The Governor Gavin Newsom convened local leaders this Friday to discuss their plans to address the homelessness crisis and identify new strategies and opportunities to more ambitiously address street encampments across the state.
Earlier this month, Newsom announced that the state would conduct the third round of the ?HHAP? for local governments whose plans, taken together, would only reduce statewide homelessness by 2 percent by 2024.
In light of this, the Governor, in partnership with cities and counties, has established a path forward for applicants to receive their funding from the third round of HHAP, whose grants will launch next week, provided local governments agree to more ambitious reductions in homeless.
Faced with poor results, Newsom challenged local leaders to come up with more ambitious plans for their next round of funding; So far, 21 have committed to step up in writing. The state expects the remaining applicants to do the same.
"This was an important conversation that allowed us to speak candidly and share some good ideas," said Gavin Newsom. “Local leaders spoke about the need for more city-county collaboration, more land use reform to build housing faster, and focus on keeping people housed who may be on the brink of homelessness: these leaders are our partners, and we all recognize that we are in this together.”
The third round of HHAP grants provides a portion of the $1 billion pledged to each county on the condition that each local government has a state-approved plan that reduces homelessness and increases permanent housing.
The Governor's Office noted that, to date, the state has provided more than $1.5 billion in flexible emergency assistance to address homelessness through the Emergency Homeless Assistance Program and the first two rounds of HHAP funding.
HHAP Round 4 applications must be submitted by November 29, 2022.
You may be interested in: Million Dollar Strategy to Avoid Evictions in San Mateo County Announced
