San Luis Obispo Mayor Erica Stewart is joining with other California mayors to urge Gov. Gavin Newsom and lawmakers to provide $3 billion in annual funding to address homelessness, saying the city needs state funding to continue serving unhoused residents.

Stewart was in Sacramento on Wednesday for a one-day conference with the League of California Cities and the California State Association of Counties.

The groups gathered several dozen city, county and state officials with the principal goal of lobbying for an annual stream of $3 billion for local governments to help the unhoused.

A survey by the League showed nearly 90% of its 479 member cities “have fiscal concerns” about continuing to provide homelessness services. About 80% have used general fund money since the 2018-2019 fiscal year to address the problem, the survey found.

Stewart described San Luis Obispo’s efforts to conduct outreach to homeless residents with a mobile crisis unit, which employs an emergency medical technician and a social worker to connect unhoused people with services.

“Unfortunately, the majority of this is paid by our city, not from state funding,” Stewart said at a news conference ahead of the gathering. “And we need help. We believe every single person deserves housing. The cities alone are not going to be able to do this forever. We can’t do it. But we are your partners in action. Look at everyone here. We are your partners, and we want to do this.”

Mayor Porsche Middleton of Citrus Heights, located in the Sacramento area, said homeless residents’ need for services and housing “is overwhelming our resources.”

“We need ongoing, permanent funding to continue providing critical services and to shelter those who are unhoused residents in our communities,” Middleton said. “With an (impending) economic recession, we understand that it is now time for us to deal with this decades-long problem.”

Newsom balks at ongoing homeless funds

Newsom and legislators, facing a budget deficit of at least $22.5 billion, are reluctant to commit long-term funds to the issue.

Instead, they have demanded accountability from cities they say have received billions and failed to produce a decline in the unhoused population.

California’s homeless population increased by about 10,000 people from 2020 to 2022, totaling 171,521 people, according to the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development.

“Let’s see results,” Newsom said during his January budget presentation. “We’ll fund success, not failure. I want to see results … Let’s see results. I’ve been listening to that rhetoric my entire life: ‘We can’t do anything until we have more ongoing.’ I get it, I get it.”

In particular, Newsom has pushed for accountability from communities receiving Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HHAP) funds through grants that have allocated more than $3 billion statewide since 2019.

Newsom’s 2023-2024 budget contains $1 billion for a fifth round of grants.

Recent rounds of HHAP grants have required action plans showing how communities plan to use the money.

Newsom in November froze $1 billion in HHAP funds, claiming communities’ plans lacked ambition. His administration is considering tying homeless funding to cities’ housing elements, or state-required plans for long-term housing production.

“I think the governor has been very clear that new multi-billion dollar ongoing funding proposals are not going to be able to be accommodated in this budget,” said Jason Elliott, Newsom’s deputy chief of staff.

Cities have at least one ally in Assemblywoman Luz Rivas, D-San Fernando Valley. Rivas authored a bill creating an accountability framework for HHAP fund recipients, but she also sent a letter to budget leaders requesting $2 billion in annual homeless funding.

“The state is currently allocating billions to programs that may not be effectively reducing our homelessness population,” Rivas wrote, “and without an aggressive investment and restructuring of our state and local homelessness response efforts, we will likely continue to see our homeless rates increase.”

In spite of the budget crunch, League representatives said it’s up to Newsom and lawmakers to put homelessness at the top of their funding list.

“We should not be asking for something,” said Ali Sajjad Taj, League president. “This is something that we should get anyway. And our state is facing an ever-worsening crisis. It is (a) moral imperative that every level of government come together and prioritize this crisis.”