By Macy Meinhardt, Voice & Viewpoint Staff Writer
Amid growing complaints voiced by flood victims on the quality of service they received under Equus Workforce Solutions, the company the county used to provide immediate aid, the San Diego Board of Supervisors voted 4-0 Tuesday to perform an accountability audit on the contract terms, with Supervisor Joel Anderson absent.
It has been eight months since a “one-hundred-year” storm slammed Southeastern San Diego’s most vulnerable neighborhoods, causing disastrous flooding and profound damage to the homes and the well-being of San Diegans caught in its path.
It is reported that roughly 1,200 residents were displaced in the direct aftermath. To “quickly” address the needs of victims, the county contracted their existing emergency service provider, Equus Workforce Solutions, to provide temporary hotel shelter and case management services to flood victims on behalf of the county.
In that time, mounting concerns from flood victims on the quality of service they received under Equus garnered the attention of District 4 Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe’s office, who on Monday called a press conference where she encouraged her supervisor colleagues to cast their vote in favor of the audit.
“Natural disasters will continue to increase, and that warrants a cohesive response with reliable partners that address immediate needs. We need answers to ensure we are doing right by our constituents,” said Supervisor Montgomery Steppe.
Lack of compassionate care from Equus is a key complaint residents cite, sharing anecdotes about not receiving callbacks on their hotel stays, eviction threats, repeated requests for sensitive data, being sent to the wrong shelters, and overall disorganization.
Dependent on the service provider for basic needs and shelter, this only exacerbated the mental toll caused by the storm’s aftermath for flood victims, according to Samantha Willams, who has been providing boots-on-the-ground volunteer service through her non-profit JIREH Providers.
“The lack of trauma, informed care, basic decency that many of those survivors experienced left them feeling vulnerable and often unheard,” said Willams.
The audit will direct the chief accounting officer of the county to investigate Equus’ expenditures, households served, their data security, volume and type of complaints, and how the company addresses them.
The impact of the storm and the scramble for local entities to quickly and efficiently respond has exposed failures and gaps in the emergency systems used to prevent and respond to natural weather events, residents argue.
There to fill those gaps were community volunteers and grassroot organizations like Jackie Robinson YMCA, Harvey Family Foundation, and JIREH providers.
“[These organizations ]stepped up in a very powerful way, in a collaborative way, to make things happen when government was stalled,” said Tasha Willamson, a community activist.
Geared to “provide transparency and accountability” into the way the county conducts its contracting, Montgomery-Steppe noted that this step correlates within a “bigger picture” to open up contracting to smaller nonprofits and businesses at the county level.
“The audit will not only shine a light on the failures, but also on a pathway moving forward,” Williams says.
The full board letter on the audit is made available below. AN AUDIT OF ARBOR ET LLC DBA EQUUS WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS BL (1)
