San Jose Spotlight: State finds San Jose lacks accountability with homeless spending

San Jose has until September to formulate a succinct plan on how it will address homelessness and begin publicly reporting spending data, according to an audit requested by a local legislator.

The California State Auditor has published its findings and recommendations after an audit of the city’s spending and coordination of its homeless support services. Auditors found the city could not identify all of its expenditures on homeless support, nor does it adequately measure the effectiveness of its systems.

State Sen. Dave Cortese, who requested the audit in 2022, said its findings will likely inspire legislation setting standards of transparency and data collection for when the state disperses money to cities and counties.

“We can’t go five more years without knowing the effectiveness of the dollars invested,” Cortese said at a Tuesday meeting to discuss the audit’s findings. “Likewise, I think much clearer expectations need to be set with all of the cities and counties in California.”

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