Cohen’s homelessness audit promise and Morgan’s proposed response
California allocated nearly $24 billion to housing and homelessness over five fiscal years. Californians should be able to tell which programs helped people reach stable housing and which needed to change. The 2024 audit found that the information was incomplete.
Updated October 18, 2026
The audit found a gap in the evidence
The independent California State Auditor reviewed five major programs. Homekey and CalWORKs Housing Support appeared likely to be cost-effective. Three others did not provide enough outcome information for the auditor to assess cost-effectiveness.
That finding does not mean all the money disappeared, or that none of the programs helped anyone. It means the state lacked information it needed to judge some major funding decisions. CalMatters reported that the data problems extended to spending and service results in San Jose and San Diego.
In her 2022 CalMatters interview, Malia Cohen identified homelessness spending among the areas she wanted to scrutinize. The Los Angeles Times reported on October 1, 2026 that her office had completed no homelessness audits. Cohen cited a denied funding request; her office clarified that it covered high-risk audits generally and did not specifically name homelessness.
Asked about the unfulfilled promise by KCRA’s Ashley Zavala in an interview published October 18, Malia Cohen said limited resources and other legislative work led her to prioritize payroll modernization and financial reports. She said more audits would require more funding.
That explanation identifies a choice of priorities. It does not deliver the promised homelessness scrutiny. For taxpayers and people who need housing, the missing work leaves a basic question unanswered: what additional problems would an audit by the state’s elected financial watchdog have found?
Morgan would rank spending risks, check payment controls and trace state money through recipients where the Controller has lawful authority. His plan proposes technology-generated leads backed by human investigation and public reporting of results.
For homelessness programs, useful oversight would connect financial records with the services purchased and the outcomes reported. The goal is to help the state identify what is working and correct what is not. The Controller does not run every shelter or decide the entire housing budget.
California’s homelessness audit: findings and limits
Was $24 billion in California homelessness money proved stolen?
No. The cited figure describes nearly $24 billion allocated to housing and homelessness over five fiscal years. The 2024 audit found that several programs lacked enough information to judge cost-effectiveness. Inadequate tracking is a serious oversight failure, but it is not a finding that the whole amount was stolen or lost.
Did Cohen’s office perform the 2024 homelessness audit?
No. The California State Auditor produced that review. It is separate from the Controller’s Office. The Los Angeles Times later reported that Cohen’s office had completed no homelessness audits, and carried her funding explanation. Readers should not give one office credit for the other office’s work.
Lawmakers and the public need to know whether spending helped people obtain and retain housing. Without consistent cost and outcome records, they cannot reliably compare programs or decide which approach deserves more funding. The audit identified that problem without concluding that every reviewed program failed.
Could Morgan personally solve California homelessness?
The Controller can review payments, direct authorized audit work and improve financial reporting. The office does not independently set the housing budget or operate every local program. Morgan’s proposal concerns the financial oversight that should help policymakers and the public assess what their money delivered.
What happened to Cohen’s homelessness audit promise?
Cohen named homelessness spending as an oversight priority in her 2022 CalMatters interview. In October 2026, the Los Angeles Times reported that her office had completed no homelessness audits. Cohen cited funding limits. In KCRA’s October 18 interview, she also said she had prioritized payroll modernization and financial reporting. These explanations do not change the absence of the promised Controller audit. The State Auditor’s separate 2024 homelessness report should not be credited to her office.
