U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli today announced the formation of a Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force, which will investigate waste and corruption involving funds allocated to fight homelessness in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo, Santa Barbara and Ventura counties.
This task force will comprise federal prosecutors from the Major Frauds Section, the Public Corruption and Civil Rights Section, and the Civil Division’s Civil Fraud Section of the U.S. Attorney’s office for the Central District of California.
Assisting the office will be the FBI, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development Office of Inspector General, and IRS Criminal Investigation.
According to Essayli’s office, Los Angeles County alone contains a homeless population of more than 75,000, of which more than 45,000 are within the city of Los Angeles. The total homeless population of the remaining six counties of the district exceeds 20,000.
U.S. officials say that despite voter-approved initiatives and billions of dollars spent on tackling the issue, homelessness remains a crisis, especially in Los Angeles County. Last month, a court-ordered audit found that homelessness services provided by the city and county of Los Angeles were “disjointed” and contained “poor data quality and integration” and lacked financial controls to monitor contracts for compliance and performance.
Long Beach, which has its own homeless services, was not included as part of that audit. It frequently collaborates with LA County on homelessness services but receives and manages its own funding from the state and federal government.
“California has spent more than $24 billion over the past five years to address homelessness,” Essayli said. “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. 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 task force will be looking for any misappropriation of federal tax dollars intended to alleviate homelessness, according to the U.S. Attorney’s office. It will prioritize a review of federal, state and local programs receiving federal grants and funding but also investigate fraud schemes involving the theft of private donations intended to provide support and services for the homeless population, federal officials said.
“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.
Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass told KNX News that she learned about the federal task force Tuesday morning and expressed concern that the U.S. Attorney might end up targeting the wrong people.
“I am very concerned that he could go off in a direction that would amount to a fishing expedition,” Bass told the radio station. “And I don’t want us to forget our purpose. Our purpose is to end homelessness, and especially street homelessness, and we do not need to be distracted away from our number one mission.”
Press Secretary Clara Karger, for Bass, emphasized that the Mayor’s Office is focused on outcomes and saving lives. She noted that in 2024 Los Angeles bucked national increases with a 10% decrease in street homelessness, citing figures from last year’s homeless count. When accounting for people in shelters as well, the overall drop in homelessness was much smaller, just 0.27%.
From 2023 to 2024, Long Beach’s overall rate of homelessness dropped by 2.1% — but there was little to no decline in unsheltered homelessness. At last count, there were 921 people in Long Beach shelters and another 2,455 on the street.
The small decline in 2024 showed Long Beach was “turning the tide” on homelessness, which boomed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, Mayor Rex Richardson said at the time. He called for doubling down on the city’s current strategies, which he hoped would continue the trend.
Long Beach has not yet released numbers from this year’s homeless count, which took place in January.
The task force announcement is one of the highest-profile moves made by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Los Angeles since it came under new leadership.
Essayli was sworn in April 2 as the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California following his appointment by Attorney General Pam Bondi. Prior to that, he was a twice-elected member of the state Assembly.
City News Service and staff writer Jeremiah Dobruck contributed to this report.