Audit finds long housing delays and oversight gaps in California’s CONREP program; legislators call for fixes

At an oversight hearing of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee, State Auditor Grant Parks told lawmakers the audit of California’s conditional release program for sexually violent predators (CONREP) found long delays locating community housing, inconsistent local participation in housing committees, and gaps in Department of State Hospitals (DSH) oversight of the vendor Liberty Healthcare.

The audit, issued in October 2024 and summarized to the committee by Grant Parks, found that courts sent 56 people to CONREP from the program’s 2003 start through April 2024 while 125 people were unconditionally released by the courts without CONREP supervision. Parks told the committee that only two of the 56 CONREP participants were later convicted of new crimes while in CONREP, but 18 of the 56 were returned to state hospitals after court revocations. “SVPs participating in the CONREP program were convicted of new offenses less frequently than SVPs who were unconditionally released,” Parks said, but he noted that courts revoked participation and returned individuals to hospitals for non‑compliance in many cases.

Why it matters: legislators from rural districts told the committee they see repeated placements in their communities, raising public safety and fairness concerns. Committee members pressed DSH and Liberty on costs, contracting and whether a state‑run transitional housing…