California’s big city mayors say 41,000 formerly homeless people across the state are at risk of returning to the streets if funding isn’t restored to the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention grant program known as HHAP.
Funding had been cut completely for this current fiscal year, but in 2024-2025 it had been funded to the tune of $1 billion.
The legislature now says the program will get $500 million next fiscal year, which begins July 1.
At a news conference in Sacramento on Wednesday, San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said that’s not enough. He and his fellow mayors are asking that HHAP be funded at $1 billion in fiscal year 2026-2027.
“Last year, the city of San Diego achieved a 14% reduction in homelessness… progress that would not have been possible without the investment by the state through HHAP,” Gloria said.
The mayor said the money helps San Diego in both immediate and long term ways when it comes to getting people off the streets.
“HHAP has allowed us to add 380 new shelter beds to get more people off the streets immediately, and HHAP has also been critical to helping us build a comprehensive, multi-faceted strategy to reduce homelessness and help us more than double the number of sheltering options to get people into safer environments,” he said.
The mayors of Anaheim and Irvine talked about the progress they have made toward ending homelessness for children.
“We have built housing for transitional age youth that are coming out of the foster care system,” said Anaheim Mayor Ashleigh Aitken. “We have moved families off the streets so that kids have stable housing as kids are trying to learn in those tender years of elementary school and junior high.”
Irvine Mayor Larry Agran said his city expects there to be “zero unhoused kids by this time next year,” following a years-long effort.
The mayors said they’re meeting with state lawmakers, pleading with them to restore HHAP funding to $1 billion and to make that amount adjustable for inflation in coming years. The legislature must have a budget ready to send to the governor by June 15.
