Amid a looming $22.5 billion deficit, California housing advocates expressed relief that Gov. Gavin Newsom is largely keeping funding for housing and homelessness programs intact in his 2023–24 budget plan. But, they said, it’s insufficient to meaningfully reduce homelessness across California…
…In order to meaningfully reduce homelessness, Matt Schwartz, CEO of the California Housing Partnership, wants to see a dedicated funding source in the vein of the HOPE Act (ACA 14) Assemblymember Buffy Wicks introduced last year, which proposed to dedicate 5% of the state’s general fund each year over the next decade to the state’s affordable housing and homelessness crisis. “Until we have the state investing at a much bigger scale and a longer-term horizon, we’re not really going to be able to make substantial progress,” Schwartz said.
To address the state’s housing shortage — particularly for people with low incomes — the California Housing Partnership estimates California needs to invest $18 billion each year over the next ten years to add 1.2 million affordable homes, or roughly 119,000 a year.