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Audit finds SF non-profit failed to meet regulations in housing support services

San Francisco
Dana L. Brown
/
Flickr / Creative Commons
San Francisco

According to a recent audit, a non-profit that provides housing and support services to San Francisco residents failed to meet requirements related to the nearly $28 million in grants it administers. It also found that the city is failing to monitor the organization’s performance.

Earlier this month, the San Francisco Controller’s Officereleased an auditthat showed the non-profit United Council of Human Services, or UCHS, failed to meet grant agreements with the city.

UCHS provides food and housing services to the Bayview Hunters Point community, where it is based.

Through a fiscal sponsor, the city’s Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing has contracts with UCHS to provide nearly $28 million in grants to support formerly unhoused tenants.

The audit found that UCHS did not comply with regulations related to tenant eligibility, hiring staff, collecting rent, and recordkeeping. In a similar audit conducted in 2017, the controller’s office also found that UCHS failed to meet compliance requirements.

The current audit points to a number of shortcomings in the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing’s monitoring of UCHS, as well. It suggests that the city reevaluate its relationship with the non-profit.

The Controller’s Office says it plans to follow up on its recommendations for the agency in six months.

Mary Catherine O’Connor is a radio and print reporter whose beats include climate change, energy, material circularity, waste, technology, and recreation. She was a 2022-23 Audio Academy Fellow at KALW . She has reported for leading publications including Outside, The Guardian, NPR, The Wall Street Journal, Al Jazeera America, and many trade magazines. In 2014 she co-founded a reader-supported experiment in journalism, called Climate Confidential.