Oakland spent tens of millions on third-party homeless service providers without properly tracking important data — such as whether the people those programs serve actually remained housed, according a critical new audit.
The report from the city auditor’s office, released Monday evening, focuses on the contractors that run the majority of Oakland’s homeless housing programs. It found Oakland spent nearly $69 million on third-party providers over a three-year period without properly managing those contracts or tracking their outcomes. Oakland’s homeless housing programs served 8,683 people during fiscal years 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, but they had “mixed results” as they tried to get those people into permanent housing.
The report from the city auditor’s office is the second in two years to point out serious flaws in Oakland’s response to its homelessness crisis.
“We can do better, and we must do better,” City Auditor Courtney Ruby wrote in a news release. “I believe establishing and adopting better strategies, management, oversight and staffing is essential to sustaining a successful homelessness response, which addresses the issues outlined throughout this audit report.”
The report follows a scathing 2021 audit that blasted Oakland’s homeless response as haphazard and lacking strategy, policy direction and adequate funding.
In the latest report, Ruby’s office called out multiple problems with the way the city tracks, or fails to track, data — leading to a “critical deficiency” in the city’s ability to manage its homeless services programs.
“The audit found the city does not have the requisite analytical and technical skills to consistently analyze, track, and monitor data, all of which is needed to effectively manage homelessness services and hold service providers accountable,” according to the news release.
For example, the city lost track of program participants once they secured permanent housing — meaning it was unable to determine whether or for how long they remained successfully housed. The city also was unable to accurately count how many shelter beds were available on a given night, according to the audit.
The audit laid out 27 recommendations for the city to address, and said the city has committed to implementing them all.
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
Source: www.mercurynews.com