SJ CM's Doan and Batra thank State Senator Cortese for leadership on state homeless audit
Image by San Jose Mercury News
The State homelessness audit which found shocking levels of ineffectiveness and unaccountability in SJ's homelessness programs was the direct result of the governance direction of State Senator Dave Cortese, who championed the audit, beginning in 2022. SJ CM's Doan and Batra, who are calling to extend the audit to city programs and spend, acknowledged Cortese's leadership in their call for a city of SJ audit.
We thank Senator Cortese for his key role in championing the state audit which uncovered some very concerning issues, including the untracked $300 Million. In the private world, if a department is unable to account for $300 Million, there would be severe consequences. While we have been assured that there is no foul play by city administration, we owe it to the taxpayers to be 100% transparent, accountable, and responsible with their money.
Part of our direction requests a clear understanding of legal responsibilities amongst the various government entities that address homelessness at the city, county, state, and federal levels. The City of San Jose has spent hundreds of millions of dollars on programs which could possibly be the responsibility of other jurisdictions. The funds intended for core services, police, fire, roads, park maintenance, infrastructure and more, are dispersed because we are doing the job of other governmental entities.
Despite seeing an increase in funding to provide programs to end homelessness, we do not see the number of those experiencing homelessness slowing down. An internal audit is needed because we need to examine our outcomes and evaluate the effectiveness of our programs.
The audit we are recommending evaluates our internal structure and practices and aims to find ways to improve our ability to help our unsheltered residents, be more accountable and efficient with taxpayer dollars, and improve our response times to quality of life issues such as cleanups, abatements, lived in vehicles, bio-waste, jurisdictional issues pertaining to land ownership, access to county/state services, and other related services.
--CM's Doan and Batra
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