San DiegoSan Diego — An Assembly bill that would provide about $1.5 billion for housing and services for homeless people was introduced Wednesday in a Sacramento ceremony that included a bi-partisan group of state lawmakers and 11 California mayors, including Kevin Faulconer.
Assembly Bill 3151, authored by Democrat Phil Ting of San Francisco, calls for 25 percent of the state’s $6.1 billion budget surplus to address homelessness. Municipalities would get money as a matching fund to what they spend locally on existing or new programs.
State Sen. Ricardo Lara, D-Bell Gardens, is a principal co-author in the Senate.
Assemblyman Todd Gloria, D-San Diego, is one of 19 co-authors of the bill and one of four Assembly who wrote to Ting, chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, on Feb. 1 asking for $1 billion of the state’s surplus to be set aside to help the homeless.
Gloria said he was encouraged when the bill called for even more money than originally requested.
“I’m really excited about this,” Gloria said. “As the budget chairman, (Ting is) our point person. He could have simply said, ‘Thanks, I’ll take that under advisement.’ But taking this next step and adding another half billion dollars gives me greater confidence that there will in fact be greater expenditures for the homeless in the state budget.”
Gloria also said he was encouraged that the bill already has bi-partisan , with both Democrats and Republicans g on as co-authors.
Faulconer and other mayors attending the ceremony spoke about the urgency of helping the homeless in their cities.
“Homelessness is not just an issue,” Faulconer said. “It is the most pressing issue facing California cities today. Cities are responding to this crisis with more local resources and programs, and we need from our partners in the Capitol, too. We are asking state leaders to help us make a real difference on our streets.”
The bill would create the state Local Homelessness Solutions Program to fund a variety of efforts, including shelter diversion, rapid re-housing, permanent ive housing, rental assistance, emergency shelters, navigation centers, bridge housing, healthcare systems and social services.
It’s difficult to predict how much money could come to individual cities. The amount of money generated by the bill could change as it works its way through the approval process, and funding to municipalities will be based on how much is invested at local levels.
San Diego is facing an $18 million deficit in the next fiscal year, but the city also could get an influx of new money to help the homeless through two initiatives.
One initiative would raise hotel taxes to generate $2 billion over 42 years for homeless services and housing, with another $3.8 billion going to expand the San Diego Convention Center. A petition drive is underway to put the initiative on the November ballot.
San Diego residents in November also may vote on an initiative in the works that would raise property taxes to generate $900 million for affordable housing. The 7,500 subsidized apartments that would be funded by the initiative would include housing for the chronically homeless.
Gloria said the initiatives would complement the newly proposed bill and double the amount that the city would spend on homeless programs in the near future.
“The timing on this may be perfect,” he said.
In the past year, San Diego has completed a program that housed 1,000 homeless veterans, opened three large tent structures that provide shelter and services for about 700 people, expanded a safe-parking program and temporarily operated an encampment that sheltered 200 people. The city also plans to open a downtown center later this year that will help homeless people find housing and other services.
Gloria stressed that the Assembly bill could save tax dollars in the long run because it could reduce the cost of emergency services and other expenses associated with homelessness, studies have shown.
“There will be some who will say, ‘That’s a lot of money, and they’re just throwing money at the problem,’” he said. “But I want to point out that it’s cheaper to house them than to leave them on the street.”
Gloria also said that this year’s sizable surplus created an opportunity to help the homeless while still leaving money in the reserve.
“We may not be in this position next year,” he said. “We’re certainly saving for a rainy day, but when it comes to homelessness, it’s more than raining. We need to do something about it.”
Along with Faulconer, mayors from Los Angeles, San Jose, San Francisco, Fresno, Long Beach, Sacramento, Oakland, Bakersfield, Anaheim and Santa Ana also attended the ceremony in Sacramento on Wednesday.
“Cities across the state must continually grapple with the human, economic and social toll being caused by the growing homelessness crisis,” Faulconer said. “This funding will go a long way to some of the innovative measures being taken at the local level to house more of our homeless neighbors and confront this crisis head-on.”
Long Beach Mayor Robert Garcia said his city, like most large cities in California, is facing a housing affordability crisis.
“Cities need the state’s help to finance affordable housing developments, and this proposal to use surplus funds to match cities’ housing investments will help California build its way out of this crisis,” Garcia said.
Besides the Assembly bill to help fund homeless programs, other statewide efforts to increase affordable housing also are in the works.
In November, voters will be asked to consider an initiative that would raise $4 billion to development low-income housing and subsidize home loans for California veterans.
The bill to put the initiative on the ballot was one of 15 housing bills signed by Gov. Jerry Brown last year.
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