California may cut $1B homelessness program funding

SAN DIEGO — Governor Gavin Newsom and California legislators are now in the final hours of scraping together a balanced budget, not an easy task considering the state was $12 billion in the red for this coming fiscal year. 

Among the programs that are now on the chopping block is the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program, also known as HHAP.

The program provides the funding needed for cities to keep temporary shelters open and creation of affordable housing units to keep unhoused people off the streets and out of shelters.

But Governor Newsom has soured on the program. In his proposed budget, one that is in final round of negotiations, Newsom is calling for an end of HHAP funding. He says the state can no longer bear the financial burden for cities and is leaning on cities to address the homelessness crisis through encampment bans and other types of enforcement. 

If the legislature and Newsom agree to cut the program, the city of San Diego would lose $14 million in funding for homelessness shelters and assistance. 

The impacts, said Mayor Todd Gloria in a recent statement, will be immediate.

“That translates to 426 shelter beds, including 52 youth beds, and 13 full-time Street Outreach Workers. That’s nearly one-third of our shelter and outreach network — gone. To be clear, our homeless shelters are always full. So this would mean more than 400 people on the street instead of sleeping somewhere safe and getting access to the services that will help them end their homelessness, which is what our shelters do. That’s a gut-punch to the progress my city has made.”

In recent weeks, Mayor Gloria has joined other mayors across the state to urge the Governor and legislators to reinstate the $1 billion that should be allocated for the HHAP program.

In an op-ed in the Los Angeles Times, Gloria said the progress that the city has seen in bringing down the number of unhoused people in San Diego – a drop of 14% compared to last year – could all be for naught.

“The human cost of inaction is immense. Every day, we see the faces of those who are struggling — veterans, families, children and people with disabilities. And every day, we see what’s possible when someone is moved from the sidewalk into shelter and then into a home,” reads the Los Angeles Times article. 

The Governor and the legislature are now in the final phases of budget negotiations. On Friday, June 13, lawmakers passed a quasi-extension to fund the government to allow for budget talks to continue. 

The importance of the talks, wrote Mayor Gloria, is not lost on him or his fellow mayors across the state:

“We understand that addressing homelessness is costly, and yet leaving people on the streets is far more expensive. Our police officers and firefighters find themselves on the front lines of the crisis, and that drives up costs for taxpayers. Businesses and schools are left to pick up the tab, too.”