Gov. Gavin Newsom announced a sixth round of funding for local governments from the Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention program on Monday, totaling $760 million. In addition, his office is offering $160 million in grants for specific projects such as encampment cleanups near the I-10 Freeway and the L.A. River.
The latest round of assistance comes with strings attached.
Communities that receive awards through the newest round of HHAP funding must adhere to increased accountability, transparency, and compliance measures. These include an increased focus on resolving encampments, requirements that recipients have a compliant housing element to obtain future funding, and requirements that grantees obligate and expend past awards before receiving new funds. These strengthened measures will better ensure real, measurable results and will improve the tracking of data and outcomes.
As part of the proposed 2025-2026 budget, the Governor has called for even stronger accountability measures as a condition on any additional state funding, including requirements that grantees have and maintain a compliant housing element, prioritization for communities designated as “pro-housing,” and mechanisms to claw back funding from local governments that fail to demonstrate progress.
To help track counties’ progress, the Governor has launched a new “accountability” website. It provides information on homelessness spending for all 58 counties in California.
California State Association of Counties CEO Graham Knaus was less than impressed. He issued the following statement:
Governor Newsom’s latest in a long series of websites is just spin without the substance to back it up. Counties aren’t the bottleneck to addressing housing and homelessness. The real barriers to progress are the state-mandated bureaucratic hurdles that slow local governments down, forcing them to navigate a maze to get resources on the ground.
Counties believe in accountability, and we welcome HHAP Rounds 5 and 6 funding. But nothing the governor announced today moves California any closer to tackling the problem. The money going out the door today is two years overdue. And the governor’s threat to block future funding for local governments puts headlines above solutions.
Progress will remain frustratingly slow until we work together to address the gaps in responsibility at all levels of government – including the state. Blaming local governments won’t alleviate the homelessness crisis. Real partnership and long-term investments will.