Bill Essayli, the newly appointed U.S. attorney for Los Angeles and its surrounding areas, announced Tuesday a crime task force to investigate potential fraud and corruption involving local homeless funds, saying it would be arrested if federal law has been violated.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Los Angeles specifically targeted Los Angeles County in a press release announcing the task force, allocating millions of dollars of federal funds to the homeless and most recently a federal funding Court-ordered audit This identified the main flaws in the service of the homeless.
“Taxpayers should provide answers to their hard-earned money. If state and local officials are unable to provide proper oversight and accountability, we will do it for them.”
In the central California area, the Homeless Fraud and Corruption Task Force will “invest crimes related to federal taxes aimed at mitigating homeless people,” an area that covers an estimated 20 million people in seven counties.
In addition to reviewing federal, state and local programs that receive federal grants and funds, the task force “will also investigate fraudulent programs involving theft of private donations designed to provide support and services to the homeless,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
According to last year’s figures, Los Angeles County has more than 75,000 homeless people, with more than 45,000 of them within the city limits of the six remaining counties in the region, with homeless people exceeding 20,000.
Los Angeles County Supervisor Kathryn Barger said she welcomed the task force’s formation, calling the responsibility for homelessness a “long-term overdue.”
“After a harsh review of the Lahsa contract, the county has just taken steps and sent out a clear message: Public funding is designed to serve our most vulnerable people and must be managed with transparency and integrity,” Barger said. “I believe this task force will add a much-needed layer of oversight that will help restore public trust and ensure resources are truly reaching those in need.”
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the task force will be composed of civil fraud departments that are mainly fraud, public corruption and civil rights, as well as civil fraud departments. The FBI, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development and the IRS’s Criminal Investigation Department will also help.
Essayli’s announcement comes a week after the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted to withdraw more than $300 million from the Los Angeles Versever Services Authority, an urban county agency that oversees a range of contracts for homeless services.
The supervisor took this step after two rigorous audits that identified loose accounting procedures and poor financial oversight by the homeless authorities, also known as Lahsa. One of the reports commissioned by U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter concluded that vulnerability creates the potential for fraud and waste.
Carter said at a recent hearing that Lahsa has offered a “meaningless” commitment to improve its operations.
“If they were going to do this, they should, or now they should give you a roadmap … how they will do it,” he said.
The City of Los Angeles provides 35% of Lahsa’s funding and has been exploring the agency’s own evacuation.
On Friday, VA Lecia Adams Kellum announced she would resign as a Lahsa executive, citing the county’s decision to withdraw funds from her agency and possibly hundreds of employees.
Adams Kellum has tried to defend her agency’s work in recent weeks, noting that the county’s street homelessness has dropped by 5% and the city has dropped by more than 10% last year.
Adams Kellum said her agency is expected to report another drop next year. Despite these assurances, she and her agency have been the subject of criticism by federal judge Carter.
