https://sfstandard.com/housing-development/city-audit-finds-serious-
problems-at-government-funded-homelessness-nonprofit/
An audit found a pattern of serious problems at a government-funded 
nonprofit that provides housing and other homelessness services, and the 
city has referred the situation to the Federal Bureau of Investigation and 
the District Attorneyβs office as a criminal matter.
The audit by the San Francisco Controllerβs Office found a record of 
mismanagement at United Council of Human Services (UCHS), a nonprofit 
providing homelessness services that received $28 million in grants 
through a fiscal sponsor, Bayview Hunters Point Foundation.
The latter organization received $36.4 million from six grants to run Hope 
House Consolidated, Hope House for Veterans, Bayview Drop-in Resource 
Center, Jennings Safe Sleeping Village and a shelter-in-place site at Pier 
94, all managed by UCHS. 
But the audit found that UCHS, which receives federal funding for its 
housing sites, had not properly vetted tenants or ensured that they were 
prioritized appropriately through the cityβs βcoordinated entryβ system 
for homeless individuals. The organization has also failed to pay at least 
$30,661 in rent, among other findings. 
In a Nov. 17 letter to the FBIβs San Francisco office and Evan Ackiron, 
head of the District Attorneyβs white collar crime division, San Francisco 
Controller Ben Rosenfield and City Attorney David Chiu wrote that βaccess 
to housing was illegally sold to some residents.β
βAlthough the individuals responsible may not have been UCHS employees, it 
appears that UCHS was aware of the criminal activity and did not initially 
report it to the funding department,β the letter said.
The city Department of Homelessness requested the audit over concerns that 
the nonprofit used rent from clients to cover other ineligible expenses. 
The audit uncovered a pattern of severe mismanagement of resources 
intended for homeless individuals that crossed over into illegality.
Out of 29 sample clients that the auditors examined, 83% were not properly 
prioritized for housing placement; the nonprofit also did not retain 
documentation for its tenants, according to the report. The inquiry also 
found a pattern of errors in calculations of rent owed and inaccuracies in 
tenant and unit information reported to the city.
The Controller found three UCHS employees who were enrolled in its Hope 
House Consolidated housing program without going through the coordinated 
entry process.
In addition, the nonprofit βintentionallyβ circumvented rules such that 
the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing didnβt know how many 
of their units were vacant. UCHS also improperly collected rent that it 
never turned over to its fiscal sponsor and over-billed them for expenses 
on its American Express card, the audit said.
βThe City asked for this audit because the Mayor wants to ensure 
accountability in how we deliver homeless services,β said the Mayorβs 
Office in a statement. βWeβve already begun to implement reforms laid out 
in this report by the Controller, and our goal is to use our local, state, 
and federal funding dollars effectively.β
The Controllerβs Office issued 14 recommendations, among them that the 
city consider terminating its grant agreements with the organizations, 
particularly those that involve federal funding. 
While the city has the authority to modify contracts that involve local 
funds, it has no such flexibility with the stringent requirements that 
come with administering federal grants for housing.
Both federal and local government rules require certain prioritization and 
record-keeping procedures for organizations that receive public funds to 
provide low-income housing to homeless individuals. 
Department of Homelessness spokesperson Emily Cohen said that the 
department agreed with 13 out of 14 recommendations but that βwe are 
interested in finding a way to work with the provider; they have great 
relationships and trust built with people in the Bayview [β¦] we obviously 
want to ensure we follow the law.β
βThese are allegations,β she added.
UCHSβs CEO, Gwendolyn Westbrookβwhoβs said to be a politically-connected 
operator in District 10βdid not immediately respond to a message left at 
her voicemail. But in a Nov. 11 letter to Shireen McSpadden, the cityβs 
homelessness director, and Mark de la Rosa, head of audits for the 
Controllerβs Office, Westbrook claimed the audit was βnot representativeβ 
and appeared to blame the fiscal problems on Bayview Hunters Point 
Foundation.
The nonprofit has gone through several fiscal sponsors in the past few 
years.
Its former fiscal sponsor, Bayview Hunters Point Foundation, approached 
the city earlier this year citing problems at UCHS and said it wanted out 
of the sponsorship arrangement. Felton Institute, another major nonprofit 
organization in the city, took over fiscal sponsorship of UCHS in 2022.
βI support every District 10 nonprofit as they provide valuable services 
for the community. I do after all, represent District 10,β said District 
10 Supervisor Shamann Walton in a statement.
It isnβt the first time the cityβs budget office has found problems at 
UCHS. 
A 2017 audit found a slew of organizational problems ranging from 
inexperienced board members serving longer terms than allowed, $88,140 in 
missing funds and a missing record of most employees who had ever worked 
at the company. The report presented 30 recommendations to establish more 
oversight at the nonprofit. 
The nonprofitβs most recent tax return shows several employees making a $0 
salary despite logging 40 hours a week for the organization.
In a statement, Supervisor Ahsha Safai called on the Controllerβs Office 
to perform a comprehensive audit of the homelessness department, saying 
that βthe troubling result [of the UCHS audit] is that HSH didnβt even 
know the total number of occupied housing units they were funding.β
City-funded nonprofits have fallen under the microscope in recent months, 
with Supervisor Catherine Stefani calling for new legislation to tighten 
up oversight of nonprofits that receive city funding, also called 
βcommunity-based organizations.β 
This fall, a scandal erupted at Positive Resource Center and Baker Places, 
two related nonprofits that provide addiction treatment and other 
services, when the organizations asked the city for a $4.2 million bailout 
and threatened to close some of their programs. 
Subsequent reporting by The Standard revealed that a top Department of 
Public Health official, Lisa Pratt, had been drawing a second six-figure 
salary from Baker Places, which receives the bulk of its funding from the 
health department. 
Safai has called for a hearing on the situation at Baker Places and 
Positive Resource Center, which runs a network of drug rehab and other 
behavioral health sites in the city. 
Annie Gaus can be reached at 
an...@sfstandard.com
David Sjostedt can be reached at 
da...@sfstandard.com
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