San Diego, CA
San Diego isn't properly reporting or evaluating hundreds of millions in homelessness spending, audit says
San Diego city officials spent hundreds of millions of dollars over three years to fight a growing homelessness problem but failed to fully report its revenue and spending or evaluate the effectiveness of many programs, according to a state audit released April 9.
During the three fiscal years between July 2020 and June 2023, San Diego spent more than $218 million from federal, state and local sources on myriad programs.
But San Diego officials did not clearly define performance measures related to much of that spending or make sure that service providers properly monitored outcomes for the work they were paid to perform, according to a report by the California State Auditor.
“For example, in a $1.6 million agreement for interim housing and supportive services, the Housing Commission did not specify how many people the provider should serve or set a target for occupancy,” the report stated.
“Housing Commission staff explained that attaching goals to certain metrics can create unintended adverse behaviors from service providers to meet those goals,” the report added.
The auditor’s report examined homelessness spending in San Diego and San Jose and said it found similar deficiencies in spending and reporting practices in San Jose, which spent more than $300 million over the same three-year period.
“Both cities use interim housing as a way to provide shelter for people experiencing homelessness, but they both need to develop additional permanent housing,” state auditor Grant Parks wrote. “Data consistently show that placements into permanent housing results in significantly better outcomes than placements into interim housing.”
The audit says neither city “has a clear long-term plan for meeting its need for permanent supportive housing.”
Auditors also wrote that “to inform decision-makers and provide transparency, the cities should track and report in a single location all funding they receive and use to reduce homelessness.”
The report gives credit to both cities for adopting specific plans to address the rising homelessness in their jurisdictions. But it says each city could improve how it reports its objectives and outcomes.
“Neither San Jose nor San Diego has measured the effectiveness of all of its programs to address the risks of unsheltered homelessness,” according to the report.
In response, San Diego officials said they generally agree with the report’s recommendations and indicated they would take steps to implement them where feasible, though Chief Operating Officer Eric Dargan said the city already complies with much of what the audit recommends.
“The city already has existing spending plans in place, but will publicly report them in a single location,” Dargan said. “The city already requires performance measures, and an overall review and assessment of the effectiveness of service providers is in progress.”
Dargan recently told The San Diego Union-Tribune that he aims to eliminate the city’s homeless services department and rely more heavily on private philanthropy to address homelessness.
The San Diego Housing Commission, a separate agency that operates under the city housing authority made up of the nine City Council members, issued a response that was more critical of the audit’s conclusions.
Commission President Lisa Jones said the agency already has launched a series of programs with high impact and regularly exercises and upgrades its various monitoring tools.
“It is unfortunate that the audit report’s discussion of SDHC and its efforts was too narrowly focused, did not reflect understanding of the breadth of SDHC’s extensive efforts and lacked the context necessary for a comprehensive assessment of the homeless shelters and services system,” Jones said.
The auditor’s response said the office stands by the report.
The audit examining San Diego and San Jose was released in conjunction with another report evaluating efforts to fight homelessness across the state.
That report says more than 180,000 people in California experienced homelessness in 2023 — up 53 percent from a decade earlier. Nine state agencies invested billions of dollars over the past five years without consistently tracking or evaluating the spending, the report says.
The number of unhoused people has climbed in San Diego in recent years, auditors said, but not as steeply as statewide.
Between 2015 and 2023, the audit says, the number of people experiencing homelessness in San Diego rose from 5,538 to 6,500, based on the city’s Point in Time counts — an increase of about 17 percent. Over the same period, the number of unhoused people in San Jose jumped by 56 percent.
The findings may be especially significant because both San Diego and San Jose have huge chunks of homelessness funding they have yet to spend.
According to the state review, San Diego was sitting on more than $52 million in unspent state and federal funds. Most of that came from $21 million in state Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention grants and $22 million earmarked under a permanent housing program.
San Jose was holding more than $86 million in unallocated money designated for homelessness programs, the audit states.
Specifically, auditors reviewed 14 separate programs run by each of the two cities.
San Jose failed to set clearly defined goals in any of the 14, auditors said. San Diego enacted specific performance measures in eight of the 14 projects reviewed, but the others had undefined goals or no goals at all, according to the report.
“Although both cities asserted that they monitored or reviewed the performance of their service providers, their staff did not always document overall conclusions about the effectiveness of the service providers’ efforts,” auditors wrote. “One reason for this gap is that the cities’ procedures do not require staff to formally document such assessments.”
The audit was released five days after San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria introduced a new shelter plan for the Middletown neighborhood just north of Little Italy. That plan, which lacks details and has yet to be approved by the City Council, would add 1,000 or more shelter beds. ◆
San Diego, CA
The gun violence that has taken place in the last two days is prompting San Diego community members to take action.
As local members of the Jewish community celebrated the first day of Hanukkah, they joined in solidarity with those impacted by the tragedy in Australia.
Meanwhile, other members of the community honored the lives lost to gun violence.
Despite the somber and tragic events that have unfolded in the last two days, the community is holding strong.
San Diegans are choosing to focus on the light rather than the darkness.
“Our job is not just to spread light with words, but with actions,” Rabbi Yossi Tiefenbrun, Director of Chabad of Pacific Beach said.
As members of the Jewish community gathered at Liberty Station Sunday night to kick off the first day of Hannukah by the lighting of the menorah, their hearts are with their brothers and sisters in Bondi, Australia, where two attackers killed at least 15 people in a shooting during the Jewish holiday celebration.
“Personally, it’s been a very difficult day. The Rabbi in the city of Australia was a classmate of mine. We grew up together in London, England. So waking up to that kind of news was devastating,” Rabbi Yossi Tiefenbrun said.
The tragedy in Australia comes just hours after a gunman opened fire at Brown University, killing two and injuring at least nine others.
“For every shooting, for every death, there’s a family behind that. There are friends, there are loved ones,” Carol Landale said.
Sunday also marks 13 years since a gunman opened fire at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newton, Connecticut, killing 20-first graders and 6 staff members.
“When will this stop… When will the powers of this world say enough?” Rev. Penny Bridges, Dean, St. Paul Cathedral said.
The annual vigil of remembrance for the victims of gun violence was held Sunday night at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church.
“In this festive time of advent and festive season of Hanukkah, we call on our loving and living God to bring peace to our world, to end the evil of Gun violence,” Rev. Penny Bridges said.
With violence erupting on the first day of Hanukkah, the head of security for the Jewish Federation said they are working with other law enforcement agencies to ensure the safety of everyone in the community.
“I think it’s important for everyone to know that there are no articulated threats in our area we just have to be situationally aware,” Bill Ganley, Community Security Director for the Jewish Federation said.
San Diegans are standing strong in solidarity for one another, hoping for a brighter future ahead.
“We will fight with light whenever there is darkness,” Michael Sclar, who attended the menorah lighting said.
In a statement to NBC 7, The American Jewish Committee of San Diego said in part, “Sadly, this is not an isolated incident, and while we are horrified and devastated, we are not surprised…Hanukkah is time for joy and light and this year, we hope others will join us as we light our candles in solidarity with the Australian Jewish community. Because antisemitism is a threat to all of society and if we fail to push back against this evil hatred, everyone is at risk.
PACIFIC BEACH (CNS) – Two San Diego police officers who were on foot in a Pacific Beach intersection were struck tonight by a car operated by a wrong-way driver who was believed intoxicated.
The crash occurred at 8:25 p.m. Saturday in the intersection of Thomas Avenue and Mission Boulevard, San Diego Police Department Officer Anthony Carrosco told City News Service.
The suspect’s Honda Civic was eastbound in westbound lanes when it struck the on-duty officers, Carrosco said. It was unclear what the officers were doing in the roadway.
One officer suffered non-life-threatening injuries and was taken by ambulance to a trauma center, he said. The other officer was not injured.
The man driving the Honda was arrested for suspicion of felony DUI, Carrosco said. The man’s name and age were not immediately released.
The intersection was closed for the investigation, he said.
Copyright 2025, City News Service, Inc.
Sez Me …
We should have known better. I’m an idiot for not guessing that making sense out of the College Football Playoffs would be about as pleasurable as getting a colonoscopy with a rusted rake left out in the snow.
As far back as I can remember — and those of us over 50 know this Unsocial Media’s Generation’s memory goes back a week — I’ve been shouting from the rooftops that we must have a college football playoff.
(Although I will admit to not spending much time on rooftops lately, now that TV antennas have gone the way of the carburetor.)
A four-team tournament was a good start, but obviously not large enough. When it went to 12, it appeared to be the ideal number. Those who bitched over not making the final four now were going to get a chance to prove themselves on the field of play.
The big deal today is Notre Dame being left out of the top 12, with James Madison and Tulane getting in because the system allows conference champions. Notre Dame is independent, thus no conference — in football only.
This is a real shame.
As you know, I’m no fan of the Irish. Up to this minute, they’ve been privileged beyond belief. Both ND and Miami finished with 10-2 records, but the Irish lost to the Hurricanes in the opener, and by the time the selection committee made its final list, it took head-to-head into account. Which is the way it should be, when both teams finish with the same records.
Pouting Notre Dame athletic director Pete Bevacqua, whose school has chosen not to appear in a menial (for them) bowl game, says few schools ever have had a more successful run than ND.
The programs the Irish beat in that 10-game span had an overall record of 55-65. Historic.
Despite all that, ND was one of the few teams that seemed capable of winning the national title. It certainly belonged in over Alabama, but the SEC has special powers.
The Irish will be in it soon enough. I suspect the tournament will balloon to 16 teams. The problem now is that with NIL and rampant portal transferring, we have parity as we’ve never had it before. And that’s not a good thing. It will be much harder for the James Madisons of the world to make it.
But this isn’t basketball. It doesn’t deserve to be in.
The Dukes lost 28-14 to Louisville, their only power conference opponent (and not a good one). And they’re a three-touchdown underdog to Oregon in the tournament. Notre Dame and Oregon would be close.
But that’s just too damn bad. …
Indiana’s Curt Cignetti is the most dour head football coach at any level I’ve seen. You can sit this guy down in front of “Blazing Saddles” and he’s watching “Camille.” …
Curt isn’t winning the national title, but he’s done a helluva job at Bob Knight’s school. Come to think of it, he’s Bob without the chair. …
The Eagles’ Nick Sirianni, who is leaning at the tape as the worst head coach to win a Super Bowl, worked all week with the Philly offense. Jalen Hurts had a 31.2 passer rating vs. the NFL Team That Used To Be Here on Monday night. Smokey Gaines, where are you? That’s 31.2 more than a dead man. …
Daiyan Henley tackling Tony Jefferson after his overtime pick vs. the Eagles was wise. But because it was OT, even if Jefferson had fumbled it away and Philly recovered, the game would have been over. No extra possessions allowed in OT. …
Philip Rivers, 44, who last played football in 2020, should stay as far away from the NFL as humanly possible, perhaps have another child. Alas, he can’t help himself. …
Philip has been signed by the Colts, moving his Hall of Fame eligibility up five more years — which could mean a few more kids. …
But he’s going to play. Probably Sunday. You know that. …
In fact, I’m certain Philip eventually will become the first great-grandfather to play in The League. …
Philip has to be in better shape than Justin Herbert, no? …
Jim Harbaugh is right. Herbert is a superhero. …
Patrick Mahomes is a great quarterback. But he is a lousy quarterback under pressure. Always has been. Except there’s more pressure now. Still, if the Judases give him time to throw Sunday, adios J’s. …
With that offensive line protecting Herbert the way Sarajevo cops guarded Archduke Franz Ferdinand, it remains a wonder the Judases can win a game. But it’s December, when defense matters. …
Told you. Joe Burrow is Andrew Luck waiting to happen. …
The only games the NFL should play on Christmas Day are the ones the athletes and coaches bought for the kids to open. …
Todd Bowles, we know you can cuss. Try coaching better before driving the bus over your players. …
Bill Johnston, for 39 years publicist for the NFL Team That Used To Be Here, and serving for the last nine with the Padres, is retiring. He learned from the best, Rick Smith, a bulldog, and Bill had that attitude as he battled relentlessly beside wife Ramona through her two-decade battle with Huntington’s Disease. One of the finest men I’ve known. …
Sherrone Moore has been fired as Michigan’s football coach because of an inappropriate relationship with a staff member. Sherrone then lost it and got thrown in stir for stalking and home invasion. Lane Kiffin still has time to change his mind and go to Ann Arbor. …
The Michigan job is near the top. Great history. Unlimited resources. …
USC’s Makai Lemon was the best receiver I saw all year. So he won the Biletnikoff Award. Amazing. Others agreed with me. …
The Padres have signed reliever Daison Acosta. Now there’s one with some teeth. …
The Padres and Diamondbacks will meet in Mexico City April 25 and 26? Why? Plenty of Mexican food here, and Richardson’s in Phoenix is the best Mexican in America. OK, international games are stupid. …
Now in his second year in the Fox booth, Tom Brady is getting better as he tries to earn all of that 10-year, $375 million salary. It’s what happens when Bill Belichick tells him what to say. …
Happens every week. During Steelers-Ravens, the officials screwed the Ravens into Fort McHenry. …
Officials finally got something right. They called 19 accepted penalties on the pathetic Falcons Thursday night vs. the Bucs. Atlanta still won. …
Hey, Bicycle Mayor and His Ham & Eggers: Have you taken a ride south on Kettner toward the I-5 South onramp, featuring the Rick Schloss bump? Hope you have four-wheel drive. What a disgrace. Welcome to San Diego, rental car users. …
Jeff Kent was a good baseball player. I never considered him a Hall of Famer. Still don’t. …
Army-Navy. Fastest game. As though Randy Jones were pitching. …
I was at the 1990 World Cup in Italy, which, I believe, makes me eligible for the FIFA Peace Prize. …
How can whistles be that clean?
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