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New Feds To Investigate Fraud & Corruption In California Homeless FundsNew assigned U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli says a federal task force has been created to investigate fraud, waste, abuse and corruption involving billions of dollars allocated to address homelessness in Southern California.Since 2019, California has spent about $24 billion on homelessness, but in this five-year period, homelessness increased by about 30,000, to more than 181,000.The U.S. Attorney’s Office specifically highlighted Los Angeles County in the news release, saying homelessness continues to be an issue in the county despite billions of dollars set aside to deal with the problem, but where did the money go?“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,” Essayli said in a statement. “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 Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force will “investigate crimes related to the misappropriation of federal tax dollars intended to alleviate homelessness” in the Central District of California, which covers an estimated 20 million people across seven counties.The task force will also investigate “fraud schemes involving the theft of private donations intended to provide support and services for the homeless population,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s office.The announcement follows a court-ordered audit released last month that found the city and county of Los Angeles had “disjointed” homelessness services, poor data integration, and a lack of financial controls for monitoring contracts, according to the news release.