San Jose leaders have issued a new call for greater transparency when it comes to hundreds of millions of dollars in recent homelessness funding.
A new state audit finds San Jose has not adequately accounted for the spending of $300 million over the past several years.
Two city councilmembers, including District 7's Bien Doan, are calling for a comprehensive San Jose audit to ensure that money went to the proper places.
"We go into the weeds and find out where is that money, where did it go," he said. "And if it's gone to another jurisdiction that doesn't belong to them, we want to make sure we recover that."
As city leaders met, advocates called their announcement "hypocritical" as the city continues to spend money on sweeps.
"The audit is fine but it’s also like we’re going to spend more money on an audit to find out where money ‘went’, and at the same time we still give contracts to the same three vendors," said Shaunn Cartwright, a spokesperson for Survivors Of the Street.
The audit will also call for new accountability in the city's response to homelessness and exploring options to improve it.
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"I’ve called on the city manager to produce public dashboards that account for where every dollar goes and the impact of every dollar," said Mayor Matt Mahan.
Alex Stettinski, CEO of the San Jose Downtown Association, said the audit will allow for better county partnerships going forward.
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"It’s really looking at the money that’s available, how it’s being spent, how it’s being allocated, and also looking at a really seamless partnership with the county," he said.
The audit will be proposed at the June 11 council meeting.
