Cities without access to state homelessness funding would need to report on programs outside their control under new bill

By Caroline Grinder, legislative advocate (community services)

Sen. Catherine Blakespear introduced legislation that, for the second year in a row, attempts to require all but 14 cities to add extensive homelessness reporting requirements to their housing elements. Cal Cities opposes SB 866 unless it is amended and is urging cities to contact their legislators and voice their concerns.

How would SB 866 work?

Currently, funding from the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) grant program goes directly to California’s 14 largest cities, all 58 counties, and 44 Continuums of Care — leaving the other 469 cities without direct state support. To receive HHAP funding, recipients must submit regional plans that include performance metrics.

SB 866 would require cities that do not receive HHAP funding to add these same metrics — that include services and systems largely outside their control — to their housing elements.

These metrics would include detailed information about homelessness in cities, such as how many people become homeless after leaving jails, prisons, or hospitals, as well as how many people fall back into homelessness after they are placed in permanent housing. Cities would also need to explain how they are coordinating services under the Behavioral Health Services Act and identify available mental health funding — county-led functions that cities are not positioned to fulfill.

What changes does Cal Cities want?

Most cities cannot collect this data on their own. In fact, gathering it would require extensive coordination with counties, hospitals, jails, and other partners. Moreover, housing elements are long-term planning documents that, for many cities, are updated every eight years. The data would quickly become outdated and fail to reflect the needs of people experiencing homelessness.

Cal Cities is urging the author to amend SB 866 to include all cities in the existing regional planning processes, which would provide transparency into the metrics that SB 866 includes, but through the same process already used by California’s largest cities.

How can my city help?

SB 866 has not received a hearing date. However, the Senate Housing Committee will likely review the bill by April 21. Cal Cities is asking cities to submit letters urging lawmakers to oppose the bill unless amended to address these concerns.