SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — A legislative audit says Utah’s spending on homelessness has grown by nearly $20 million over the past two years.
The legislative auditor general’s report, which was released last week, states Utah spent roughly $81.2 million on direct and indirect costs for federal, state, county and city homeless services and programs in 2016.
That’s an increase from $71.5 million in 2015 and $63.6 million in 2014.
That does not factor in the estimated $67 million the state expects to spend on Operation Rio Grande over the next two years.
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The report says indirect costs — spending on programs such as policing and jails that would exist otherwise but are inflated by homelessness — accounted for $40.8 million in the most recent fiscal year studied.