Money intended to help the homeless has seemingly disappeared.
Pacific Palisades belongs to the Westside Regional Alliance of Councils (WRAC), and that group has offered to assist the U.S. Attorney in the investigation of the “disappearance” of homeless money.
WRAC which includes 14 (Neighborhood and Community) Councils requested an investigation in the use of homeless funds in December 2024. They asked (1) the federal government to intervene and conduct a federal investigation into the use by the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, the state of California and all city, county and state agencies of federal funds received to address homelessness; (2) the state government to investigate the use of state funds for such purpose; (3) the county government to investigate the use of county funds for such purpose; and (4) the city government to investigate the use of city funds for such purpose, due to the mismanagement and non-accountability of taxpayer dollars being squandered while leaving a humanitarian crisis on our streets.
WRAC may finally have an “ear” with Bill Essayli the new interim U.S. Attorney for Los Angeles.
Essayli announced at the beginning of April, the formation of the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force, which will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption involving funds allocated toward the eradication of homelessness within the seven-county jurisdiction of the Central District of California.
The U.S. Attorney said, “California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness. But officials have been unable to account for all the expenditures and outcomes, and the homeless crisis has only gotten worse. Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent. If state and local officials cannot provide proper oversight and accountability, we will do it for them. If we discover any federal laws were violated, we will make arrests.”
In October 2024, Pacific Palisades Community Council had already sent a letter, asking for accountability to the U.S. Attorney General, state and city officials “Pacific Palisades Community Council (PPCC) urges (1) the federal government to intervene and conduct a federal investigation into the use by the city of Los Angeles, the county of Los Angeles, the state of California and all city, county and state agencies of federal funds received to address homelessness; (2) the state government to investigate the use of state funds for such purpose; (3) the county government to investigate the use of county funds for such purpose; and (4) the city government to investigate the use of city funds for such purpose, due to the mismanagement and non-accountability of taxpayer dollars being squandered while leaving a humanitarian crisis on our streets.
“PPCC further calls upon our city Councilmembers to communicate this request to the relevant respective federal, state, county and city authorities, including our U.S. Senators, Congressmembers, the U.S. Attorney General and Dept. of Justice; our Governor, state Senators, Assemblymembers and state Attorney General; our county Supervisors and District Attorney; and our Mayor and City Attorney.”
WRAC sent a similar letter on December 14, approved by the Council and written by WRAC Chair Robin Greenberg, WRAC Co-Chair Chris Spitz and WRAC’s HOA Vice Chair Jay Handal www.westsidecouncils. https://westsidecouncils.com/
Federal Judge David O. Carter of Los Angeles had ordered an audit in March of the homeless spending and found a lack of data and financial systems to track the programs in L.A. City, L.A. County and LAHSA (and Los Angeles Housing Service Authority).
“Nobody is asking our providers what they did or what services they performed. We may have providers who committed fraud, and we may never know. We may have providers that provided excellent services, and we’ll never know,” said Judge Carter. “If we’re so short on money, why aren’t these providers being sued…These parties owe you that money. Are they waiting for us to get senile or die? Go and get that money.”
Drugs and alcoholism are a problem for many of the homeless.