Homelessness has become an issue in cities across the country but Los Angeles, California is in a class of its own. The city is home to the notorious area known as ‘Skid Row’ which has only expanded in recent years.
While the homeless issue has gotten worse, the city has spent billions upon billions on the issue. So where has the money gone? And why has the problem only increased in size?
A newly appointed U.S. attorney named Bill Essayli is now going to investigate this issue, which is excellent news. An investigation into this is long overdue.
FOX News reports:
LA County homeless spending under the microscope of newly appointed US attorney
The freshly appointed, MAGA-aligned U.S. attorney for the Central District of California, which includes Los Angeles County, has launched an ambitious new federal criminal task force aimed at forensically investigating how billions in homeless funding over the past five years was spent.
“We will get to the bottom of it. And if we find that any federal laws are violated, we will arrest and prosecute those individuals involved,” U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli told Fox News in his first television interview at his office in Downtown Los Angeles.
Essayli announced the launch of the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force, which will include federal prosecutors from the FBI, IRS and HUD. One of the items on the agenda is investigating the results of a recent audit that revealed $2.3 billion of homeless funding is unaccounted for in Los Angeles County alone.
“That is not a rounding error. That’s a lot of money. So we want to get to the bottom of where that money went,” Essayli said.
In this video report, Essayli says that arrests and prosecutions are on the table if they uncover wrongdoing.
U.S. Attorney Bill Essayli this week discussed the formation of the Homelessness Fraud and Corruption Task Force, which will investigate fraud, waste, abuse, and corruption involving funds allocated toward the eradication of homelessness in the L.A. area. pic.twitter.com/LSkxuJwHsK
— US Attorney L.A. (@USAO_LosAngeles) April 10, 2025
Something is clearly wrong here. How does a city spend billions of dollars on a problem only to see it get worse?
