Audit: San Diego doesn't adequately monitor homelessness spending

The big picture: The auditor also reviewed California's overall homelessness response and determined that state officials have spent $24 billion in the past five years without consistently monitoring the outcome.

• Zoom in: The audit into San Diego also examined San Jose's homelessness spending, and found that it, too, hadn't adequately tracked the spending of local, state and federal money.

By the numbers: The audit pulled apart local homelessness spending and found San Diego in the past three years spent $71 million in federal money, $59 million from the state and $87 million in local tax dollars.

• San Diego's homeless population grew from 5,538 in 2015 to 6,500 in 2023.
• The statewide homeless count was 115,738 in 2015 and 181,399 last year.

The other side: Lisa Jones, president and CEO of the San Diego Housing Commission, which manages many city homelessness efforts, disputed multiple conclusions of the audit.

• She said the report came to "erroneous conclusions," misunderstood "the breadth of SDHC's extensive efforts" and lacked "the context necessary for a comprehensive assessment" of the agency's homelessness services.