COVID-19 pandemic from potential misuse. Ray Oliveira Davis, Inspector General of the Department of Housing and Urban Development, stated in a press release that misuse of funds weakens public trust in the government. He emphasized the need to strengthen fraud prevention programs to protect pandemic grants and homeless assistance funds from fraud.

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government poured $4 billion into emergency relief funds to help those struggling with homelessness. California was allocated $319.5 million of this amount.

With the influx of massive funds, there was also a risk of fraudulent activities aiming to use these funds for malicious purposes. The audit results show that the state of California did not prioritize fraud prevention in managing homeless assistance funds.

The state did not conduct regular fraud risk assessments, did not establish plans to identify and promptly resolve potential fraudulent activities, and did not set up processes to evaluate the effectiveness of fraud prevention policies.

This mismanagement of funds raises serious concerns about the effectiveness of California’s homeless assistance programs and the state’s ability to protect federal aid from misuse.