(1) Existing law establishes various offices within the Governor's office with specified duties and responsibilities.
This bill would create, within the Governor's office, the Governor's Office to End Homelessness, which would be administered by the Secretary on Housing Insecurity and Homelessness appointed by the Governor. The bill would require that the office serve the Governor as the lead entity for ending homelessness in California and would task the office with coordinating the various federal, state, and local departments and agencies that provide housing and services to individuals experiencing homelessness or at risk of homelessness. The bill would require the office to exercise various powers and duties, including, among others, making recommendations to the Governor and the Legislature regarding policies, programs, and actions to end homelessness and developing universal guidelines and standards for providing services to individuals experiencing homelessness.
(2) Existing law requires the Governor to establish the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council (referred to as "the coordinating council") and appoint up to 19 members of that council, including the Secretary of Business, Consumer Services, and Housing, or the secretary's designee, to serve as the chair of the coordinating council. Existing law requires that the coordinating council be under the direction of an executive director, who is under the direction of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency, and staffed by employees of that agency.
This bill would require that the coordinating council be under the supervision of the Secretary on Housing Insecurity and Homelessness of the Governor's Office to End Homelessness. The bill would further require that the Secretary on Housing Insecurity and Homelessness, or the secretary's designee, serve as chair of the council in place of the Secretary of Business, Consumer Services, and Housing. The bill would provide for the transfer of specified duties, powers, employees, assets, and liabilities of the Business, Consumer Services, and Housing Agency to the Governor's Office to End Homelessness with respect to the coordinating council.
(3) Existing law provides that the goals of the coordinating council include, among other things, creating partnerships among state agencies and departments, local government agencies, federal agencies, and specified other entities for the purpose of arriving at specific strategies to end homelessness. Existing law requires agencies and departments administering state programs, as defined, to collaborate with the coordinating council to adopt guidelines and regulations, or to revise existing guidelines and regulations, as applicable, to incorporate core components of Housing First, as defined.
This bill would require, upon the request of the coordinating council, an agency or department that administers one or more state programs to furnish to the coordinating council any relevant information regarding those state programs.

Statutes affected:
AB1845: 8256 WIC, 8257 WIC
01/06/20 - Introduced: 8256 WIC, 8257 WIC
AB 1845: 8256 WIC, 8257 WIC