The Office Of Homeless Services gets a lot of money from the city to help those experiencing without a place to live. Mayor Cherelle Parker and Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson want to know what they’re doing with it.
By Denise Clay-Murray
One of the statistics that I’m tired of having to repeat as someone who covers the City of Philadelphia is the fact that it’s the poorest city of its size in America.
Despite being a destination city for the FIFA World Cup, the MLB All-Star Game, and a bunch of other things, poverty is something that the city has had to deal with for decades. Now, we could talk about the disinvestment on both the state and local levels at the center of it, but that wouldn’t just be a column, it would be a five-part series.
But we can talk about the things that a city like Philadelphia needs. Like, for example, homeless services. This city, like most places, has levels of poverty. Like it is in most places, there’s levels to poverty in Philadelphia. While you have folks who must work two jobs to pay rent and keep food on the table, you also have people who are couch surfing — sleeping on the couches of friends because they can’t afford a place — and hitting soup kitchens for their one hot meal for the day.
In the 2024 Fiscal Year budget, the Office of Homeless Services got $129,613,622 to manage such things as shelters, food and clothing, mental health services, and other things designed to help those in need get back on their feet.
Yet, they had to come back to City Council for mid-year transfer fund help.
So, the Office of the Inspector General, Mayor Cherelle Parker, and Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson would like to know what the office is doing with the money and why people in immediate need of housing can’t get it.
On Wednesday night, Mayor Parker announced that the inspector general and the accounting firm of Horsey, Buckner & Heffler LLP will do a forensic investigation into the Office of Homeless Services and how it does — or doesn’t — do business.
“The Office of Inspector General is conducting an investigation into the contracting and spending of the Office of Homeless Services,” Parker said in a statement. “The Inspector-General has shared some preliminary findings, and they are of grave concern. That’s why we are retaining an independent accountant with specialized expertise to assist the Inspector General in performing a forensic investigation of OHS.”
The investigation is one of the things that Council Majority Leader Katherine Gilmore Richardson asked for when she introduced legislation that would create an ombudsperson for the Office of Homeless Services. The new position, which would require a charter change, would have the ability to advocate for the city’s homeless population, as well as provide oversight when it comes to how the office spends its money.
For Gilmore Richardson, the last straw with the Office of Homeless Services was when the office claimed it didn’t have enough to do its job despite its pretty substantial budget and the mid-year transfers it’s received.
If the money isn’t going toward making sure that those in need of a roof over their heads get what they need, what are you doing with it, she asked.
“I was extremely appalled to see that the office of Homeless Services claims that they can no longer provide services to residents who need immediate shelter,” Gilmore Richardson said in a statement. “I am even more disappointed to see that some people think this is connected to City Council not providing $8 million in current year spending. After years of questionable mismanagement of funds and providing poor customer service despite significant increases in funding from City Council, it is time to ensure unhoused constituents have an advocate working directly for them.”
Once the investigation is finished, City Controller Christy Brady will get the results.
Now, if you’ve ever taken the Broad Street Line or the Market/Frankford El, you know we have a serious problem with homelessness. If you walk out of City Hall on a Thursday night and look toward Love Park, you’ll see community groups handing out food, clothing, and toiletries to people who don’t have a place to call home.
So knowing that the city agency charged with helping to better the circumstances of people who sleep in places like Suburban Station and the interchange between the PATCO and Broad Street Lines off of Locust Street might not be doing what they’re supposed to be doing with that money should anger all of us.
We’re the City of Brotherly Love. People shouldn’t be robbing the homeless here.
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