Use the links below to skip to the appendix you wish to view:
- Appendix A—State Programs That Provided Funding to Address Homelessness, Fiscal Years 2018–19 Through 2020–21
- Appendix B—CoCs’ Primary Responsibilities Under Federal Law
- Appendix C—Scope and Methodology
Appendix A
State-adminstered Programs That Provided Funding to Address Homelessness, Fiscal Years 2018–19 Through 2020–21
As we discuss in Chapter 1, the State lacks a single oversight entity that coordinates the funds that it allocates to local governments and service providers to combat homelessness. According to homeless council staff, the council does not currently have the statutory authority to collect expenditure data from other state agencies and has not been able to track program spending to date. We found that at least nine state agencies have provided funding during fiscal years 2018–19 through 2020–21 through 41 programs to address homelessness in the State. For example, the California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services administers nine programs that provide homelessness funding, while the California Department of Social Services administers six such programs. Table A presents the state agencies that administered the various programs, the purposes of the programs, and the funding amounts available under each program from fiscal years 2018–19 through 2020–21. In each of the three fiscal years, the 41 programs provided $4 billion or more in total funding.
Table A
State Agencies That Administer Programs Related to HomelessnessAdministering Agency | Program Name* | Purpose of Program | Fiscal year 2018–19 | Fiscal year 2019–20 | Fiscal year 2020–21 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency | COVID‑19 Pandemic Emergency Grant Funding Program | To provide assistance related to the impacts of COVID‑19. Specifically, to safely get individuals into shelter, to provide immediate housing options, and to help protect the health and safety of people experiencing homelessness during the pandemic. | $– | $100,000,000 | $– |
Homeless Emergency Aid Program† | To provide homelessness prevention activities, criminal justice diversion programs for homeless individuals with mental health needs, establishing or expanding services meeting the needs of homeless youth or youth at risk of homelessness, and emergency aid. | 500,000,000 | – | – | |
Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program | To provide local jurisdictions with funds to support regional coordination and to expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges. | – | 650,000,000 | 330,000,000 | |
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation | Transitional Housing Program† | To provide housing and support services upon release for those who have been incarcerated for long terms. | 15,930,000 | 16,705,000 | 18,585,000 |
California Department of Education | Education for Homeless Children and Youth Grant Program | To facilitate the identification, enrollment, attendance, and success in school of children and youth who are experiencing homelessness. | 10,564,000 | 11,328,000 | 12,204,000 |
Homeless Youth Assessment Fee Waiver Program | To fund state costs to implement and report on legislative requirements that a test registration fee not be charged to youth or foster youth experiencing homelessness who are taking either the California High School Proficiency Examination or an approved high school equivalency test. | 21,000 | 21,000 | – | |
Department of Health Care Services | Health Homes Program† | To provide intensive care coordination, as well as housing navigation and tenancy‑sustaining case management services for members who are homeless or recently housed as part of the program. | 3,638,000 | 94,637,000 | 203,895,000 |
Homeless Mentally Ill Outreach and Treatment One‑Time Funding† | To fund multidisciplinary teams engaged in intensive outreach, treatment, and related services for people who are homeless and have mental illnesses. | 50,000,000 | – | – | |
Mental Health Services Act, Community Services and Support Component† | To acquire, rehabilitate, or construct supportive housing; provide rental assistance, security deposits, utility payments, moving cost assistance; and for project‑based housing, including master leasing units; and outreach. | 1,664,900,000 | 1,758,500,000 | 1,318,500,000 | |
Whole Person Care Pilot Program | To serve Medi‑Cal members with complex medical conditions who are frequent users of multiple health systems, including members who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. | 600,000,000 | 600,000,000 | 600,000,000 | |
Whole Person Care Pilots One‑Time Housing Funds† | To support housing and housing supportive services for Medi‑Cal enrollees who are mentally ill and are experiencing homelessness, or who are at risk of homelessness. | – | 100,000,000 | – | |
Department of Housing and Community Development | California Emergency Solutions and Housing Program† | To provide funds for a variety of activities to assist people experiencing or at risk of homelessness through five primary activities: housing relocation and stabilization services, operating subsidies for permanent housing, flexible housing subsidy funds, operating support for emergency housing interventions, and system supports for homeless services and housing delivery systems. | 53,000,000 | 29,000,000 | – |
Community Development Block Grant Program | To partner with rural cities and counties to improve the lives of their low‑ and moderate‑income residents through the creation and expansion of community and economic development opportunities in support of livable communities. Eligible activities include public services such as health, nutrition, and homeless services. | – | 60,000,000 | 30,000,000 | |
Community Development Block Grant Program ‑ Coronavirus Response | To perform activities related to the pandemic response and recovery. The CARES Act provides extra funds specifically targeted to prevent, prepare for, and respond to the pandemic. This includes facility improvements related to COVID‑19 health care and housing needs for homeless individuals. | – | – | 139,500,000 | |
Emergency Solutions Grants Program† | To provide funds to engage individuals and families living on the street, rapidly rehouse individuals and families who are homeless, help operate and provide essential services in emergency shelters, and prevent individuals and families from becoming homeless. | 11,000,000 | 11,000,000 | 11,000,000 | |
Emergency Solutions Grants Program ‑ Coronavirus | To prevent, prepare for, and respond to COVID‑19 among individuals and families who are experiencing homelessness or are receiving homeless assistance and to support additional homeless assistance and homelessness prevention activities to mitigate the impacts created by the pandemic. | – | – | 295,000,000 | |
Homekey | To provide grants to local public entities to acquire and rehabilitate a variety of housing types to provide housing for individuals and families experiencing homelessness or at risk of experiencing homelessness who are affected by the pandemic. | – | – | 800,000,000 | |
Housing for a Healthy California Program† | To provide permanent supportive housing for individuals who are chronically homeless or are homeless and have high medical costs. | – | 82,400,000 | 27,300,000 | |
Local Housing Trust Fund Program | To provide loans to pay for construction or rehabilitation of affordable rental housing projects, emergency shelters, permanent supportive housing, transitional housing, and affordable homebuyer and homeowner projects. | – | – | 57,000,000 | |
No Place Like Home Program ‑ Competitive† | To finance permanent supportive housing for individuals or families with a serious mental illness who are homeless, chronically homeless, or at risk of chronic homelessness. | 400,000,000 | 622,029,000 | 202,040,000 | |
No Place Like Home Program ‑ Noncompetitive† | To finance permanent supportive housing for individuals or families with a serious mental illness who are homeless, chronically homeless, or at risk of chronic homelessness. | 190,000,000 | – | 48,070,000 | |
Permanent Local Housing Allocation Program ‑ Competitive Component | Prioritizes assistance to people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and investments that increase the supply of housing to households with incomes of 60 percent or less of area median income. | – | 15,000,000 | – | |
Supportive Housing Multifamily Housing Program† | To provide low‑interest, deferred‑payment loans to developers of permanent, affordable rental housing that contain supportive housing units for the target population, which are individuals and families that are homeless. | 77,000,000 | – | – | |
Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Program†§ | To provide for the acquisition, construction, rehabilitation, and preservation of affordable multifamily housing for veterans and their families to allow veterans to access and maintain housing stability. | 75,000,000 | 75,000,000 | 75,000,000 | |
California Department of Social Services | Bringing Families Home Program† | To reduce the number of families in the child welfare system experiencing or at risk of homelessness, to increase family reunification, and to prevent foster care placement. | – | 25,000,000 | – |
CalWORKs Homeless Assistance† | To provide payments for temporary shelter and payments to secure or maintain housing for eligible CalWORKs recipients who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. | 64,467,000 | 68,088,000 | 41,603,000 | |
CalWORKs Housing Support Program† | To provide housing support, including financial assistance, housing stabilization, and relocation services, to CalWORKs recipients who are experiencing homelessness or housing instability. | 70,838,000 | 95,000,000 | 95,000,000 | |
Home Safe Program† | To support the safety and housing stability of individuals involved in Adult Protective Services by providing housing‑related assistance using evidence‑based practices for homeless assistance and prevention. | 15,000,000 | – | – | |
Housing and Disability Advocacy Program† | To assist disabled individuals who are experiencing homelessness in applying for disability benefit programs while also providing housing assistance. | – | 25,000,000 | 25,000,000 | |
School Supplies for Homeless Children Fund | To collect contributions that will be used to provide school supplies and health‑related products to children experiencing homelessness. | 380,000 | 676,000 | 590,000 | |
California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services | Domestic Violence Assistance Program† | To provide shelter, transitional housing, and supportive services for domestic violence victims and their children. | 64,000,000 | 55,000,000 | 55,000,000 |
Domestic Violence Housing First Program† | To assist victims of domestic violence in obtaining and retaining safe, permanent housing as modeled after an evidence‑based form of rapid rehousing adapted to move and rehouse domestic violence victims, who are homeless, into permanent housing quickly and provide ongoing tailored services. | 9,600,000 | 22,089,000 | 22,752,000 | |
Equality in Prevention and Services for Domestic Violence Program† | To maintain and expand domestic violence services for the lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, or questioning (LGBTQ) communities that will increase access to culturally appropriate domestic violence, education, prevention, outreach, and services for these unserved or underserved communities. | 423,000 | 423,000 | 423,000 | |
Homeless Youth and Exploitation Program† | To help homeless youth exit street life by providing outreach services, food, temporary safe shelter, in‑person counseling, group counseling, basic health care, long‑term stabilization planning, independent living and survival skills, access to or referrals to other services as appropriate, and follow‑up services. | 1,077,000 | 1,077,000 | 1,088,000 | |
Homeless Youth Emergency Services and Housing Program† | To establish or expand access to a range of housing options and provide crisis intervention and stabilization services to homeless youth. | – | 6,337,000 | – | |
Human Trafficking Victim Assistance Program† | To provide safety and supportive services to help human‑trafficking victims recover from the trauma they have experienced and assist with their reintegration into society. These services include a 24‑hour hotline, emergency shelter, temporary housing, emergency food and clothing, counseling, referrals, transportation, and legal services. | 10,000,000 | 10,000,000 | 10,000,000 | |
Native American Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault Program† | To provide cultural competency trainings to agencies and other regional service providers on issues related to Native American women victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. | 813,000 | 813,000 | 813,000 | |
Specialized Emergency Housing† | To maintain and expand emergency shelter and emergency housing assistance resources in California and to provide specialized services for victims of crime, with priority given to funding applicants that propose to serve homeless youth, elderly, disabled, and LGBTQ victims of crime. | 4,888,000 | 9,500,000 | 9,680,000 | |
Transitional Housing Program† | To provide transitional housing, short‑term housing assistance, and supportive services that move crime victims into permanent housing. | 9,600,000 | 18,000,000 | 17,514,000 | |
California Housing Finance Agency | Special Needs Housing Program† | To allow local governments to use Mental Health Services Act and other local funds to provide financing for the development of permanent supportive rental housing that includes units dedicated for individuals with serious mental illness and their families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness. | 20,467,800 | 32,860,000 | 36,764,000 |
California Tax Credit Allocation Committee | Low‑Income Housing Tax Credit Program† | To allocate tax credits to encourage private investments in the development of affordable rental housing. | 107,000,000 | 109,000,000 | 110,600,000 |
Totals | |||||
9 | 41 | $4,029,606,000 | $4,704,482,000 | $4,594,922,000 |
Source: Review of the homeless council’s California State Homelessness Funding Programs; the budget acts of 2018, 2019, and 2020; state and federal laws; and agencies’ websites and notices of funding available.
* Based on our review, this table presents a list of California programs intended to address various aspects of homelessness.
† The homeless council identified these programs, in September 2018, as programs that provide homelessness funding.
§ State law requires the Department of Housing and Community Development, the California Housing and Finance Agency, and the California Department of Veterans Affairs to work collaboratively pursuant to a memorandum of understanding to carry out the duties associated with this program.
Appendix B
CoCs’ PRIMARY RESPONSIBILITIES UNDER FEDERAL LAW
As we describe in the Introduction, federal law gives CoCs responsibility over four primary functions. CoCs are responsible for conducting a periodic PIT count of the total number and demographics of all sheltered and unsheltered people who reside within their geographic area and are experiencing homelessness. CoCs must also use a single database—known as an HMIS—to record and analyze information, services, and housing data for individuals and families who are homeless or at risk of homelessness within the CoC. In addition, a CoC is required to help its network of service providers assess and prioritize people who are in most need of homelessness assistance through a coordinated entry process. Finally, CoCs must design and operate a process for developing, evaluating, and submitting service providers’ applications for CoC Program funds to HUD. Figure B describes the requirements, methodology, and benefits associated with each of these responsibilities.
Figure B
CoCs’ Primary Responsibilities Under Federal Law
Source: Federal law and documents obtained from HUD and CoCs.
Appendix C
Scope and Methodology
The Joint Legislative Audit Committee (Audit Committee) directed the California State Auditor to perform an audit of selected CoCs to assess best practices related to the services they provide to those experiencing homelessness. Table C lists the audit objectives and the methods we used to address them.
Table C
Audit Objectives and the Methods Used to Address ThemAudit Objective | Method | |
---|---|---|
1 | Review and evaluate the laws, rules, and regulations significant to the audit objectives. | Reviewed relevant federal and state laws, rules, and regulations related to CoCs and their responsibilities. |
2 | Review the selected CoCs’ planning and strategies for administering services to those experiencing homelessness and determine best practices of, and resources necessary for, service coordination with local nonprofits and other homeless service agencies. |
|
3 | Identify effective strategies for CoCs to conduct accurate annual counts of those experiencing homelessness in coordination with other homeless service agencies. |
|
4 | Determine the necessary resources and internal protocols for CoCs to measure the effectiveness of their programs, including collecting, retaining, and analyzing complete and accurate data. Identify any barriers the CoCs have experienced in collecting, retaining, and analyzing such data and best practices or tools the CoCs use to overcome these barriers. |
|
5 | Verify the extent to which each CoC collaborates with nonprofit organizations to increase its outreach and service provided to those experiencing homelessness. |
|
6 | Identify opportunities or incentives the State could provide CoCs to work collaboratively with nonprofit and other service organizations to secure additional federal funding to assist those experiencing homelessness. |
|
7 | To the extent possible, determine whether structural changes or resources are needed to ensure the CoCs obtain complete and accurate data at each point of the funding process, including during the evaluation of applications from service providers. |
|
8 | Determine methods for CoCs to increase the quality and number of service providers, including methods to do the following: | |
a. Collect and report the number of eligible service providers within the CoC area. |
|
|
b. Isolate reasons that providers do not apply for certain requests for proposals. |
|
|
c. Identify the qualities of service providers to which CoCs award funds. |
|
|
d. Measure the effect that service providers have on homelessness. |
|
|
e. Identify geographic areas within the CoC that have insufficient or no services for those experiencing homelessness and the reasons why these areas have inadequate resources. |
|
|
9 | Identify any best practices at the CoCs for improving accountability and the efficiency and effectiveness of services to those experiencing homelessness that other CoCs could use to improve their efforts. |
|
10 | Review and assess any other issues that are significant to the audit. | Interviewed homeless council staff to determine the extent to which it provides guidance and best practices to CoCs and coordinates state funding and data. |
Source: Audit Committee’s audit request number 2020‑112, planning documents, and information and documentation identified in the table column titled Method.