City officials on Tuesday approved an audit of the Metro Office of Homeless Services following a contentious request from District 16 Councilmember Ginny Welsch.
The department has faced allegations of financial mismanagement related to federal allocations, staffing, employee reimbursements and operating contracts for the Strobel House, a new city-run permanent supportive housing facility. Welsch has separately called for the firing of OHS Director April Calvin.
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Metro Audit Committee Chair Tom Bates — with substantial input from Vice Mayor Angie Henderson — guided the committee’s regular monthly meeting, which began with a public comment period. Metro auditor Lauren Riley represented the city’s Office of Internal Audit. Committee members granted Welsch further time at the meeting to explain her request. Welsch criticized OHS’ management of money and emphasized the department’s lack of trust with community providers.
“An audit could be a first step to restoring trust," Welsch said. "It will help our community improve on what we’re doing. We are at a critical point where millions of dollars in homelessness funding is going away. We have to create more transparency and open discourse to rebuild a system that has not worked based on the input I and my colleagues have received from constituents.”
Calvin also appeared in front of the committee to defend her department’s work. She called OHS an “open book” and focused comments on OHS’ housing efforts and public events. Calvin did not directly comment on specific allegations raised in Welsch’s audit request, even when questioned by District 35 Councilmember Jason Spain, a committee member.
During the public comment period, some speakers voiced support for OHS and praised the department’s professionalism, with at least one speaker calling Welsch’s complaint a “hack job.” Others cast Welsch as a regular detractor with a personal vendetta against OHS.
“OHS has nothing to hide — we’re really proud of the work that we’re doing," Allison Cantway, OHS’ assistant director of planning and research, told audit committee members. “We’ve been under investigations, audits and ethical complaints, many of them having originated from a single councilmember, which have not found major issues with our department. We’re currently under an internal investigation that was initiated by the same person to address largely the same inaccurate allegations.”
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Two members of the public spoke in support of the audit request, including Mike Lacy, a former city employee who launched his own website dedicated to the department’s financial decision-making titled the “OHS Community Audit.”
During committee discussion, Vice Mayor Henderson said that more members than Welsch have expressed concern over OHS finances. District Councilmembers Jacob Kupin and Courtney Johnston have previously expressed concern over Calvin’s leadership. Henderson also helped the body define the scope of the audit to explicitly include the financial questions raised by Welsch’s filing.
