A San Diego County supervisor is calling for an audit of Equus to determine how the Kentucky-based company used tax dollars to house victims of the historic January floods.
Monica Montgomery Steppe in an exclusive interview on Friday told Team 10 that "community trust has been broken," and she wants to create a system of "accountability and transparency."
Her call for a financial review comes after Team 10 uncovered massive payouts to Equus amid widespread criticism of the company's handling of flood victims — many of whom were low-income residents. The company's CEO even issued a public apology of the service.
Team 10 previously found two Equus employees were paid about $70,000 for one month of work, while flood victims said Equus lost their information and put their hotel stays at risk. Another flood victim was sent to a hotel that was no longer open.
New public records obtained by Team 10 show Equus and the county have been in disputes over invoices Equus submitted for temporary staff and how much they should be paid.
Those records also show Equus was heavily dependent on ReloShare, a hotel booking company, to find rooms for flood victims.
An Equus spokeswoman did not respond to a call or email on Friday. The company previously referred all questions to the county.
Two county spokesmen previously told Team 10 that Equus had a specific skillset and that's why the county used them instead of local nonprofit agencies.
Those groups had initially assisted flood victims, but they did not have an opportunity to compete for the multi-million dollar contract given to Equus.
Hundreds of new records obtained by Team 10 through a public records request show that Equus needed numerous temporary workers and help from ReloShare to do its job.
Montgomery Steppe said she hopes the audit will level the playing field for local non-profit agencies to get county contracts for emergency services in the future.
She also will hold a press conference at 10 a.m. Monday at the San Diego County Administration Center with a community advocate and two nonprofit companies to urge her colleagues to approve the audit.
"Many community members have voiced significant criticisms about Equus," Montgomery Steppe wrote in a letter to the board in support of the audit.
The supervisor wants the audit to cover:
- Equus' actual expenditures versus what the contract was to pay the company.
- The number of households provided with temporary lodging and their length of stays.
- Where flood victims went after their stays ended.
- An analysis of how personal information of was kept for flood victims.
- The number of complaints and how they were resolved.
Team 10 last month found the county was reviewing about $11 million worth of bills submitted by Equus, which managed the emergency housing program into June.
From February to June, the county spent more than $15 million for emergency housing for at least 2,143 individuals and 750 households, according to county records.
You can read Montgomery Steppe's letter to the rest of the Board of Supervisors requesting the audit below:
Equus Audit Board Letter by Pat Mueller on Scribd
