NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Metro council member filed a request for a complete audit of the Office of Homeless Services (OHS) this week.
Council member Ginny Welsch called the more than $3 million spent by the Metro department "financial irregularities."
OHS strongly denies the claims.
In her request for an audit, Welsch cites possible financial discrepancies among contractor payments, federal grants, and department credit card expenditures totaling $3.2 million.
After personal records requests and an internal audit, she has called for a deeper dive into the so-called irregularities and the resignation of OHS director April Calvin.
"The overarching concern was that we had a $50 million influx in funding to address homelessness, and we have not improved our numbers by any measure," said Welsch.
"It is disheartening, and it is a distraction," said Calvin, weighing in during an interview on Thursday.
Calvin denies any sort of financial misappropriation. She adds that some of the money in question, known as landlord engagement funds, has significantly reduced barriers to housing and led to just under 4,000 people being housed in the last two years, over 500 who came straight from homeless camps.
"Being able to house 3,800 individuals with the housing pressures that we have is to be admired and commended," Calvin stated.
When asked if she would be open to an audit, Calvin replied, "I'll tell you this. We're an open book, and we've been under three audits, investigations — program investigations — and we have been found to be completely compliant."
This is happening as the Office of Internal Audit was already investigating $500,000 spent by OHS on landlord engagement.
The proposed audit would investigate all financial activity within the department.
Moving forward, the Metro Audit Committee will review Welsch's request for an audit in a meeting on September 23.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.
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