Embattled homelessness charity had lost nonprofit status this year
A San Francisco homelessness services organization that’s recently come under intense scrutiny for a range of alleged improprieties saw its nonprofit status suspended earlier this year, officials with the California Attorney General’s Office said.
The United Council of Human Services’ registration was suspended after notices were sent to the organization informing it of missing records and fees, the Attorney General’s Office said. The San Francisco Standard first reported the news.
Charitable organizations that fall out of good standing with the state’s Registry of Charitable Trusts may not operate or solicit donations in California, according to the office — but the organization continues to describe itself as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization and has a page set up on its website to accept donations.
Council CEO Gwendolyn Westbrook did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday. Previously, she told The Chronicle that allegations of improprieties detailed in a city audit of her organization were “a damn lie” and a racist attempt to undermine her leadership.
Officials in the city’s homelessness department have defended the United Council of Human Services and previously told The Chronicle they remained “eager” to support the organization and help it to “continue the important work of serving our unhoused neighbors in the Bayview Hunters Point Community.”
The decision to suspend the council’s nonprofit status came after the Registry of Charitable Trusts implemented a new system two years ago to update charities’ status.
In the time since that system went online, the registry has suspended approximately 5,000 charities and revoked the status of approximately 20,000 charities in California that were chronically delinquent in their filing requirements, officials from the Attorney General’s Office said.
The attorney general sent a warning letter in April, giving the council 60 days to get into compliance. In June, the state agency suspended the organization’s nonprofit status. In such cases, wayward organizations have a year to fix the issue before their nonprofit status is revoked. Once revoked, the only way a charity can reverse that decision is through an administrative petition, a spokesperson said.
But a further review of California’s Registry of Charitable Trusts shows that the United Council of Human Services has routinely struggled to comply with basic filing requirements or paying annual fees to stay in the state’s good graces.
The charity failed to submit annual renewal documents for 2015, 2016, 2017, 2019 and 2020, the database shows. The records also indicate that the charity was receiving warning notices at least as far back as 2009, when then-Attorney General Jerry Brown warned the charity its tax-exempt status was in jeopardy and that his office had not received any annual reports from it since 2004.
In the subsequent years, the Attorney General’s Office sent letters notifying the charity that its officers had failed to file renewal fees for 2010, 2013 and 2014, or 990 tax documents for 2010 through 2014.
The Attorney General’s Office sent additional letters to the charity in 2016 warning that its noncompliance could lead to suspension of its tax exempt status. In warning letters sent in 2009, 2010 and 2016, the office warned that nonprofit officers who failed to file the required reports were also personally liable for payment of late fees or other fines.
The organization’s most recent federal tax documents — from 2019 — show Westbrook did not receive any compensation for her work at the charity, though older 990s from 2013 and 2014 list her annual salary at $125,000.
The findings further highlight the troubles of the decades-old nonprofit, which provides housing, hot meals and other homelessness services, funded in large part through its contracts with the city.
A recent city audit found that the charity improperly collected rent payments, failed to verify whether tenants were eligible for its housing programs, and failed to prioritize them through the city’s entry process. Auditors said they found the nonprofit failed to pay rent and, in a subsequent letter referring the matter to the FBI, wrote that “access to housing was illegally sold to some residents.”
The audit also found that the organization did not “consistently provide adequate support for its expenditures” or follow its fiscal sponsor’s hiring process.
The problems echoed those of another report on the nonprofit in 2017, which found that the United Council of Human Services misclassified expenditures and that its board members didn’t seem to understand how the organization was run.