Jennifer McGuirk

I am Jennifer McGuirk, the Multnomah County Auditor, and I am writing in response to the petition titled "Require Multnomah County to perform an independent audit of homeless services.”

I am an elected official and was elected on a countywide basis. My staff and I are independent from county management. We work for the public. My office has audited the Joint Office of Homeless Services, now called the Homeless Services Department, consistently since its creation in 2016. In the past four years, we have issued six publications on county homeless services:

1. Waste identified: Hotline tip identified Joint Office’s approval of over $500,000 of unallowable expenses, issued 2022 https://multco.us/info/waste-identified-hotline-tip-identified-joint-offices-approval-over-500000-unallowable

2. Joint Office of Homeless Services: Providers were frustrated with contract management and communication, issued 2023 https://multco.us/info/joint-office-homeless-services-providers-were-frustrated-contract-management-and-communication

3. JOHS: Reporting on supportive housing and rapid rehousing was an accurate reflection of provider data most of the time, but providers would like a more user-friendly data system, issued 2024 https://multco.us/info/johs-reporting-supportive-housing-and-rapid-rehousing-was-accurate-reflection-provider-data

4. Contract monitoring: Consistent countywide approach needed, issued 2024; one of the departments we focused on was the Homeless Services Department https://multco.us/info/contract-monitoring-consistent-countywide-approach-needed

5. Recommendation Status Evaluation: The Joint Office of Homeless Services has implemented one of the 2023 audit recommendations, issued 2025 https://multco.us/info/recommendation-status-evaluation-joint-office-homeless-services-has-implemented-one-2023-audit

6. Request for advocacy to implement Auditor recommendations, issued 2026 https://multco.us/file/memorandum_to_board_of_county_commissioners:_request_for_advocacy_to_implement_auditor_recommendations/download

We are currently writing our report on our performance audit of supportive housing services, and that will be issued this calendar year. All of my office’s reports are publicly available on my office’s website. https://multco.us/info/progress-supportive-housing-services-audit