(1) The Planning and Zoning Law requires a city or county to adopt a general plan for land use development that includes, among other things, a housing element. Existing law requires the housing element to consist of an identification and analysis of existing and projected housing needs and a statement of goals, policies, quantified objectives, financial resources, and scheduled programs for the preservation, improvement, and development of housing. Existing law requires the housing element to include, among other things, an assessment of housing needs and an inventory of resources and constraints that are relevant to meeting these needs. Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program (HHAP) for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified.
For a local government that does not receive funding pursuant to HHAP, this bill would require the assessment to include, among other things, the most up-to-date data on the number of individuals who are unhoused and a description of key actions that will be taken to reduce the number of individuals who are unhoused based on the data. By imposing additional duties on local governments, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(2) Existing law requires the Governor to create the Interagency Council on Homelessness to, among other things, identify mainstream resources, benefits, and services that can be accessed to prevent and end homelessness in California, to make policy and procedural recommendations to legislators and other governmental entities, and to serve as a statewide facilitator, coordinator, and policy development resource on ending homelessness in California. Existing law establishes the Department of Housing and Community Development and requires it to administer various programs intended to promote the development of housing.
Existing law states the intent of the Legislature to obtain trustworthy information to connect funding allocated to prevent and end homelessness with established sheltering and housing resources and to provide state agencies with accurate information to allow for more accurate forecasting to target future investments. For purposes of advancing those goals, existing law requires the council, upon appropriation, to conduct, or contract with an entity to conduct, a statewide homelessness assessment to identify certain programs and to collect and analyze data, as specified. Existing law requires the council to submit an interim report and a final report to certain legislative committees by July 1, 2022, and December 31, 2022, respectively.
This bill would require the Department of Housing and Community Development to complete, or contract to complete, an assessment and financing plan to, in coordination with local jurisdictions, address unsheltered and chronic homelessness in the state over a 10-year period. The bill would require the department to report to the Legislature on the assessment and financing plan by December 31, 2027. The bill would require the assessment to include specified information, including, among others, the number of people experiencing unsheltered homelessness and the number of people expected to fall into unsheltered homelessness over the next 10 years based on recent data on rates of Californians becoming unsheltered. The bill would require the department or contractor to, in completing the assessment and financing plan, consult with specified individuals and entities, including, among others, individuals with lived experience of homelessness, representatives of cities and counties, and specified working groups. By requiring the department or contractor to consult with local entities, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program.
(3) The bill would include findings that changes proposed by this bill address a matter of statewide concern rather than a municipal affair and, therefore, apply to all cities, including charter cities.
(4) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement.
This bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above.

Statutes affected:
03/25/25 - Amended Senate: 65583 GOV, 65583 GOV, 5963.02 WIC, 5963.02 WIC
04/24/25 - Amended Senate: 65583 GOV, 5963.02 WIC, 8257.1 WIC, 8257.1 WIC