FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE 
May 22, 2024

CONTACT:
MayorPress@sandiego.gov

SAN DIEGO – United in their commitment to addressing homelessness, the California Big City Mayors coalition today urged Gov. Gavin Newsom and legislative leaders to include in the fiscal year 2025 state budget funding for the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program (HHAP).

“Our message is simple: Without HHAP, homeless shelters will be shuttered, safe parking lots will close, outreach workers will be gone, and unsafe and unsanitary tent encampments will proliferate on our sidewalks and in our parks,” said San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria, chair of Big City Mayors. “The programs we’ve created with this state funding have helped tens of thousands of people get off the street and connected to care and housing. We are making progress on this crisis, and now is not the time to take our foot off the gas.”

Governor Newsom did not include HHAP funding in his proposed FY 2025 budget. However, leaders from the state Senate and Assembly can still add the funding through negotiations with the Governor before the Legislature votes on the budget in June.

Every year since 2018, the state has provided substantial investments to local governments and continuums of care to address homelessness in communities up and down the state – beginning with one year of funding for the Homeless Emergency Aid Program (HEAP) and continuing with five rounds of funding for HHAP.

Last month, the Big City Mayors 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 

These investments, increasingly augmented by local dollars, have been critical to funding the shelters and services that have effectively moved tens of thousands of unsheltered Californians off the streets and onto a path to permanent housing. Eliminating HHAP funding will most certainly worsen the homelessness crisis in all California cities and towns.

What the Other Mayors are Saying 

Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass:

“Thousands more Angelenos came inside last year than the year before – now is the absolute wrong time to impede that progress. Funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention Grant Program in the state budget is vital. In Los Angeles alone, more than 5,000 shelter beds are at risk without these funds. The State has been an invaluable partner, and we need our partnership with the state to continue its commitment in helping us urgently confront and ultimately end the homelessness crisis. Thank you to Mayor Gloria for leading this important effort.”

San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan:

“Since 2020, HHAP funding has taken nearly 2,500 people off the streets in San Jose and prevented another 6,739 people from ending up there in the first place. As Big City Mayors, we know that cutting these dollars when our communities are just starting to make measurable progress in a decades-long humanitarian, fiscal and environmental crisis will send us backward — leaving thousands to suffer on our streets and impacting our collective quality of life.”

San Francisco Mayor London Breed:

“Over the past two years, street homelessness in San Francisco has decreased by 13%. This progress would not have been possible without both City investments and state dollars. Without HHAP funding moving forward, we risk slipping backwards and losing the progress that we’ve made putting roofs over people’s heads.”

Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer:

“Last year, Fresno reduced its homeless population by 5.6%, and the city has successfully moved 7,000 people off its streets, with more than half those no longer homeless. Our efforts are working. But they are only working thanks to state HHAP funding. Without continued HHAP dollars, more than 500 beds in Fresno would come offline, leaving just 200 to 300 beds as we continue work to get our most vulnerable residents off the streets and into housing. A dozen of our shelters would eventually close. In short, this would devastate Fresno’s progress toward ending homelessness.”

Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg: 

“Sacramento’s response to unsheltered homelessness would be dismantled without continued HHAP funding. With the state’s help, we have expanded from fewer than 100 shelter beds seven years ago to more than 1,300 today – 97% of which are funded by HHAP. We are finally seeing the number of people on our streets begin to decline as we open more shelter and housing. It is not the time to go backward.”

Long Beach Mayor Rex Richardson:

“The City of Long Beach has leveraged state HHAP dollars efficiently, and we are seeing real results that are saving lives. These funds helped expand our shelter and services capacity, which contributed to an overall reduction in homelessness in our city. Now is not the time to take the foot off the pedal on our statewide homelessness response. We should double-down on our efforts to expand housing and services to help more people permanently exit homelessness.”

Bakersfield Mayor Karen Goh:  

“Homelessness remains California’s number one issue. Mayors have underscored its gravity, our residents trumpet this crisis daily, and the streets of California cry out with the pain of thousands. HHAP funding has changed the futures of our cities’ most vulnerable. In Bakersfield, HHAP-funded programming has moved 528 individuals from the streets into permanent supportive housing, but much crucial work remains to be done. Lean budget years require difficult decisions. Addressing homelessness – our state’s number one issue – must be a priority.”

Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken

“Prioritizing homelessness funding is one of the easiest choices we can make as California confronts difficult budget decisions. Anaheim has been a great return on investment for state homelessness funding with impactful shelter, affordable housing, daily outreach and mental health and other care services. Now is not the time to cut and run. We must build on the gains cities have made on behalf of all of California.”

Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson: 

“In Riverside, for every person housed, six more are becoming homeless. Losing HHAP funding will make this inflow-outflow issue exponentially worse in all of our cities. California’s Big City Mayors are on the front lines of this issue, and we need every tool in our toolbelt to continue our work. I want to thank the Governor and Legislature for their support of our efforts to achieve the shared goal of getting Californians off our streets and into homes, and we welcome any accountability necessary to get this important job done.”

Irvine Mayor Farrah N. Khan: 

“Homelessness continues to be a rising concern in Irvine, across California, and throughout the nation. My participation in today’s Big City Mayors’ press conference addressing the elimination of Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention funding is critical to restoring these funds and ensuring the welfare of Irvine and California. Critical immediate interventions that Proposition 1 does not address will go unfunded, leaving thousands of Californians without shelter, services, and connections to housing. We must work collaboratively to secure resources and create a system that benefits not only my great City but one that promotes construction of permanent housing throughout California.”

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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.