Big City Mayors Urge State Leaders to Make Homelessness Funding Permanent

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 23, 2024

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SACRAMENTO - A bipartisan coalition of mayors from the state's 13 largest cities today visited the State Capitol to urge on Gov. Gavin Newsom and the state Legislature to make permanent its foremost program to fund homelessness services across California.

The Big City Mayors coalition, chaired by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, stood united in requesting that state leaders not only avoid making cuts to the Homelessness Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program, but also to commit to funding it on an ongoing basis.

"The shelters and service programs that big cities up and down California have created with local and state dollars are getting people off the street and connected to care. We need to protect the progress we've made through continued state investment," said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria. "We have shown urgency in putting state funding to work to increase emergency shelter, bring people indoors and put them on a path to permanent housing. We can build on this success, but cities need the certainty that a commitment to ongoing state funding will bring."

The Big City Mayors also urged state leaders to restore cuts to the Regional Early Action Planning 2.0 (REAP 2.0) grants, which provide state funding to local governments to update plans and create tens of thousands of new housing opportunities to tackle California's housing-affordability crisis.

Other priorities highlighted by the mayors during their day of advocacy in Sacramento included continued investment in the California Youth Service Corps program, which provides thousands of jobs and service opportunities to young people, as well as a call for meaningful action to address retail theft.

Since 2018, the State of California has provided direct grants to large cities, counties and continuums of care - such as the San Diego Regional Task Force on Homelessness - for homelessness programs on a one-time basis through HHAP, as well as the Homelessness Emergency Assistance Program (HEAP) program that preceded HHAP. The state is currently facing a significant budget deficit and recently approved an early-action plan that reduced the budget shortfall by $17 billion. That plan had minimal impacts to housing and homeless programs, but the current proposed budget does not currently include an additional round of HHAP funding.

The mayors argued that continued HHAP funding is necessary to sustain the temporary and permanent housing programs that seek to reduce unsheltered homelessness. HHAP dollars also complement recent state behavioral health reforms that are helping to address the crisis.

The Big City Mayors successfully advocated for the passage of the CARE Act, passed in 2022, and conservatorship reform, passed in 2023, as well as Proposition 1, which voters approved in March. Under Prop. 1, counties must prioritize mental health dollars for placing people experiencing homeless who have untreated behavioral health needs into housing.

The mayors are asking state leaders to approve an additional year of HHAP Round 6 funding at no less than $1 billion a year and make the program ongoing, which would allow the state and local governments to better plan their long-term approach on homelessness, more efficiently fund programs and ensure accountability for progress on reducing homelessness.

Embracing the need for accountability on homeless funding, the coalition released a report detailing the number of new shelter beds and interim homes that cities have added with these funds, including:

• 15,722 new emergency shelter beds and interim homes created
• 149,851 people served
• 42,215 people placed into a housing intervention

What Other Mayors Are Saying

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass
"Together, in partnership with my fellow California Big City Mayors, we will continue to create fundamental change in the way we address the housing and homelessness crisis. I know that we will continue strong collaboration with state leaders to protect and expand our progress."

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan
"Thanks to HHAP funding, San Jose has been able to stand up almost 500 interim housing units that contributed to a 10% reduction in unsheltered homelessness. These dollars have changed hundreds of lives in our city and across the state, and are one of the single most impactful investments the state could make in ending the era of encampments."

San Francisco Mayor London N. Breed
"In San Francisco, HHAP has been essential to expanding temporary shelter programs and moving people safely off the streets and on a pathway to housing. HHAP resources have helped nearly 5,000 people in San Francisco secure temporary shelter in the form of hotel rooms and new shelter beds while they work towards long-term housing solutions."

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer
"Over the past few years, Fresno has made remarkable progress in efforts to address homelessness. Thanks to valuable state funds, we have been able to develop a comprehensive plan to help people get off the streets, into transitional housing with wrap-around services, and eventually into permanent housing, providing shelter to more than 7,000 people and helping half of them safely exit homelessness. We have a proven plan that is working. What we cannot do now is slow or stop these efforts to help the most vulnerable among us. We will not be satisfied until we have helped every single person experiencing homelessness. That is why we are asking the state to continue investing in this effort, as Fresno and other California cities use this money in a responsible way to address the number one problem facing our communities."

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg
"With the help of HEAP and HHAP, the City of Sacramento has placed more than 9,000 people into emergency shelter or housing over the past six years. We have increased the number of emergency shelter beds we operate more than tenfold, and we have built hundreds of new units of permanent affordable housing. We have matched this money with tens of millions of dollars from our general fund. We are saving lives and cleaning up our streets, but we could not continue this work without additional state HHAP funding."

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson
"Long Beach has been proactive in tackling the housing and homelessness challenges facing our region, but these efforts require sustained resources and partnerships with the state to deliver meaningful results. With ongoing state funding, we will continue to responsibly utilize HHAP dollars to address homelessness in our city, and transition more people off of our streets and into safe and stable housing."

Oakland Mayor Sheng Thao
"Big cities are on the front lines of the homelessness crisis, and we urge state leaders to sustain Homelessness Housing, Assistance and Prevention funding that has helped thousands find a path off of the streets. As someone who was homeless as a young mother and lived much of my life trying to survive without secure and stable housing, I know how much having a dignified place to stay can help end the cycle of homelessness. Let's continue to work in collaboration and invest in stable and dignified housing and shelter for unhoused Californians."

Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh
"California cities continue to grapple with our state's mental health, substance use, and housing crisis. Big City Mayors have led in implementing effective solutions. Despite our unrelenting efforts, the inflow of newly homeless exceeds our ability to move individuals from shelters into permanent housing. The state must grasp the scope and scale of the crisis cities face. Together, we will make the policy changes necessary for long-term solutions to homelessness - our state's paramount challenge."

Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken
"Anaheim and other cities show what works. Through daily outreach, supportive housing and partnering with our courts to get people the help they need, we have saved lives and bettered our community. Funding from our state partners, combined with our city's own spending, has brought proven results. Working together will only bring more gains. Now is the time to build on what we've done."

Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson
"Over the last four years, Riverside has made incredible progress in successfully reducing chronic homelessness by 12%, and Youth Homelessness by 27% in the past year alone. HHAP is a critical component to combatting homelessness in our city, and without this funding source, our progress is in jeopardy."

Stockton Mayor Kevin Lincoln
"Homelessness remains a humanitarian crisis affecting the quality of life for all Stockton residents. State funding has allowed us to implement actionable solutions addressing homelessness quickly. Over the past four years, we have made incredible progress, adding shelter, housing and services throughout Stockton to bring healing. Stable and ongoing funding from the state is critical as we build upon the foundation we've laid and continue to provide real, sustainable solutions for our community."

Irvine Mayor Farrah N. Khan
"Empowering communities through sustained state funding fosters critical regional collaboration. As Irvine grows and demographics change, investments in programs funded by the state yield transformations for both the vulnerable individuals seeking assistance and the compassionate individuals who support them. Cities like Irvine, where 12.5% of the population is living at the poverty level, are empowered to develop capacity and harness the momentum needed to address homelessness - we must press forward together."

Find the HHAP report here: Big City Mayor's HHAP Full Report.

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About Big City Mayors
The Big City Mayors is a coalition of mayors from California's thirteen largest cities with a population over 300,000. Member cities include Los Angeles, San Diego, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Sacramento, Long Beach, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim, Stockton, Riverside, and Irvine. This year, the Big City Mayors are chaired by San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria.

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