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Bill Essayri, a newly appointed US lawyer in Los Angeles and the surrounding area, announced Tuesday that he would establish a criminal task force to investigate potential fraud and corruption involving local homeless funds.
The U.S. Lawyers’ Office in LA aimed specifically for Los Angeles County in a news release announcing the task force, citing millions of dollars in federal funds allocated to address a recent court order audit that discovered major flaws in homelessness and homeless services.
“Taxpayers deserve an answer as to where and how their hard-earned money was spent. If state and local officials can’t provide adequate monitoring and accountability, we do that for them,” the essayri said in his release.
The Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force “invests crimes related to the misappropriation of federal taxes aimed at alleviating homelessness.”
According to the U.S. Lawyer’s Office, the Task Force will consider federal, state and local programs that receive federal grants and funds, and will also “examine fraud schemes that include theft of private donations aimed at providing support and services to the homeless population.”
The immovable individual tends to lean towards the tent on skidrows last month. A court-ordered audit revealed a deep lack of financial surveillance in Los Angeles’ homeless spending.
(Genaro Molina / Los Angeles Times)
Last year’s figures show that LA County’s homeless population is over 75,000, of which more than 45,000 are within LA’s urban boundaries of the remaining six counties in the district, with the homeless population exceeding 20,000.
LA County Superintendent Katherine Berger welcomed the creation of the task force and said he called accountability for homeless spending “a long period.”
“This action coincides with the steps the county has just taken following a strict audit of the LAHSA contract and sends a clear message. Public funding aimed at the most vulnerable services must be managed with transparency and integrity,” Berger said. “We believe this task force will add a much-needed layer of surveillance to restore public trust and ensure resources reach people who are in real need.”
LA County Superintendent Katherine Berger said she welcomed the task force.
(Juliana Yamada/Los Angeles Times)
According to the U.S. Lawyer’s Office, the task force consists of federal prosecutors in the civil fraud division, public corruption and civil rights and civil fraud divisions. It also supports the FBI, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Office of Inspectors, and the IRS Office of Criminal Investigations.
The essay was announced a week after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to withdraw more than $300 million from the Los Angeles Department of Homeless Services, an urban county agency that oversees the arrangement of homeless services.
The supervisor took that step following two poignant audits of LAX’s accounting procedures and financial oversight at homeless authorities, also known as Lahasa. One of these reports commissioned by US District Judge David O. Carter concluded that weak surveillance created potential for fraud and waste.
Carter said at a recent hearing that Rahasa had provided “meaningless” promises to improve its business.
“If they were going to do that, they should have done it, or they should have given you a roadmap now… how were they going to do it,” he said.
The city of Los Angeles, which provides 35% of Lahasa’s funding, is exploring its own withdrawal from its institution.
On Friday, VA Lecia Adams Kellum announced she would resign as Lahasa’s top executive, citing the decision to withdraw funds (and potentially hundreds of employees) from her agency.
In recent weeks, Adams Kellam has tried to protect the agency’s job, noting that last year it reported a 5% decline in street homelessness in the county and an over 10% decline.
Adams Kellum said she hopes her agency will report another cut next year. Despite these assurances, she and her agency are the subject of a laceration of criticism from federal judge Carter.
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