Senior audit officials from the City of Oakland and the California State Auditor Office on how they evaluated funding and performance for state and local homelessness programs.
Webinar Recording
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Speaker Presentations Approved to Post
Auditing State and Local Homelessness Programs – Nicholas Kolitsos, Chris Paparian
Auditing the City of Oakland’s Homelessness Services – Michael C. Houston
Featured Speakers
Mark de la Rosa
Director of Audits, City and County of San Francisco
Mark de la Rosa has served as the City and County of San Francisco’s Director of Audits since July 2021 and the Acting Director of Audits since June 2019. In his role as director, Mark leads a dynamic team of auditors, investigators, and analysts in conducting performance and compliance audits of city departments, systems, and functions; investigating complaints of fraud, waste, or abuse of city resources; and providing actionable audit recommendations to city leaders to promote and enhance effectiveness, efficiency, and accountability over the City’s $13 billion annual budget. Mark has over 20 years of experience in auditing, budgeting, and policy analysis, including previously serving as San Francisco’s audit manager and then deputy director of audits, principal analyst for the San Francisco Board of Supervisors’ Budget and Legislative Analyst’s Office, analyst for the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and budget analyst for the State of Illinois Office of Management and Budget. Mark is also the current Chair of the Western Intergovernmental Audit Forum (WIAF). Mark earned a Master of Public Policy degree from the Goldman School at the University of California, Berkeley, and a bachelor’s degree in Sociology and Urban Studies from Northwestern University.
Michael Houston
City Auditor, City of Oakland, California
Michael C. Houston was elected as Oakland’s City Auditor on March 5, 2024, and was sworn into Office on May 3, 2024. A career public servant, Michael has over 15 years of experience conducting and leading audits of myriad government services. This work has been productive, having led to findings and recommendations that, among other things, led to optimized resource deployment, stronger safeguards of public resources, and cost savings for taxpayers. Michael joined Oakland’s Office of the City Auditor in 2019 as the Whistleblower Program Manager, a role in which he led investigations into allegations of fraud, waste, and abuse reported to the City Auditor’s Whistleblower Hotline. He was promoted to Assistant City Auditor in 2021, and led the Office’s professional staff in conducting performance audits, investigations, and special analyses. Before joining the City of Oakland, Michael worked at Cal State University East Bay, where he directed the internal audit and investigation functions, and at the San Jose City Auditor’s Office as a performance auditor. Michael has a Master of Public Policy degree from U.C. Berkeley, a Bachelor of Arts degree in History from Sonoma State University, and is a Certified Internal Auditor.
Nicholas Kolitsos
Audit Principal, California State Auditor
Nick Kolitsos is an Audit Principal for the California State Auditor where he has worked for the past 17 years. He has managed performance audits covering a wide variety of programs and policy issues, including audits of affordable housing programs, local government and school district finances, transportation and higher education funding, unemployment programs and privacy practices, law enforcement practices, healthcare fraud, and local oversight of non-profits. He also supervised audits of the State’s annual financial statements and performed oversight activities of large State IT projects. Nick is a Certified Public Accountant and has a Master of Business Administration from California State University, Sacramento and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Political Science from the University of California, Davis.
Chris Paparian
Senior Auditor, California State Auditor
Chris Paparian is a Senior Auditor for the California State Auditor’s office where he has worked for the past six years. He recently supervised performance audits of state and local government homelessness funding. He has also performed audits of various programs and policies including audits of greenhouse gas emissions reduction programs, city finances, developmental services, and local government personnel practices. In addition to audits, he worked on the selection process for the 2020 California Citizens Redistricting Commission. Chris holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Accounting from the University of California, Santa Barbara.
Jungjin Park
Executive Director for Intergovernmental Audit Forums
Strategic Planning and External Liaison (SPEL)
U.S. Government Accountability Office
Jungjin is an Executive Director for Intergovernmental Audit Forums within the Strategic Planning and External Relations (SPEL) Office at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO). She manages GAO’s domestic relations portfolio to connect with and maintain relationships with the federal, state, and local governments’ audit communities, with a particular focus on the Mountain and Plains, Pacific Northwest, and Western regions. Jungjin also oversees the meetings of advisory groups for the Comptroller General, such as the Domestic Working Group which consists of federal inspectors general, and state and local audit officials. Jungjin has 15 years of audit experience across GAO’s multiple mission teams and has worked on audits of the federal government’s budget and tax laws, defense acquisition systems, and data governance and management, as well as the agencywide High-Risk series in 2017 and 2019. Prior to working in the federal government, Jungjin worked on corporate alliance programs at UNICEF, conducted international economic research at the Samsung Global Research (formerly known as the Samsung Economic Research Institute), and served as the Auditor-in-Charge at the City and County of San Francisco. She holds a dual-B.A. in Political Science and Economics from the University of California at Berkeley, and a M.A. in International Affairs from the School of International and Public Affairs at Columbia University. Jungjin is a California native and currently resides in the bay area with her husband and son.
Webinar Details
California State Auditor Office:
In April 2024, the California State Auditor’s Office released two reports on homelessness that evaluated both state and local homelessness funding and programs. This presentation will cover the results of those audits and the methodologies used to address the objectives set out by the California legislature. Topics that will be discussed include California’s oversight and planning efforts, cost benefit analysis of programs, and local accountability. The presentation will also cover the audits’ impact including recommendations and legislative action.
City of Oakland:
In September 2022, The Oakland City Auditor’s Office release an audit report titled “Performance Audits of the City of Oakland’s Homelessness Services: Better Strategy and Data are Needed for More Effective and Accountable Service Delivery and Positive Outcomes for Oakland’s Homeless Residents”. The audit focused on the City’s performance in delivering crisis response, longer-term housing, and other supportive services to Oakland’s unhoused residents. The audit found that the City spent nearly $69 million in 3 years on contracts to provide various homelessness services, but Oakland needed to do more to ensure unhoused residents’ living situations were vastly improved. In his presentation, Oakland City Auditor Michael C. Houston will present specific findings and recommendations, the audit objectives and methodologies, and key background on the homelessness crisis in Oakland.