12 hours ago
Audit questions Sacramento's homeless spending, motel program under scrutiny
There is new scrutiny over Sacramento's spending on homeless programs.
A city audit reveals some inaccurate charges and questionable invoices from Step Up, the operator of the city's motel room program that helps keep families in crisis off the streets.
Nicia Mars is surviving as a single mom living with her three children in a Sacramento motel room.
"So I'm a basic single mom of three kids," Mars said. "I have a 17-year-old and then my two little ones. We got involved with the Step Up program. They've been helping us."
Mars is one of thousands who have enrolled in the Sacramento city-funded program. This year is better than last year.
"We were in our car waiting to get help," Mars said. "It took us a minute. It was hot last year. Car. Hotel. Car. Hotel."
"It really is a crisis to get our most vulnerable off the streets," City Councilmember Lisa Kaplan said.
Kaplan is concerned that a new city audit shows only 32% of enrollees in the city motel program go on to find permanent housing.
The city auditor compared it favorably to programs like it. Kaplan wants better
"Thirty-two percent that enter exit into positive housing," Kaplan said. "Now you and I, as we grew up, that's an 'F.' That says you're not succeeding."
The city auditor also found in a sampling of receipts that the program host invoiced one charge for furniture delivered to Los Angeles, not Sacramento motels — the total cost was $4,760.
The audit also identified over $50,000 in invoiced furniture and rental assistance expenses that were questionable.
"How do we put controls in place so we don't have these mistakes?" Kaplan said.
The city auditor will be presenting this audit to the full council on Tuesday. The council will then have the opportunity to put new rules in place, possibly tying funding to outcomes of permanent housing.
"If this wasn't available, I don't know where I would be," Mars said. "It's hard."
