San Francisco’s city attorney on Monday accused a nonprofit that has received tens of millions of public dollars to provide homeless services of stealing public funds.
Providence Foundation, led by Patricia Doyle, allegedly “took over $100,000 of public money meant to benefit people experiencing homelessness” by submitting fraudulent invoices to San Francisco, according to a press release from the city attorney’s office. Doyle’s foundation has received roughly $100 million in contracts from the city, though its tax forms don’t include information on how much of its revenue went toward executive compensation, as is standard practice among nonprofits.
“There’s a difference between having challenges with financial compliance and intentionally defrauding the City and its taxpayers,” City Attorney David Chiu said. “This nonprofit took over $100,000 of public money meant to benefit people experiencing homelessness. That cannot be tolerated.”
Providence Foundation operates the Oasis Hotel in the city as a shelter for homeless families.
The foundation received at least $105,000 from San Francisco after submitting two invoices related to repainting the hotel’s exterior and removing deadbolt locks, according to the city attorney’s office.
The hotel, however, was never painted and the locks were never removed, according to the city attorney. The Providence Foundation also allegedly used a fabricated contractor license number on the invoices it submitted to the city.
The nonprofit also gave jobs to its leaders’ children, in violation of an anti-nepotism provision in its grant agreement with San Francisco, engaged in wage theft, failed to respond to document requests and did not keep enough homeless families in its shelter, according to the city attorney.
The city attorney temporarily banned the Providence Foundation from receiving new municipal grants and is seeking to impose a formal ban for up to five years.
Providence Foundation reported spending over $6.8 million on employee compensation on its most recent tax forms. The foundation’s forms do not include information on how much its executives were paid, a departure from standard practice among nonprofits.
Providence Foundation’s website only lists ten employees.
Doyle was first flagged by San Francisco for nonprofit mismanagement more than a decade ago, according to documents obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle. She had overspent contract budgets and billed the city for her credit card purchases without providing documentation, according to the documents.
Other nonprofits in San Francisco paid by the city to provide services have been marred with recent allegations of financial mismanagement, using city funds to buy personal goods like cigars and embezzlement, alongside other accusations, according to the San Francisco Chronicle.
The wave of recent allegations coincides with reports of poor nonprofit oversight practices in San Francisco. Some nonprofits with subpar performance were nonetheless given contract continuations, while other organizations receiving city funds were barely reviewed, according to an investigation conducted by the San Francisco Standard.
Despite San Francisco spending billions trying to assuage homelessness, thousands remain living on the streets. Residents are suing the city for not controlling the problem in one of the city’s busiest districts. Fires stemming from homeless encampments in the city are also an issue, with more than 800 fires stemming from encampments in 2023, up from 400 in 2019.
Providence Foundation and the San Francisco city attorney’s office did not immediately respond to the Daily Caller News Foundation’s requests for comment.
