State Budget Proposal ‘Jeopardizes Years of Progress on Homelessness, Warn Local Government Officials and Housing and Homelessness Advocates’
This is a press release from the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, California Big City Mayors Coalition and Bring California Home Coalition:
City leaders, county officials, homeless advocates, and affordable housing providers are raising the alarm with state leaders on the threat to progress the Governor’s budget proposal will have on reducing homelessness throughout California.
The proposed budget follows through on significant reductions to the state’s flagship Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program outlined in last year’s budget agreement. Funding for the program is being reduced to $500 million — half of its historic funding level.
In a letter, the League of California Cities, California State Association of Counties, California Big City Mayors Coalition, and Bring California Home Coalition call on the Governor and legislative leadership to restore HHAP funding to its previous funding levels of $1 billion and commit to annual investments that match the scale of the crisis.
Reducing funding for the vital HHAP program would significantly reduce shelter capacity, eliminate rental assistance, and halt the development of supportive housing. The Governor’s proposal includes additional reporting and accountability requirements — a commitment the coalition shares. However, it is important to ensure these measures do not slow progress or delay implementation.
“The state has a moral responsibility to ensure Californians have a roof over their heads and are connected to the services they deserve,” said League of California Cities President and El Cerrito Mayor Gabe Quinto. “Cities fully expect to be held accountable for the public money we spend to get Californians off the streets and housed, but the state must be a strong funding partner to stem the tide on homelessness.”
Local governments and housing and homeless service providers in every corner of the state are leveraging HHAP funds alongside an investment of their own dollars and are seeing meaningful reductions in homelessness.
“Local governments can’t solve homelessness alone,” says California State Association of Counties President and Santa Clara County Supervisor Susan Ellenberg. “We need the state to partner with us. Unless the state fully funds this successful program, we all risk eroding much of the progress that has been made in counties across the state.”
HHAP investments are making a difference in communities throughout California and have helped reduce unsheltered homelessness statewide by 9%. Now is the time for the state to double down on its investment, not walk away from this crucial partnership.
“HHAP funding has been critical in the state’s recent success reducing homelessness,” said California Big City Mayors Coalition Chair and Mayor of Riverside Patricia Lock Dawson. “However, the proposed $500M reduction of Round 7 of HHAP in the Governor’s January budget threatens that success, resulting in the loss of rental assistance, homes, and services for housing families, veterans, and individuals with mental illness. To sustain the progress that has been made, we request that the Governor and Legislature restore HHAP to $1 billion and commit to sustained annual investments to address California’s ongoing homelessness crisis.”
Since 2023, HHAP funding has helped place over 90,000 residents into permanent housing. However, federal funding cuts and policy changes are placing over 41,000 people at extreme risk of falling back into homelessness.
“We need California to lead now more than ever before, when the federal government is trying to pull the rug out from the thousands of Californians who have made it off the streets,” said National Alliance to End Homelessness Senior California Policy Fellow and Bring California Home Coalition Policy Co-Chair Alex Visotzky. “State investment in homeless programs has yielded progress and gotten more people housed, but California must stay the course or lose that progress.”
Long-term, reliable funding from the state is key to solving this crisis, and would result in greater regional collaboration, more informed policymaking, and speed up the rate at which California’s most vulnerable residents are getting the housing and services they need.
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The gravy train of the homeless industry cannot continue unchecked, nor can free assistance for illegal immigrants.
I can’t belive the democrats would support spending american tax dollars on people who ate not citizens. I say we give their pay check to the homeless. I can’t belive the democrats are fooled by these thieves!
Every year since 1994, when data collection began, immigrants have paid more in taxes than they received in benefits from the federal, state, and local governments. https://www.cato.org/blog/cato-study-immigrants-reduced-deficits-145-trillion-1994
Did you read why? The study doesn’t include military, or other existing government debt per immigrant, which it does for citizens, (why did they do it that way? headlines and agenda my friends). I really am amazed when people post links they don’t read completely.
As far as the Ca. groups above, the message is ‘ send us your money’.
its also the people running the programs that steal form it.
There are more leeches in the “Homeless Industrial Complex” than the swamps of Vietnam.
Then your problem is at the provider end, not the recipient.
It’s at the end that likes to pass out funds but not take responsibility for the results.
Yet that study merrily ignores all of the negatives of illegal immigration on the ordinary working person in the US. Which is not surprising because the Cato Institute is run by corporations who have a natural dislike of government ruining their profitability by labor laws.
Be a little consistent. ” The Cato Institute is a libertarian think tank that advocates for defunding social services including Social Security, public schooling, public transportation, and the United States Postal Service; eliminating regulations that keep communities safe; undermining campaign finance laws that support fair and free elections; opposing equitable healthcare access; weakening unions and child labor laws; and ending race-conscious policies that counteract discrimination.” They sincerely object to California’s labor laws while loving Texas’s. They object a lot.. If you had any knowledge of who Cato was and what he thought about such issues as slavery, you would spontaneously combust from the friction with socialist values. “Cato the Elder’s treatment of slaves was characterized by brutal efficiency and a purely economic perspective. While not uniquely cruel for his time, his practices epitomized the harsh realities of Roman slavery and offer a disturbing insight into the Roman mindset.”
https://www.cato.org/cato-institute-2023-annual-report/board-directors
https://www.freedominthe50states.org/labor
https://iere.org/how-did-cato-treat-his-slaves/
https://supremetransparency.org/powerbrokers/cato-institute/
How if they don’t have a ssn?
For illegal workers 1) use someone else’s, 2) get a TIN (good when child tax credits exceed taxes owed, 3) employer withholds taxes but keeps them.
But legally admitted for permanent residence and a few other categories get SSNs with work permission attached.
“If they don’t have an SSN they may obtain an Individual Taxpayer Identification Number (ITIN) only if they are not eligible for an SSN (typically nonresident aliens with U.S. tax filing obligations).”
That statistic hides more than it reveals. “Immigrants” as a whole include millions of high-earning legal immigrants whose taxes offset costs, while large portions of recent low-skill immigration rely heavily on public services. The claim also ignores education, healthcare, housing subsidies, and local costs that aren’t fully captured in federal tax data. Net national averages don’t change the reality that many state and local budgets: schools, hospitals, and social services, bear significant unfunded burdens.
It, like many other “studies”, is designed to justify an agenda. The Cato Institute is little other than agenda.
The data includes state and local taxes.
The article also addresses education, healthcare, housing, and social services.
What I don’t see from you, or any other commenter claiming the study to be inaccurate, is a link to evidence showing that immigrants, whether legal or undocumented, cost more than they contribute.
https://cis.org/Testimony/Immigrations-Impact-Public-Coffers (CIS analysis
https://budget.house.gov/download/the-cost-of-illegal-immigration-to-taxpayers (2024 report
Thanks for at least trying.
Things that immediately popped out in your links are the inclusion of things like SNAP, Medicare, and the Earned Income Tax Credit– all thing for which undocumented immigrants are not eligible.
Both articles also make concrete claims based upon things that are disputed– such as the claim that undocumented immigrants drive down wages. This seems to ignore other studies that find “the most recent economic evidence suggests that, on average, immigrant workers increase the opportunities and incomes of Americans.” https://www.brookings.edu/articles/what-immigration-means-for-u-s-employment-and-wages/
Still, I do appreciate you engaging in a meaningful exchange of data and ideas instead of the unfounded speculations others are making.
So what are they paying into fictitious Social Security numbers?
Actually, they are. I’ve worked on the East Coast and there was a team of five or six Guatemalan guys working in the restaurant doing prep and dishwashing. The owner had tried many times to get American kids to come in and take these jobs, but they didn’t last more than a day or so. It was grueling work and really hot in the kitchen and these locals just walked away. The Guatemalan guys were not documented but would show up every day (and pay their taxes with fictitious Social Security numbers) They all paid single young male levels (so high tax deductions every week) and receive nothing in return. Again the owner was frustrated because he couldn’t find anybody that wasn’t undocumented that would be willing to take those jobs.
Did the owner try offering higher wages? Hiring illegal immigrants at pay levels that no one else will work for is arguably no better than owning slaves.
NEWS FLASH: The chickens have come home to roost! Translation: no too much Federal $$$ to cover California’s moving money here and there = Budget Deficits = Cuts = Need to Raise State Taxes = Federal Investigations into fraud and Scams. They are here in California as predicted. More Feds on the way. Good Luck! Maybe make a run for it?
“The state has a moral responsibility to ensure Californians have a roof over their heads and are connected to the services they deserve,” said League of California Cities President and El Cerrito Mayor Gabe Quinto.
This guy and folx like him would never stop taking from working people to subsidize non-working people. Government is not responsible for providing housing for everyone. Freedom is not possible without individual responsibility.
I am curious if you believe all non-working people are undeserving.
If, say, your parents were elderly and retired and had health issues come up that eroded their savings/income, would that make them undeserving of help?
Or what if you and your family were in, say, an accident and couldn’t work and had your savings eaten by hospital bills and lost your home, would that make you undeserving? I think it is important to make sure we don’t think all cases are the same.
Ah but retired people can still pay lots of taxes and do. And they usually paid them for decades before they got a significant return. Then there are people who never or hardly ever pay anything but get a significant return anyway. The rates this happens becomes dangerous far exceeds the rate of misfortune. Unless the definition of misfortune ends up being anything. You are right about this- “it is important to make sure we don’t think all cases are the same.” But, as Plato put it a couple of millennia ago, democracy is “charming” in that it distributes equality to “equals and unequals alike.”
Now some of that is tolerable as charity anyone might need. The problem comes when those who pay and pay and pay see too many of those who never pay getting what they can’t get themselves. Then, to rub salt in the wounds, they get guilt trips laid on them for complaining. Why they might object to it! And, gasp, stop paying since the work needed to do it is not rewarded by even respect. Then the whole system collapses and no one gets anymore.
In any case “deserving” is an extremely slippery slope being totally in the eye of the beholder who is rarely unbiased about it.
And how many folks are on the street from your examples. Most are drug addicts and thats why they are on the streets.
I agree that all cases are not the same. But we also need to establish what the “Rule” is and what the “exceptions” are. We cannot continue to enable the “Rule’s” in order to serve the “exceptions”. There needs to be Reform
Mandatory drug testing…
Agreed. That’s a start
There wouldn’t be a housing crisis in California if the Dems would cooperate with ICE. The federal funding for many things is going to dry up because of California’s sanctuary state status. They would rather pad their population totals with illegals and let homeless Americans die on the street hooked on cartel poisons than solve problems. It is all corruption.
IMHO:
Hmm… the ‘Gravy Train’ potentially closes ???
Apr 9, 2024 — California spent $24 billion to tackle homelessness over the past five years but didn’t consistently track whether the huge outlay of public money actually went.
The California Legislature passed bills calling for audits on that program.
Gov Newsom vetoed them both.
Despite unanimous bipartisan support for AB 2903, which sought to require annual cost and outcome reporting, Gov. Newsom vetoed the bill in September 2024.
Go figure.
Years of progress?!
More gaslighting from the state. At some point CA citizens will have to put results above rhetoric.
“The $37 billion spent on homelessness by California is equivalent to about $245,000 per each of the 151,000 homeless people counted in 2019. And despite that level of spending, homelessness increased by 36,000 individuals since that time—perhaps by many more.
California Homelessness Rises To 187,000, Perhaps Many More, Despite $37 Billion Spent”
https://share.google/JVqTsqP2EqG8301SM
Meanwhile places like the Eureka Mission survive on donations alone. They don’t receive any government money to keep doors open and people fed. Yet they seem to be able to provide shelter and food on goodwill alone, yet the state can’t seem to keep anything else open, or at the very least, where did the money go TO keep them in operation?
And that proves my point of the grift, the people running state programs are thieves.
But, but, but RELIGION! That’s offensive!
Why are you offended by religious institutions using private donations to do perform charitable work?
That sound lie a pretty good thing to me.
Great example!
If they have been spending a BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR lots of people in the “ help the homeless “ industry have been putting way too much in their own pockets. I’m all for them getting assistance, I’ve said it many times here but something is gravely wrong with how it’s being spent. Buddy buddy contracts making some rich off it while the homeless see very little of it. Time to create an impartial agency to oversee these funds. I suggest a new department of state efficiency, it should be called DOSE. The money is obviously being squandered by the ones in charge of it currently, while saying how much they have been helping. No doubt to boost their political campaigns by saying they are the good guys. I believe Newsom is as crooked as they come, just my opinion. He’s running one of the world’s largest economies yet California claims to be sooooo broke! Time to start putting the money in more responsible hands.
Agreed! It is despicable how the bloated “administrators” blow our money… using the homeless as their vehicle to personal gain! And when we finally ask “Hey Wait a Minute! Where did all those BILLIONS go?!” They have no answer at all. How can they not know? How can there be no accounting for the scandal?? There should be arrests, trials and prison sentences but…not even an investigation?! And Newscum keeps rolling on with his smile and his fancy hairdo….
For government, “progress” means more government not actually doing anything,.
The biggest hurdle to affordable housing is government regulations. It’s free to live in a carboard box, but your plywood box needs to be engineered and permitted.
Why can’t we just have a public spreadsheet for all govt spending? We can inspect the financial disclosures of any public company, so why cant we do this for government?
It is called an audit. It already exists and you are paying an auditor a salary to do it. Plus benefits.
Is that the grift you speak of?
Bill, how are those audits going?Why would you be against more spending transparency?
“A 2024 audit found that California did not consistently track outcomes or adequately monitor billions spent on homelessness programs, including large funds flowing through multiple agencies” – meaning the state lacks a complete picture of what was spent and what results were achieved
https://calmatters.org/housing/homelessness/2024/04/california-homelessness-spending/?utm
Nothing to inspect because they didn’t create one, as an audit pointed out.
“Exactly how much is California spending to combat homelessness — and is it working?
It turns out, no one knows. That’s the result of a much-anticipated statewide audit released Tuesday, which calls into question the state’s ability to track and analyze its spending on homelessness services.”
And for Spanish readers: Lea esta historia en Español
This must be the grift Bill Lutjens is speaking of
Yeah… “ability to track and analyze”. Well scenario seems similar to the what? 40-60 Hospice providers in a couple of blocks in LA? Plenty to follow up on. In Humboldt, there likely some Health Care providers and special Lawyer type facilitators that helped themselves to say Covid $$$? Hey – there’s a Federal Courthouse in McKinleyville. Take awhile to get here cause there are bigger fish to fry in this Sanctuary State.
Progress would be getting ahead of the problem. That clearly hasn’t happened. It seems just to have expanded the problem.
I try not to spend my energy talking smack about the homeless. There but for the grace of God go I.
People in glass houses shouldn’t throw rocks.
Not all homeless deserve their living condition. I see them daily and take it as notice that our society really does not care. Doesn’t care if through a series of bad luck or family disruptions or medical problems that we end up living under a bridge in a cardboard box in the freezing rain. Meanwhile others own 4+ empty houses as real estate investments. The homeless are a quick visual guide to the reality that we now live in a very sick society. A third world country. And we willingly allowed this to happen in America. Everybody should be ashamed of the situation instead of making excuses about why these folks deserve it. Because yes- you can work hard and pay your taxes and it can still happen to you. Or me! Most of us are not that far away from it….and if it happens people will make excuses and you will go to the homeless camp
Nobody is saying we should “talk smack.” But allowing chaos in the name of sympathy isn’t grace, it’s neglect. Communities can care about people while still demanding responsible solutions.
I guess I was just speaking to the assumption that some folks in this comment section are making about there being a gravy train. That assumes that the people in need are just skating along, and I think it’s more complicated than that. It also assumes that there are homeless advocates making it rich stealing from the government when no one has offered any evidence or links, it’s just all hearsay.
Agreed. I’ve worked in the “homeless” field and it’s a multifaceted issue, that requires multifaceted solutions
People without houses shouldn’t smoke rocks either.
“YEARS OF PROGRESS”…???
NOT…!!!
If you don’t try and take care yourself because you prefer drugs over a roof, why then is it the tax payers responsibility to do so?
There is definitely no one answer fits all, with homelessness, with the budget, with governor newsom, I do believe, and clearly can see, that Democratic leaders, newsome and his friends have been funneling money, and vetoed any overlook into what or where the money goes. I also believe and see that the illegal immigrants are not taken all the money, it’s not going to them, it’s being stolen before that. You’re literally going or trying to go after immigrants that are working. Not people who are stealing from the homelessness funding. Or whatever is in your head. Yes OUR leaders are stealing from US. And then have US fighting each other. Blah blah blah
Throwing more money at HHAP isn’t “progress”, it’s doubling down on a strategy with weak results. California has spent billions on homelessness over the past decade, yet the crisis keeps growing. Before demanding another $1 billion, state and local leaders should prove existing funds are producing measurable, lasting outcomes. Accountability and reform need to come first and taxpayers deserve evidence, not just bigger budgets.
To paraphrase some old comedian… California’s Plight: Everybody love a party (scams/fraud) until the cops show up. Covid money etc.etc. – Look Out!
If throwing other people’s money at a political hot potato looks like they care, California politicians seem to think it’s less risky than either succeed but look calloused or not do anything and look calloused. No poltician loses an election because he wasted tax payer money. Careers are ruined by being effective.
And when you figure in the math without going too deep into the recipients, that stimulates the GDP figures. Never mind that a problem found a solution or that solution never got funded, somebody else received it. We’ll just fold those totals into the end-of-year reports. We have to keep that Top 5 world ranking you know. One way or another.
IMHO:
Unfortunately… the Cops are under the control of Bonta…
Bonta doesn’t control the Feds – plus : The Honey Badger don’t care.
IMHO:
Yup… the Federal LEO’s are coming to California !!!!
I suspect that lots of paper shredders are running full time now.