Harder Responds to Damning New Report on CA Housing Department's Failure on Homelessness During the Pandemic

Press Release

Today, Representative Josh Harder (CA-10) is calling for swift action in response to a new audit of the California Department of Housing and Community Development's distribution of $316 million in federal Emergency Solutions Grant program funds to fight homelessness during the COVID-19 pandemic. The audit, released yesterday by California State Auditor Elaine M. Howle, states the department "did not take critical steps to ensure those funds promptly benefited [the homeless] population." As late as this month, the federal government reported that California spent only $2 million of the $316 million it was allocated through the CARES Act -- less than 1 percent of federal funding meant to combat homelessness in the state. Even before the COVID-19 pandemic, California was home to more than 160,000 homeless individuals, the most in the nation. Read the full audit here.

A new piece from the Los Angeles Times describes a department that failed to distribute federal funds during the height of the pandemic, has not collected vital information needed to measure the effectiveness of the state's use of federal funds, and may actually lose up to $63 million of the $316 million because of the pace at which it's sent out resources so far.

"I couldn't be angrier to hear that resources I fought to bring home to fight the homelessness crisis have been caught in Sacramento's never-ending web of red tape," said Rep. Harder. "We all know homelessness is an emergency and to think the Department of Housing and Community Development sat on its hands rather than using federal resources to move folks off the streets is just astounding. I'm calling for the state to accelerate the distribution of these homelessness funds TODAY. And I'm calling for a full report on what went wrong over the past year and how we can make sure federal funds actually get put to good use."

Throughout his time in Congress, Rep. Harder has been a leading voice in taking action toward ending the homelessness crisis in California. His bill, the Fighting Homelessness Through Services and Housing Act would provide robust funding for new emergency housing as well as fund comprehensive services like mental health care, substance abuse treatment, and job training.

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