All you had to do was drive past this homeless shelter, and it was clear that San Francisco had been duped, authorities said.
No new painting has been carried out to brighten up the Oasis Hotel, which is home to some of the city’s most vulnerable residents. These are just some of the jobs the city was openly blamed for but never completed, the city attorney said.
A nonprofit that runs shelters and other housing programs in San Francisco has been suspended from bidding for new contracts and grants after an investigation found it falsified invoices for receive more than $100,000, according to the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office.
In a written statement, City Atty. David Chiu said he also initiated exclusion proceedings against the nonprofit Providence Foundation of San Francisco. The procedure would elevate the suspension to a ban of up to five years.
Vernon C. Goins, an attorney for the nonprofit, said in an email response to the Times that the Providence Foundation was aware of the allegations and was “fully cooperating with the City and County of San Francisco” and would take corrective action if appropriate. .
“Any action by the City and County of San Francisco to enjoin, prevent, or enjoin the Providence Foundation of San Francisco from participating in the procurement process or entering into contracts directly or indirectly with, or from requesting or receiving subsidies, from the City is unfounded and unfounded,” he added. “If debarment proceedings are initiated, the Providence Foundation of San Francisco is confident that it will successfully demonstrate that it never engaged in intentional misconduct with respect to any city grant or contract.”
Monday’s announcement came after Chiu’s office said it discovered that the Providence Foundation falsified invoices in 2022 for work related to the Oasis Hotel, a shelter for homeless families. The San Francisco-based nonprofit, which began operating the shelter in 2021, claimed to have repainted the hotel’s exterior and removed deadbolt locks, but no work was actually done , officials said.
In total, the city paid the nonprofit $105,000 for the work claimed on the invoices.
“There is a difference between having financial compliance challenges and intentionally defrauding the city and its taxpayers,” Chiu said. “This non-profit organization collected $100,000 of public money intended to benefit people experiencing homelessness. This cannot be tolerated.
In the statement, the city attorney’s office placed particular blame on Kenisha Roach, the Providence Foundation’s chief operating officer, and Patricia Doyle, its executive director, saying they vouched for the bills by submitting them for payment rather than check if the work claimed in the invoices was legitimate.
“The lack of new exterior paint is obvious to anyone who visits the Oasis, let alone the executive director and director of operations of the nonprofit organization in charge of operating the hotel,” the statement said. communicated.
City officials say fraudulent invoices aren’t the Providence Foundation’s only alleged transgressions.
Last year in March, the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing sent letters demanding that the nonprofit organization come into compliance after the department received complaints from workers at the foundation regarding wage theft, nepotism, mismanagement and other shortcomings.
“Providence (Foundation) ignored the clear anti-nepotism provision of the grant agreement” by hiring members of at least seven different families, including two of the children of the executive director and one child of the vice chairman of the board of directors. administration, Chiu said in the statement.
San Francisco’s Providence Foundation currently benefits from several city grants, primarily through the Department of Homelessness and Supportive Housing. It also receives funding from the city to operate a navigation center, an interim housing site, multiple housing grant and voucher programs, and support services for people experiencing homelessness.
City officials said the suspension does not automatically end the nonprofit’s current grant agreements with the city, but could be grounds to cancel them. Monday’s action is not expected to have any effect on services.
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