Report 2017-112 Recommendation Responses
Report 2017-112: Homelessness in California: State Government and the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority Need to Strengthen Their Efforts to Address Homelessness (Release Date: April 2018)
Recommendation for Legislative Action
To better serve the needs of homeless Californians, and to provide statewide leadership to agencies at all levels for better coordination of efforts to address homelessness, the Legislature should enact legislation and include funding within the Budget Act of 2018 that will allow California's CoCs to obtain the state funding necessary to better implement HUD-recommended activities, including annually counting the unsheltered homeless population, improving efforts to raise nonfederal funding, and improving their coordination with other agencies; and to more fully meet HUD requirements, including implementation and administration of the HMIS and entry systems.
Description of Legislative Action
SB 850 (Chapter 48, Statutes of 2018) establishes the Homeless Emergency Aid program to provide localities with one-time flexible block grant funds to address their immediate homelessness challenges. This statute requires the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (agency) to administer the program in consultation with the council. Upon appropriation by the Legislature, the agency will allocate $500,000,000 to a general purpose local government or a nonprofit organization that meets specified requirements, with $250,000,000 allocated according to groupings based on homeless point-in-time counts, $100,000,000 allocated based on the administrative entity's proportionate share of total homeless population, and $150,000,000 allocated to cities or cities that are also counties that meet specified requirements.
- Legislative Action Current As-of: August 2018