DENVER — Denver doesn’t know the way a lot of your tax {dollars} it’s spending on homelessness and doesn’t have clear security insurance policies. That’s the discovering of the Denver Auditor’s report trying into town’s Division of Housing Stability.
The auditor discovered that the Division of Housing Stability, also referred to as HOST, just isn’t monitoring general spending on homelessness and can’t successfully “guarantee transparency and accountability to residents.”
When the auditor requested the division for general bills between January 2022 by means of March 2024, the division was unable to offer the information after a number of requests.
Utilizing solely invoices, the auditor discovered practically $150 million in spending.
They mentioned 38% of invoices lacked supporting documentation they usually additionally discovered invoices paid with duplicate reimbursements.
One member of the auditor committee didn’t appear impressed with the division’s responses throughout a gathering Thursday to how they’d be extra financially accountable.
“That’s not my query, that’s the accounting and bookkeeping. The query is, ‘What’s administration doing to make sure after getting the guide preserving straightened out that any individual begins looking at it qualitatively?’ The books could be straight, however you’ll be able to nonetheless be losing all types of cash doing issues which are inappropriate,” Jack Blumenthal, an audit committee member, mentioned.
The audit additionally discovered the division wasn’t holding contractors accountable and didn’t have ample security insurance policies in place.
The contractor receiving essentially the most cash, The Salvation Military — which obtained over $27 million in contracts — wasn’t holding up their finish of the deal.
Three months right into a contract to function the shelter on the former DoubleTree resort at Quebec St. and fortieth Ave. with a safety funds of $807,000, three individuals have been shot contained in the shelter and two have been killed. The auditor discovered the Salvation Military didn’t set up any further cameras and no safety guards have been on web site.
The Metropolis of Denver needed to take over safety on the shelter with the assistance of police.
The Salvation Military additionally wasn’t in compliance with its contract to not discriminate in opposition to the workers it hires. As an alternative, the Salvation Military handbook mentioned it is going to comply with nondiscrimination regulation except it conflicts with non secular apply.
An official with HOST mentioned they are going to have new polices to repair these issues and plans to implement them by April 2025.
They mentioned the audit doesn’t acknowledge the two,150 individuals they helped get safely indoors.
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