State Assembly Approves Homelessness Measures

SACRAMENTO – Building upon previous legislative efforts, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia (D-Coachella) joined his Assembly colleagues to approve a series of homelessness bills that would grant additional funding, improve coordination, and enhance transparency as the state continues to prioritize housing needs.

Garcia has been a longtime champion of working on behalf of the homeless. In its 2018 Legislative Scorecard, Equality California awarded Assemblyman Eduardo Garcia 100 percent. One of the efforts the group cited was Garcia’s work on AB 2490, increasing access to identification for people without homes.

“Addressing homelessness and keeping Californians safe and sheltered remains a priority of our legislative work. Ensuring that all Californians have a safe place to call home is an issue that predated this pandemic and has become all the more urgent in upholding the health, dignity, and safety of our communities,” Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia said in a prepared statement. “These legislative measures and additional funds will help build upon our district’s strategic efforts to alleviate (the issue).”

AB 3300 – (Santiago) Homelessness: California Access to Housing and Services Act: establishes the California Access to Housing Fund and appropriates $2 billion each year in to the fund to address the issue.

AB 1845 – (Luz Rivas) Office to End Homelessness:  organizes a Governor’s Office to End Homelessness under the direction of the Secretary of Housing Insecurity and Homelessness.

AB 2746 – (Gabriel) State Funding Accountability for Homelessness: requires that recipients of programs that address those living in the streets provide specified data to improve transparency and accountability.

AB 3269 – (Chiu) State and local agencies: creates the Office of the Housing and Homelessness Inspector General to create greater accountability for state and local actions to address those without shelter, imposes new requirements on local governments to develop actionable plans to address the issue, and creates a public right of action for the Inspector General to compel compliance with those new plans, among other things.

These legislative proposals passed in the California State Assembly and will now advance to the California State Senate for their consideration.