California spends billions on homelessness without knowing the results. A bill could change that

Andrew Sheeler
·4 min read
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Good morning and welcome to the A.M. Alert!

AFTER HOMELESS AUDIT, A BILL TO BRING TRANSPARENCY TO SPENDING

Weeks after the California State Auditor released a report critical of the California Interagency Council on Homelessness for failing to track billions in state spending, one of the lawmakers behind that audit — Assemblyman Josh Hoover, R-Folsom — has introduced a bill that would require the Cal ICH to begin doing so by no later than next year.

AB 2903 would require state agencies involved with homelessness to report annually to the Cal ICH cost and outcome data for each program they administer, and would require Cal ICH to compile that data and make it available to the public by Sept. 1, 2025.

State Auditor Grant Parks found that only a handful of state programs were found to be cost-effective, including the Homekey program from the Department of Housing and Community Development and the CalWORKS Housing Support Program from the Department of Social Services.

Parks wrote that there just wasn’t enough data for the other programs the audit looked at to determine whether they were cost-effective. That’s because those agencies collected an insufficient amount of outcome data.

Hoover’s bill follows up on Parks’ recommendations, but it’s unclear how the bill will fare in the Legislature.

The bill is set to be heard in the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee on Wednesday.

In a statement announcing the bill, Hoover said that California has spent more than $20 billion to try and address the homelessness crisis, and Gov. Gavin Newsom last week announced even more funding awards to homeless programs.

“We have already spent billions of taxpayer dollars only to see homelessness grow. This has to change. We will not solve this crisis without real accountability,” Hoover said.

KILEY AND MORSE FUNDRAISING

Via David Lightman...

Rep. Kevin Kiley had $2.27 million on hand at the end of last month for his bid for a second congressional term, new campaign finance reports show.

Democratic opponent Jessica Morse had about $982,000 on hand.

Kiley, R-Rocklin, is favored to win in the sprawling district, which includes Plumas, Sierra, Nevada, Placer, Alpine, Mono, and Inyo, and parts of Yuba, El Dorado, and Sacramento counties.

Kiley has collected $2.8 million so far in this election cycle.

About 13% is from political action committees, while 17% is from donations of under $200, according to OpenSecrets, which tracks campaign finance.

Kiley won his first term by defeating Democratic Kermit Jones in 2022 with 53% of the vote.

Morse, a former deputy secretary working on wildfire resilience at the California Natural Resources Agency, has raised about $1.2 million during this election cycle. Eighty four percent of her contributions were under $100.

QUOTE OF THE DAY

“Hiding is certainly easier than addressing California’s downward spiral on his watch, but cowardice is not in the job description of what Gavin Newsom signed up for. Californians deserve to hear directly from their governor about what’s happening in the state today — even if that means explaining to them how he accrued a record budget deficit, lost track of billions of dollars in homeless spending, or continually drove California to the top of all the wrong lists.”

- California GOP Chair Jessica Millan Patterson, in a statement. Newsom has delayed doing his state of the state speech, which traditionally is delivered to the Legislature. His office has yet to announce when the speech will be given.

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