Improve Suffolk and Nassau help for homeless

More than 4,000 homeless Long Islanders depend on emergency shelters or other transitional housing to keep a roof over their heads. Some 60% are women and their children, according to 2024 statistics. To provide housing and other needed services, Suffolk and Nassau counties depend on contractors whose work is critical to helping these vulnerable residents. 

But a series of audits by Suffolk County Comptroller John M. Kennedy showed that some Suffolk contractors misappropriated $6.85 million between 2016 and 2018. Kennedy’s audits found that some contractors labeled expenditures as capital improvements that “had nothing to do with” a homeless facility’s operations. Other contractors increased salaries without county approval.

Kennedy’s troubling findings indicate there’s more work to do. Suffolk has clawed back more than $3 million of the misappropriated funds but should continue its pursuit for more. Suffolk County Executive Ed Romaine promises needed policy changes, including annual reviews, capital reserve fund monitoring, and better approval processes.

Of the 2,400 homeless individuals in Suffolk, 1,000 are children, according to county officials. To adequately protect those families, Suffolk must expand its oversight and closely work with contractors to assess budgets and funding needs. The county should require contractors to seek advance approvals for salary hikes and budget modifications, and provide timely OKs when appropriate to avoid future financial pitfalls. Suffolk officials say they plan to take those steps; that should help. The county must pay particular attention to contractors named in the audits, especially those like HELP Suffolk, Inc., a division of HELP USA that was overpaid $2.05 million and, the county says, declined to return funds or make a repayment agreement. Suffolk rightly has been withholding monthly payments. But it’s a notable red flag; increased monitoring and accountability is critical. Follow-up audits will be necessary.

Nassau County Comptroller Elaine Phillips has done three limited audits of emergency housing, one assessing the county’s emergency shelter payments to hotels and motels and two focused on individual nonprofits’ processes and problems. Additional audits are warranted to determine whether Nassau’s contractors are properly managing and appropriating funds. Phillips told the editorial board that a state certification process, including financial assessments, provides added checks and balances. She said she and Kennedy have met and hope to work together. That’s a good idea. Both counties should be sharing best practices for managing those who shelter Long Island’s homeless population.

This is a critical moment. During a recent count conducted by the Long Island Coalition for the Homeless, interviews were done with 430 homeless individuals who live on the streets. Even with confirmed statistics still to come, that’s a significant increase from the 209 unsheltered individuals officially counted last year.

The best way to bring those individuals off the streets is to provide safe emergency housing and services. Solving this scourge requires state, county, and nonprofit officials’ cooperation. Any abuse of the system hurts those we’re trying to help.