San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, along with top leaders from California’s largest cities, are calling on state lawmakers to continue critical funding to address homelessness, warning that any potential loss of resources in next year’s budget would harm communities and reverse some of the progress made in the ongoing crisis.
Related Articles
Berkeley moves to clear one of its largest homeless camps before judge halts sweep Neighborhood leaders rally behind San Jose homeless arrest proposal Elected leaders implore San Jose to invest in homelessness prevention as more families become unhoused As brush fire races toward SJ homeless encampment, residents dig a fire line ‘Prove the haters wrong’: How one California community college student strives to overcome homelessnessIn a letter to State Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire, Big Cities Mayors, a coalition of mayors from California’s 13 largest cities, estimated the loss of more than 6,500 shelter beds and a reduction in outreach services in the most populous areas if the state does not extend funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) program.
While Gov. Gavin Newsom has pushed for greater accountability and progress from local jurisdictions, as the state has poured billions of dollars into combating homelessness over the past several years, Mahan said now is the time that “Sacramento needs to step up, not step back.”
“San Jose is doing its fair share and then some when it comes to ending the crisis of unsheltered homelessness in California,” Mahan said in a statement to The Mercury News. “We’ve led with action — building more interim housing this year than any other West Coast city. But if the state cuts this funding, 550 people in San Jose alone will be pushed back onto our streets. We can’t call this a crisis while threatening year after year to pull the resources we’re using to bring people indoors.”
Established in 2019, HHAP provides grants to local governments for supportive housing and homelessness programs. Through the first four rounds of funding, the coalition estimated that the funding has helped add 17,691 shelter beds and 2,295 permanent supportive housing units and serve 152,433 people.
Last year, the state approved including $1 billion in HHAP funding in its budget.
Despite the state’s significant investment in homelessness solutions, questions have swirled around the efficacy of efforts to stem the crisis and the level of progress. Last year, California accounted for nearly one-quarter of the homeless population in the country, though its 3% rate of increase was significantly lower than the 18% increase nationally.
Frustrations have also spilled out between Newsom and local officials, with the governor saying he was “not interested in funding failure anymore,” at a news conference last month.
Inyo County Supervisor and California State Association of Counties (CSAC) President Jeff Griffiths disputed the overall level of funding toward homelessness touted by the state over the past few years.
“More than half of it went to housing, not homelessness,” Griffiths said in a statement. “How much of that housing has actually been built? So no, the state has not done everything it can to address homelessness in California.”
Meanwhile, the mayors of the state’s largest cities have warned that the progress they have made could be curtailed, with Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson saying that their cities could not afford to stall momentum.
“There’s been talk about excluding round seven of HHAP from the 2025-26 budget, with the idea that it can be restored later,” Lock Dawson said at a press conference Thursday. “But that thinking ignores the very real immediate consequence on the ground. The programs supported by HHAP are not easily paused and restarted and a gap in funding will lead to the closure of shelter beds, reductions in outreach services, and stalled rehousing efforts, undermining years of coordinated planning and local investment.”
Mahan noted that San Jose has utilized HHAP grants to fund the construction and operation of six interim housing communities, enabling the city to invest in other programs aimed at reducing unsheltered homelessness and potentially saving lives.
He added that through November 2024, 69% of the people who exited the city’s interim sites moved into temporary or permanent housing.
While local government officials defended their use of past funding, they noted there would be significant ramifications for their efforts to curb homelessness without future investment.
Along with the potential loss of 6,500 shelter beds, the state’s largest cities expected they could lose outreach and engagement services for over 25,000 people. The state’s most populous cities also have planned to add 4,646 housing units that are dependent on future funding.
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria anticipated the loss of funding would force his city to reduce its shelter system by more than 425 beds, or roughly one-third, including 52 youth beds, and lay off 13 full-time outreach workers. Fresno is also in the same predicament, with the city facing the potential loss of 247 shelter beds or roughly 30% of its system capacity.
In San Francisco, which reported a 62% decrease in encampments, Mayor Daniel Lurie said his city could lose 1,000 shelter beds without funding.
“As San Franciscans and Californians, we need to move forward, not backward,” Lurie said. “We need more beds, not fewer. We’ve been making progress.”
While Los Angeles has roughly 46,000 people living on the streets, Mayor Karen Bass stated the city experienced a 10% reduction in unsheltered homelessness in 2023 and anticipates a further decrease when the 2024 figures are released. Bass said the state should not cut off funds when cities are making progress and need the money the most, adding that the federal government has already proposed cutting housing and social safety net programs that will add another layer of uncertainty.
“We know that federal funding is going to be reduced, but there is the possibility of categories of funding being completely eliminated, so we don’t need to see an increase in homelessness now when things are on a very good trajectory,” Bass said. “If we do not receive his funding, I guarantee you there will be more people on our streets.”
Read More Details
Finally We wish PressBee provided you with enough information of ( Mayors of California’s largest cities warn that funding loss will set back homelessness progress )
Also on site :