Last week, the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on State
Administration held an
informational hearing in San Francisco focused on
homelessness in California. The hearing was the first in a series
of hearings intended to gather information on how local
jurisdictions are utilizing the myriad of state funding sources
intended to expand local capacity to meet community needs and
support regional coordination around homelessness.
During the first half of the hearing, Dr. Margot Kushel, Director
of UCSF’s Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative, provided
an overview of California’s unhoused population, key demographic
trends, and emphasized the need to increase the housing supply
across the state. The second half of the hearing was dedicated to
the local response to homelessness by counties in the Bay Area,
including the City and County of San Francisco, the County of
Santa Clara, and the County of San Mateo.
The hearing provided county staff the opportunity to highlight
both the opportunities and challenges associated with recent
state investments around homelessness, particularly the Homeless
Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) Grant Program. While
the flexibility associated with HHAP has given counties the
ability to target existing gaps and increase much needed interim
and permanent supportive housing stock, the nature of HHAP’s
one-time refunding each year makes long term planning and
collaboration difficult. Staff from all three counties also
voiced challenges with the short timelines around planning and
the pressure to get dollars spent as quickly as possible.
The Subcommittee is scheduled to hold a second informational
hearing on October 27 at 10:00 am in Los Angeles. Links to the
county presentations are posted on the Assembly Subcommittee’s
website and
the full recorded hearing can be watched back
here.
