I just introduced a new bill to hold California cities and state agencies accountable for addressing the moral crisis of our day — homelessness.
On any given night, more than 150,000 Californians are homeless, well before this pandemic and recession. But while some local governments are doing important work to reduce homelesness, many are not pulling their weight. And a recent audit found that our state’s approach to homelessness is disjointed — with at least 9 agencies that administer 41 different programs.
Homelessness has been a long-term crisis that deserves a long-term plan — sustained attention and continued investment to solve. And addressing homelessness can no longer be optional or uncoordinated.
Our current approach clearly isn’t working, so I’ve introduced AB 816, to require real accountability when addressing homelessness. Read more about this historic legislation here.
Under our bill, all California cities and counties — along with all relevant state agencies — have two years to come up with a detailed plan to reduce homelessness by 90% by 2030, with an emphasis on addressing equity and racial disparities. Our bill says local governments need to come up with a real plan to address homelessness and stick to it.
In order to require accountability, our bill establishes a new position — the Housing Inspector General — who will monitor progress on these plans, and can go to court if local governments do not follow through.
This is an ambitious proposal, but I didn’t run for office to pursue half-measures, especially when so many of our fellow Californians have been suffering and dying on the streets of our cities for too long.
Will you click here to read more about AB 816 — and when you’ve read the article, will you please share with 5 friends to get the word out?
I’ll be in touch in the coming weeks and months about this bill — because I’ll need your voice to make sure it passes.
Onward,
David