Prosecutors create fraud task force focused on homeless funding

April 8, 2025

By KAREN VELIE

A recently formed federal Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption involving funds allocated toward the eradication of homelessness in seven counties, including San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara Counties, U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli announced today.

Despite spending billions of dollars tackling this issue, homelessness remains a crisis. Last month, an audit found that homeless services provided by the city and county of Los Angeles were “disjointed” and contained “poor data quality and integration” and lacked monitoring and financial controls.

“California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness,” said U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli. “But officials have been unable to account for all the expenditures and outcomes, and the homeless crisis has only gotten worse.

“Taxpayers deserve answers for where and how their hard-earned money has been spent,” Essayli added. “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.”

The investigation will focus on the seven-county jurisdiction of the Central District of California. The district is home to approximately 20 million residents within the counties of Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara, and Ventura.

The total homeless population of the seven counties exceeds 95,000.

This task force will be comprised of federal prosecutors with assistance from the FBI, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, and the IRS.