HR 44
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Date of Hearing: June 18, 2025
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON HOUSING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT
Matt Haney, Chair
HR 44 (Ward) – As Introduced June 2, 2025
SUBJECT: Homeless Service Providers
SUMMARY: Recognizes and commends the invaluable service of homeless service providers
and their commitment to the shared mission to end homelessness during the month of November
2025, which is Homelessness Awareness Month. Specifically, this resolution makes the
following legislative findings:
1) Finds that more than 187,084 people are experiencing homelessness in California today, and
our dedicated homeless service providers are working each day to help individuals and
families end their episodes of homelessness;
2) Finds that our homeless service providers are dedicated workers from public and nonprofit
organizations driven by a mission to serve people and help our most vulnerable communities;
3) Finds that the homelessness crisis is a function of California’s housing crisis, and the most
substantial challenge providers face is the severe lack of affordable housing;
4) Finds that the homeless services sector has coalesced around the Housing First model, a
guiding principle pioneered by Dr. Sam Tsemberis in the City of New York during the
1990s, which is now a nationally recognized best practice for ending homelessness;
5) Finds that homeless service providers rely on their staff to implement an array of housing
interventions, all tailored to the specific needs of the person;
6) Finds that providers deliver a range of supportive services directly to people experiencing
homelessness who are unsheltered, including outreach, street medicine, food assistance,
benefit enrollment, rapid rehousing, veteran programs, housing navigation, and many more;
7) Finds that providers across the state deliver services and basic needs at both congregant and
noncongregant interim housing sites, as the stability of a short stay in a safe environment will
enable participants to secure affordable housing;
8) Finds that permanent supportive housing, seen as the best housing intervention for many
people experiencing homelessness, provides case management and supportive services from
the comfort and safety of a person’s own home;
9) Finds that during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, providers were implementing
innovative state programs, Project Roomkey and later Homekey, to keep our unhoused
neighbors safe and healthy, proving that their staff members are essential workers;
10) Finds that California has increased investments to support workforce numbers; however, due
to providers’ strained operating budgets and our general increases in costs of living, many of
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the dedicated staff of homeless service providers earn low wages and could be on the brink of
homelessness themselves;
11) Finds that contracting difficulties, low pay, emotional trauma, and competition with private
labor markets present major challenges for public and nonprofit service providers in hiring
and retaining these essential staff;
12) Finds that the dismaying increase of people experiencing homelessness in recent years has
led providers to shift focus and resources towards prevention programs, targeting specific at-
risk populations, such as seniors, people of color, women, youth, and LGBTQ+ individuals;
13) Finds that the inherent diversity of the homeless service provider workforce and the
increased goal of recruiting more individuals with lived expertise improves the efficacy of
the state’s homelessness response system, as staff are more representative of the unhoused
population they serve;
14) Finds that homeless service providers help participants, many of whose lives have been
upended by trauma, move past these difficult circumstances to find housing and stability; and
15) Finds that the state’s urgent mission of ending the homelessness crisis would be impossible
without the resilience, compassion, and dedication of everyday Californians, and this
recognition should encourage further action to improve the economic well-being of
individuals dedicated to aiding the unhoused
Arguments in Support: None on file.
Arguments in Opposition: None on file.
Analysis Prepared by: Lisa Engel / H. & C.D. / (916) 319-2085