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Federal Judge Reviews Potential Auditors To Look Into LA Homelessness Services
The Los Angeles U.S. Courthouse is located along W 1st Street in downtown L.A.
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Makenna Sievertson
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LAist
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Topline:
Three potential auditors made their bid before a federal judge Thursday afternoon to conduct what could be the most comprehensive picture of Los Angeles’ response to homelessness in years.
The judge’s message: U.S. District Court Judge David O. Carter has been pushing the city and county to “change the presumption from the past” and more carefully account for public spending on addressing homelessness. He wants officials to send a message to service providers that if they can’t provide proper invoices and documentation, then they didn’t do the work and should face consequences.
Who are the potential auditors: Alvarez & Marsal, CliftLarsonAllen (CLA), and Horne LLP gave presentations going over how they’d address the audit, and Carter made sure all three teams understood the scale of what they’d be tasked with.
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“When you step in here, you’re stepping into problems that society hasn’t been able to solve,” he said.
The backstory: The audit is the result of an ongoing, years-long lawsuit filed by a downtown business group, the L.A. Alliance for Human Rights, against the city and county over its lack of progress on addressing homelessness.
What's next: Carter confirmed to LAist he planned to take at least the weekend to review Thursday’s presentations before choosing an auditor.
Go deeper: …. Read more about the lawsuit and audit negotiations.
Updated April 4, 2024 at 7:37 PM PDT
This story was updated to clarify comments from Judge David O. Carter.
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