Homelessness Spending In Southern California Under Federal Review

SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA — City and county officials in Riverside County have collectively spent millions of taxpayer dollars in recent years to tackle the issue of homelessness.

Now one of the region's own is investigating whether Riverside County and six other Southern California counties are misappropriating any federal tax dollars intended to alleviate homelessness.

U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced Tuesday 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 Central District includes the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura. The investigation will also review cities within the counties, according to Essayli.

Earlier this month, Essayli was tapped by the Trump administration to serve as U.S. Attorney for the Central District. At the time of his appointment, the Republican was serving a second term as Assemblyman for California's 63rd District, which includes the cities of Canyon Lake, Lake Elsinore, Menifee, and Norco, as well as portions of Corona, Eastvale, and Riverside.

Related article: Lake Elsinore Councilmember Bids For Bill Essayli's Assembly Seat

Essayli's latest announcement comes after much criticism has been directed toward California for what critics contend are the state's failed policies to address homelessness.

Feeling the pressure, Gov. Gavin Newsom warned in February that California cities and counties could lose out on hundreds of millions of dollars in state funding if they didn't make progress in clearing out encampments and tackling homelessness.

The governor's comments came as he announced $920 million in a new round of funding to address the homelessness crisis. Local jurisdictions can access the funds if they clean up encampments and meet state housing requirements, Newsom said.

Essayli claims California's homelessness issues are worsening, despite vast sums of money thrown at the problem. He has ammunition. A Feb. 25 article from CalMatters that looked into California's emergency homeless shelters found the facilities are supposed to be safe havens, but records show they’re "ineffective — and rife with abuse and scandal."

"California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness," according to Essayli. "But officials have been unable to account for all the expenditures and outcomes, and the homeless crisis has only gotten worse."

An ambitious, rising G.O.P. star, Essayli promises accountability moving forward.

"Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent," he said. "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 Tuesday's announcement, Essayli directed much of his ire at the Democratic-leaning county and city of Los Angeles. He pointed to a court-ordered audit that found homelessness services provided by the city and county were "disjointed" and contained "poor data quality and integration."

"Los Angeles County alone contains a homeless population of more than 75,000, of which more than 45,000 are within the city limits of Los Angeles. The total homeless population of the remaining six counties of the district exceeds 20,000," according to Essayli's announcement.

The state of California's homelessness accountability tracker shows that the number of people experiencing homelessness in Los Angeles County was down by .2% in 2024, compared to other counties that were up, including 21% in Orange County, 14.1% in Riverside County, 3.3% in San Diego County, and 1.4% in San Bernardino County. Only San Luis Obispo and Ventura counties fared better than Los Angeles County, percentage-wise, according to the state tracker.

Essayli's announcement was not about fixing the problem. It was about saving taxpayer dollars. The fed's new Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force will review programs that receive federal grants and funding, he said. The task force will also investigate fraud schemes involving the theft of private donations intended to provide support and services for the homeless population.

Joining in the investigations are the U.S. Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, the FBI, and the IRS Criminal Investigation, according to the announcement.

"Any exploitation of the homelessness crisis via the theft of funds intended to improve conditions cannot and will not be tolerated," said Akil Davis, the assistant director in charge of the FBI’s Los Angeles Field Office.

Many have long called for more transparency on how taxpayer dollars are used to address homelessness, but it's not clear what the Trump administration's overarching plan is other than to possibly do away with homelessness funding.

In a recent order that aims to reduce "the scope of the federal bureaucracy," Trump slashed the U.S. Interagency Council on Homelessness, shrinking the agency responsible for coordinating funding and initiatives between the federal government, states, and local agencies, known as Continuums of Care.

"Make no mistake that Trump's reckless attacks across the federal government will supercharge the housing and homelessness crisis in communities across the country," Democratic U.S. Rep. Maxine Waters of Los Angeles said in response to the order.