Audit flags $13.7M in unauthorized spending on Hawaii homeless housing

An audit uncovered Hawaii’s Office of Housing and Homeless Solutions made roughly $13.7 million in unauthorized or questionable expenses to a handpicked contractor, the nonprofit HomeAid Hawaiʻi, State Auditor Les Kondo detailed in a 58-page report on Gov. Josh Green’s kauhale initiative.

Discoveries in the audit about the home initiative are consistent with past reporting by independent digital news organization Honolulu Civil Beat,  which documents excessive costs, HomeAid’s failure to submit receipts justifying payments and payments made to insiders, including the nonprofit CEO’s spouse.

$13.7 million audit Hawaii homeless housing

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State Auditor Les Kondo found that Hawaii’s Office of Housing and Homeless Solutions handled the responsibility of planning and administering a multimillion-dollar public works project without the ability and expertise needed to perform it. 

The Associated Press, citing the audit, reported that without the capability to properly oversee contracts, the office instead "relied on HomeAid itself to review and control the costs submitted for reimbursement," which the handpicked contractor failed to do.

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This reportedly resulted in multiple unauthorized or questionable expenses, which included payments for housing units that weren’t built at all or modular units that the auditor could not confirm were ever delivered to Hawaii nearly $1 million in taxpayer money to fund HomeAid’s own business operating costs; and over $600,000 for marketing, communications and community relations, including HomeAid branded T-shirts and advertising in a local newspaper and magazine.

According to the AP, Hawaii housing agency also paid the contractor for unauthorized travel, including first-class airfare; reimbursed payments to HomeAid workers without required timesheets showing the work they did, and spent almost $80,000 to rent an ocean view condominium on Maui. 

Hawaii also reportedly reimbursed HomeAid $108.38 for two "Intimacy Kits" containing condoms, lubricant and sex toys at a Las Vegas hotel.

In other examples, uncovered in the audit, Hawaii’s Office of Housing and Homeless Solutions allowed work to begin before contracts were signed and did not consistently enforce contract requirements.

The audit’s report also contains documentation of unauthorized and questionable expenditures paid to HomeAid, including thousands of taxpayer dollars for unauthorized travel, including a $17,500 sponsorship fee for the 2025 Hawai‘i on the Hill conference in Washington, D.C.

Responding to the audit, Hawaii’s Office of Housing and Homeless Solutions told the AP it’s taking measures to manage HomeAid and recoup some of the money paid to the organization.

The AP reported that the office’s enforcement on HomeAid also came more than a year after Honolulu Civil Beat started inquiring about the spending in 2025, prompting denials of wrongdoing by the homelessness office and HomeAid.

 

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