In May 2025, Massachusetts State Auditor Diana DiZoglio released a comprehensive audit of the Executive Office of Housing and Livable Communities (EOHLC), covering July 2021 through June 2024. The findings: improper, unlawful, no-bid procurement; one food vendor paid $9.5 million in eight months; cab rides charged at $147 for what would normally cost $5; and across all state public-benefit programs, the Auditor's Bureau of Special Investigations identified nearly $12 million in public assistance fraud in a single fiscal year.
Why this audit happened
In November 2024, Massachusetts voters passed Question 1 by an overwhelming margin — granting the State Auditor explicit authority to audit the Massachusetts Legislature. The Legislature spent months refusing to comply. The Auditor's office is the only state-level financial accountability institution voters specifically empowered at the ballot box, and the same Auditor — Diana DiZoglio — also conducts the regular audits of state agencies under existing statutory authority.
The EOHLC audit is what financial accountability looks like when it's actually applied. The findings are not partisan opinion — they are the work of professional state auditors examining state procurement records.
What the audit found
The headline finding: EOHLC engaged in improper and unlawful no-bid emergency procurement for food and transportation services across the EA shelter system. Specific items the auditor flagged:
- Two vendors received over $14 million for food and transit in just eight months under no-bid emergency procurement.
- Spinelli Ravioli Manufacturing Company received over $9.5 million from the state in 8 months for food alone.
- The state overpaid a food delivery vendor by approximately 10%.
- A cab company hired to take migrants to appointments charged the state $147 for what would normally cost $5 in Boston.
- EOHLC "bypassed established procurement procedures, resulting in a lack of fairness via competitive bidding and a lack of transparency and accountability in the contracting process."
EOHLC failed to adequately assess and act upon the increased demand for shelter services, resulting in improper and unlawful no-bid emergency procurements for food and transportation services.
Office of the State Auditor, May 2025
The vetting failure
A separate Auditor finding examined the Department of Housing and Community Development's handling of sex-offender notification at EA shelter sites. The finding: DHCD requires EA applicants to self-identify as registered sex offenders, but does not communicate this information to shelter site operators. Pregnant women and families housed in the same shelter buildings have had no way to know who they are housed with.
This Auditor finding sits alongside the documented incident pattern (see the incidents page) where Governor Healey ordered CORI background checks across the entire EA system in spring 2024 after the Rockland alleged child rape case — and was later "recently informed" that the checks did not happen at all sites. She called the failure "absolutely unacceptable."
The Bureau of Special Investigations findings
The State Auditor's Bureau of Special Investigations (BSI) is the unit that pursues public-benefits fraud cases. Its FY25 (year ending June 30, 2025) totals:
- $11,952,288 in public assistance fraud identified
- 4,179 fraud investigations completed
- Cases referred for prosecution and recovery
For FY24, the same Bureau identified more than $4.4 million in public benefit fraud across approximately 1,800 investigations. The year-over-year jump (from $4.4M to $11.9M) reflects both increased Bureau capacity and the scale of program expansion the Bureau is now pursuing.
What this means for Question 4
The argument for voting NO on Question 4 isn't built on this audit. The argument is built on the federal targeting risk to Yarmouth's funding (see the exposure) and the Concord precedent (see the case study).
What this audit tells Yarmouth voters is what kind of program we'd be publicly endorsing. The Auditor — the office Massachusetts voters specifically empowered at the ballot box six months ago — has documented that the program operates without competitive bidding, without sex-offender disclosure to families, and with cost overruns that include $147 cab rides. That's not a program a small Cape Cod town should be eager to volunteer its federal funding to defend.
Vote NO on Question 4.
Sources
- Mass.gov — Shelter Audit Finds Contract Mismanagement, Improper and Unlawful Use of Emergency Procurements (DiZoglio release, May 2025)
- WAMC — EOHLC broke procurement laws during shelter crisis (May 21, 2025)
- GBH — Auditor finds Mass. overpaid for emergency shelter services (May 20, 2025)
- CBS Boston — Audit finds "mismanagement" in Massachusetts emergency shelter system, no-bid contracts
- Mass.gov — BSI identifies nearly $12M in public benefit fraud (FY25)
- Mass.gov — BSI identifies over $4.4M in public benefit fraud (FY24)
- Mass.gov — DHCD does not ensure pregnant women aware of sex offenders living at same address (Auditor finding)