Nine months after historic floods displaced thousands of San Diegans, county supervisors could decide Tuesday whether to delve into concerns victims raised about the contractor that managed its temporary lodging program. In the floods’ immediate aftermath, the county created an emergency voucher program to put people up in local hotels. To run it, it tapped existing contractor Equus Workforce Solutions, which had previously run a similar program for homeless people and a COVID-19 shelter program, explained Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe. “This was one of our very few options, knowing that the search to introduce a new partnership would require a request for proposals, a review and contract evaluations that we simply did not have time for,” she said Monday. “These processes can take several months.” But it didn’t take long for the county to start fielding complaints about Equus’ management of the program and poor communication with the people relying on it — to the point that president and CEO Mark Douglass apologized to supervisors in March and vowed to better to support flood victims. “There’s confusion; there’s doubt,” one program participant told The San Diego Union-Tribune at the time. “It’s kind of up in the air most of the time, because we’re not sure what the next step is.” Now, four months after the program ended, Montgomery Steppe wants to audit Equus to determine if public funds were properly used and if improvements need to be made. At a press conference Monday ahead of a Tuesday meeting where supervisors could decide whether or to audit Equus, she and community advocates shared flood victims’ stories, including complaints that Equus didn’t treat flood victims with dignity and lacked cultural sensitivity and compassion. “We need more than apology,” said Tasha Williamson, a community advocate and trauma supporter. “We need to know that when the next disaster happens, Equus will not be at the forefront … that there will be racial equity.” Many flood victims said about how secure their personal data was, after Equus repeatedly asked them for the same information or mixed it up with somebody else’s, explained Clariza Marin, chief financial officer of the nonprofit Harvey Family Foundation. Others were sent to hotels that had been shut down, or were threatened with eviction if they didn’t provide additional information, Marin added. “Equus’ deficiencies led to confusion and pain and inevitably forced many out of the program prematurely,” Marin said. “All of this only exacerbated the mental health strains on our families that were already grappling with the aftermath.” The hotel voucher program was created as a temporary bridge until displaced victims could register for federal aid and long-term support and initially was only supposed to provide up to 30 days of lodging. But supervisors agreed to extend stays and ultimately ended the program June 21. At its peak in March, it sheltered 2,600 people in 68 hotels, the county has said. The audit Montgomery Steppe wants would involve a detailed analysis of Equus’ expenditures versus how much was awarded, as well as an analysis of how many households were served and a breakdown of Equus’ case management, including how it kept data secure and processed complaints. The county’s auditor and controller would have to report back to the board within 120 days. Montgomery Steppe said her request for an audit is just one part of a larger goal of improving county emergency contracting practices, pointing to another effort from Chair Nora Vargas on emergency management policies. The board also approved in August an effort by Montgomery Steppe to update their procurement procedures to give small businesses and community organizations better access to county contracts. “Natural disasters will continue to increase, and that warrants a cohesive response with reliable partners that address immediate needs,” Montgomery Steppe said Monday. “Unfortunately, we cannot go back in time and change the capacity of our response, but we can move forward with a much better framework that prioritizes our most vulnerable communities.”