Senator Cortese Requests State Audit on San Jose Homelessness Spending
WHAT: State Senator Dave Cortese (D-San Jose) will present a State Audit Request to the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC) related to public homelessness funding in the City of San Jose.
WHO: The bipartisan audit request is from Senator Cortese, Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh (R-Yucaipa), Senator Roger Niello (R-Fair Oaks), Assemblymember Evan Low (D-San Jose), Assemblymember Josh Hoover (R-Folsom).
WHEN: Wednesday, March 22, at 9:00a.m.
WHERE: State Capitol Room 126
Background: While the 2021 state budget included $12 billion over two years to address homelessness, the population of people living on the streets of San Jose continues to rise. In fact, San Jose has the highest number of unhoused youth in the nation, according to a recent report. Within the City of San Jose, the 2022 Point-In-Time Report on Homelessness counted 6,650 unhoused individuals.
Senator Cortese’s Audit Request seeks answers to multiple questions, including:
- How many people has the city helped move off the street and into shelter and services?
- Has the state’s investment been effective? What steps has the city taken to evaluate its own efficiency?
- Does the city have goals around ending homelessness? And if so, how is it meeting those goals?
Senator Cortese initiated the audit last year following a tour of the Columbus Park encampment in San Jose, one of the largest homeless encampments in California. The audit request, which will look at all public funding spent to address homelessness in San Jose, was encouraged by homeless advocates and Santa Clara County Supervisor Cindy Chavez.
“With our homeless population rising, we need to understand how public dollars are being spent and what interventions are working and not working,” said Senator Cortese. “We need transparency. We need to know which strategies have worked best. We need to know how we can improve future efforts. We need action now.”