City auditor presents annual report showing mixed progress on homelessness, safety and housing

Joe Royce, San Jose—9s city auditor, presented the Office of the City Auditor—9s 17th annual report on city services, saying the office had reviewed performance measures across city service areas and "provides a fair picture of the city's performance." The City Council voted to accept the report unanimously.

The auditor—9s report and accompanying dashboards broke city operations into community and economic development, neighborhood services, public safety, transportation and aviation, environmental and utility services, and strategic support. Royce and audit staff said the report does not offer absolute assurance for every data point but intends to present a representative picture of costs, quantity, timeliness and public opinion about city services.

The nut graf: The report underscored residents—9 top concerns —1 homelessness, affordable housing and public safety —1 while flagging shortfalls on multiple operational targets, including police and fire response times and housing production goals. Councilmembers used the briefing to press staff for more detailed, timely data and clearer metrics tied to council focus areas.

On public safety, the auditors reported that police responded to nearly 1.2 million calls for service and that the citywide average response time for priority 1 calls was eight minutes, slower than the six-minute target. Fire response met the priority 2 target at 90% within 13 minutes but met the priority 1 time standard only 64% of the time versus an 80% target.

On housing and community development, the report found the city did not meet housing-production rate targets for 2023, and the city issued 40% of the annual target for affordable building permits and 35% of the target for market-rate housing. The housing director told council members that some apparent year-to-year variation in placements reflects differences among data sources (Point-in-Time counts, HMIS) and timing of certificates of occupancy for newly completed units.

The administration and council discussed operational issues that the report highlighted: lengthy wait times for building inspections, a backlog of roughly 4,200 code-enforcement cases at the end of FY 23-24, and an increase in reports of lived-in vehicles and RVs as a neighborhood blight concern.

Councilmembers repeatedly returned to homelessness and shelter: the auditor—9s data showed the homeless point-in-time count at roughly 6,300 for San Jose in 2023, while administrative figures show about 1,900 placements into housing during the year. Councilmembers asked staff for clearer, reconciled metrics that align with the city manager—9s scorecards and the council—9s placement goals.

Deputy City Manager Omar Passons and housing staff described efforts to accelerate interim housing projects by standardizing design and seeking delegated authority to shorten procurement timelines; Eric Sulyvahn, the housing director, said data cleanups were underway so the city could produce more consistent housing placement figures.

Council members also pressed the police chief for recruitment and retention plans after the audit showed staffing shortfalls: Chief Paul Joseph said the department is expanding recruiting contracts, offering targeted outreach for women and lateral hires and expects improved results in the coming months.

The council accepted the auditor—9s report and asked the auditor and administration to incorporate the council—9s adopted net placement goal into next year—9s report and to add performance measures showing utilization of shelter capacity and reduction of large encampments.

Ending: The report will be posted online with interactive dashboards; councilmembers asked for follow-up briefings and additional context on any large year-to-year swings in the performance measures.