Auditor General Denise Hanrahan says she can “totally appreciate” when government’s need to react in emergency situations, but governments need to look at existing information and planning before making any decisions.
Hanrahan released her report on the Horizons 106 transitional housing facility yesterday, which found that the initiative has been costly, and that there have been issues with the entire process including procurement, management, and oversight.
While government was responding to an immediate need in the community, she states that homelessness was not a new issue and there should have been lots of information available to guide the decision-making process.
Hanrahan also highlights inconsistencies with the way the issue was approached by government.
(VOCM News)
She says if government was going to call the initiative a response to an emergency situation, then the entire situation should have been treated as such. Instead, as an example she says the lease of the building wasn’t treated as an emergency, but choosing the operator was an emergency.
Overall, Hanrahan believes the public’s main takeaway from the report should be “disappointment” hat services that are needed are not necessarily being planned appropriately, and that when the proper processes are not being followed things tend to “cost more than they need to.”
The Minister of Social Supports will address the AG’s findings this afternoon.
Joedy Wall will speak with reporters this afternoon at 1:45 at Confederation Building.
VOCM News will be there.
