SACRAMENTO, CA (MPG) - Californians may finally get some answers on how the state and local communities have spent billions on the homelessness crisis in the last five years.

Senator Roger Niello and his colleagues Senator Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh, Assemblymembers Josh Hoover and Evan Low joined Senator Dave Cortese in winning a request to audit billions of dollars California has spent on addressing the homelessness crisis from the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC).

Earlier today, members of JLAC unanimously approved the audit request. The audit will examine how the state and cities have spent state, federal, and local dollars and how effective the money spent has been to date.

“Homelessness is the most urgent issue facing California,” said Senator Niello. “Given the crisis has only worsened, we need to know what the money has accomplished and what programs have been effective in moving people to permanent housing.”

“This is a good start,” said Senator Ochoa Bogh. “California Legislative Republicans have been calling for accountability to homeless spending for several years. This will begin to give taxpayers an idea of how these dollars have been spent on a crisis that has only gotten worse.”

California has spent more than $20 billion over the last five years on homelessness and has seen the population of unhoused in this state explode to more than 172,000.

The governor announced earlier this month that he plans to spend another $1 billion of taxpayer dollars with a hope of reducing the homeless population by a 15 percent by 2025.

Elected in 2022, Senator Niello represents California Senate District 6, which covers portions of Placer and Sacramento and Sutter and Yuba counties.