Oakland spent tens of millions on third-party homeless service providers without properly tracking important data, such as whether they succeed in keeping people housed, according to a critical new audit.

The report from the city auditor’s office, released Monday evening, focuses on the contractors that run the majority of Oakland’s homeless housing programs. It found Oakland spent nearly $69 million on third-party providers over a three-year period without properly managing those contracts or tracking their outcomes. Oakland’s homeless housing programs served 8,683 people during fiscal years 2018-2019, 2019-2020 and 2020-2021, but they had “mixed results” as they tried to get those people into permanent housing — often falling far short of their goals.

The report is the second in two years to point out serious flaws in Oakland’s response to its homelessness crisis.

“We can do better, and we must do better,” City Auditor Courtney Ruby wrote in a news release. “I believe establishing and adopting better strategies, management, oversight and staffing is essential to sustaining a successful homelessness response, which addresses the issues outlined throughout this audit report.”

City administrators tasked with addressing Oakland’s homelessness crisis said they appreciate the auditor’s “thorough and thoughtful review.”

“As the city continues to absorb more responsibility for homeless service delivery that has traditionally been the role of Alameda County, we are committed to work with the county and other partners to enhance data collection and analysis, and implement a comprehensive strategic planning process with transparent performance metrics, outcomes, financial data, and staffing requirements as we strive to improve our service models and efficiencies, consistent with the recommendations outlined in this audit — all with the ultimate goal of improved outcomes for our unsheltered residents,” Homeless Administrator Daniel Cooper and Interim Director of Human Services Estelle Clemons said in a joint statement.

The report follows a scathing 2021 audit that blasted Oakland’s homeless encampment response as haphazard and lacking strategy, policy direction and adequate funding.

According to the most recent audit, many city programs failed to meet their targets during the three-year period — especially temporary shelter programs for single adults. In Oakland’s “cabin communities,” just 27% of people who left went into permanent housing during the last fiscal year — far short of the county goal of 50%. And 44% ended up homeless again — compared to the county goal of less than 10%.

In other homeless shelters for single adults, just 15% of people went into permanent housing last year — falling short of the county’s goal of 30%. And there were problems with that data that likely affected its accuracy, according to the audit. Shelters for families did better, with 34% of people leaving for permanent housing.

For those lucky enough to get into one of the city programs specifically geared toward permanent housing, their results were better, according to the audit. For example, last fiscal year between 89% and 99% of people who left rapid rehousing programs — which provide stipends to help pay participants’ rents for up to a year — ended up in permanent housing. That exceeded the goal of 80%.

But those programs can’t keep up with the city’s huge demand, and often have long waitlists.

Ruby’s office also called out multiple problems with the way the city tracks, or fails to track, data — leading to a “critical deficiency” in the city’s ability to manage its homeless services programs.

“The audit found the city does not have the requisite analytical and technical skills to consistently analyze, track, and monitor data, all of which is needed to effectively manage homelessness services and hold service providers accountable,” according to the news release.

For example, the city lost track of many program participants once they secured permanent housing — meaning it was unable to adequately determine whether or for how long they remained successfully housed. The city also was unable to accurately count how many shelter beds were available on a given night, according to the audit.

City Council President Nikki Fortunato Bas called the city’s data collection failures “unacceptable.” In June, the council directed the city administrator to start work on a policy for evaluating homeless services contractors based on metrics, such as permanent housing placements.

“Our unsheltered neighbors deserve services that lead to dignity and permanent housing, and our tax payers deserve accountability and results from our investments,” she said in a statement.

The auditor’s office also addressed racial equity in Oakland, where homelessness disproportionately affects Black residents. That was one of the few areas where it gave the city high marks, finding that for the most part, the demographics of the people Oakland’s programs are helping line up with the demographics of the city’s homeless population at large.

The audit laid out 27 recommendations for the city to address, and said the city has committed to implementing them all.

Time is of the essence, warned the auditor’s office in an open letter to city officials. Alameda County is expected to need about 26,000 permanent housing units for homeless residents by 2026 — but as of 2021, it had just 3,215. About half of the county’s homeless population resides in Oakland, meaning Oakland must shoulder much of that need, Ruby said, which is a “staggering reality to consider.”