New York AG Leticia James Under Fire, City Spends Over $81,000 Per Homeless Person, Including Shelter Scandals

New York AG Leticia James came under fire by Republican candidate Saritha Komatireddy. She accused James of not holding homeless shelters in New York accountable for billions of dollars of taxpayer money wasted by these nonprofit organizations. This is happening even after numerous audits and investigations over many years.

A report in March by the New York State Comptroller revealed that the City of New York spent approximately $81,700 in fiscal year 2025 on homeless people who were not in shelters.

Since 2019, the spending has tripled, as the homeless population has gone up about 78 percent.

Komatireddy made the case that government spending has increased greatly, which has not helped the situation.

Fox News Reported:

New York attorney general candidate Saritha Komatireddy is accusing Letitia James of failing to hold New York’s nonprofit homeless shelter providers accountable despite years of audits, investigations and scandals involving billions of taxpayer dollars.

The criticism comes after a New York State Comptroller report in March found New York City spent roughly $81,700 per unsheltered homeless person in fiscal year 2025, with spending on street homelessness more than tripling since 2019 as the city’s homeless population climbed 78%.

Komatireddy described the situation as a crisis, arguing government spending has surged while outcomes have deteriorated.

“‘So, there really are questions about what has happened to that money and why that’s happening,’ Komatireddy told Fox News Digital. ‘The person who should be asking those questions, the person who should be investigating, is the attorney general.’” Fox News Reported.

Komatireddy’s criticism is after years of investigations by federal prosecutors, the New York State Comptroller, and the New York City Department of Investigation. With that came alleged kickbacks, fraud, little financial oversight, and large compensation packages for executives of homeless shelters that were funded by the city.

In 2024, the New York City Department of Investigation found that 51 city-funded homeless shelters lacked competitive bidding, unusually high salaries, and executives who were being paid around $1 million. The New York AG has the power to investigate non-profits for questionable transactions.

The State Comptroller’s audits found that numerous providers for the shelters had improperly spent millions of dollars.

Komatireddy said that every taxpayer-funded shelter should be audited.

Komatireddy also previously criticized New York AG James over poor oversight regarding the Medicare Fraud Control Unit in New York. Federal authorities had withheld funding, allegedly because AG James had not pursued fraud cases in a serious manner.

Naturally, the criticism was dismissed by Leticia James’ campaign.