Hawaii's governor is pushing back on an audit that flagged millions in questionable homeless-housing payments, defending the spending as money well spent.

• A state audit found $13.7 million in payments to a contractor that were unauthorized or questionable.
• Green disputes the figure, putting it closer to $6 million once the state's data was reviewed, and says the flagged concerns were already fixed and some money clawed back.
• His defense: the Kauhale villages moved 2,900 people off the streets and cut the cost of each homeless person from about $82,000 a year to $27,000, saving over $100 million a year in Medicaid.
• The same contractor built 450 homes in 15 months in Lahaina, which Green credits with keeping thousands of fire survivors from becoming homeless.
• He says one person a day was dying on the streets before the program, and that speed mattered more than paperwork.

Outlook: Green says he will tighten oversight and welcomes further review, but has no intention of slowing the program down.