A Publication of the Coalition on Homelessness
by Marisa Kendall/CalMatters
Bills moving through the Legislature this year address state-funded sober housing, RVs parked on city streets and homelessness prevention.
As this year’s legislative session speeds to a close, a handful of bills focused on the state’s homelessness crisis have made the cut so far.
Though homelessness improved slightly last year, there are still an estimated 182,000 Californians with nowhere to call home.
by Kenyota G.
Living on a fixed income in one of the many Single Room Occupancies (SROs), Senior Assisted Living Units, or in a navigation center can prove challenging. At no time has that challenge become more manifest than recently with passage of H.R. 1—Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Act.” That act contained wording that eliminated the federal government’s responsibility for providing 100% of the costs for CalFresh recipients. As of June 1,
by Marisa Kendall/ CalMatters
The Trump administration downplayed the decline in homelessness, contending far more people are on the streets today than a decade ago.
The number of people with nowhere to call home decreased both in California and nationwide last year, according to a long-awaited federal report.
The data, showing the first decrease in homelessness in years, provided fuel for activists challenging the Trump administration’s narrative that current homelessness policies are failing and need to be overhauled.
by Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
Homelessness prevention shows promising results in California, as advocates push to spread it statewide and nationally.
Maybe the way out of California’s homelessness crisis is to prevent it in the first place, rather than focusing only on people who have already lost their housing.
That’s the thinking behind a program in Santa Clara County — and others like it around the state — that has gained traction and will soon test its strategy beyond California.
by Jordan Wasilewski
In San Francisco, the lion’s share of permanent supportive housing (PSH) stock is single room occupancy hotels (SRO). I was placed in one in 2015, and upon moving in realized the room did not include a refrigerator, cooking appliances or adequate food storage. When I inquired about it, a case manager informed me that tenants aged 60 and over were eligible to receive a fridge, and if I wanted one,
by Christin Evans
As tenant activists decry development plan, one supe looks to drafting ballot measure as an alternative
In a heated session of the Board of Supervisors’ December 2 meeting, Mayor Daniel Lurie’s controversial “family zoning plan” to upzone the western and northern sides of San Francisco passed on a 7–4 vote. The board’s more left-leaning supervisors—Connie Chan, Chyanne Chen, Shamann Walton and Jackie Fielder—voted to oppose the plan.
by Jordan Wasilewski
As of mid-October this year, I have been stably housed in San Francisco for 10 years. For the first time in my adult life, I became a tenant with my name on the lease and am living alone, instead of subletting with others.
That was also my 10th anniversary in permanent supportive housing, my 10th anniversary in a single-resident occupancy hotel, and also my 10th anniversary of permanent supportive housing and SRO activism.
by Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
Thousands of Californians could return to homelessness as the feds reportedly plan to disinvest from permanent housing.
The latest blow in a seemingly endless barrage of bad news for the California agencies tasked with fighting homelessness looms: President Donald Trump’s administration is expected to deeply cut federal funding for permanent housing.
The news has sent counties throughout California into a panic.
By Marisa Kendall/CalMatters
President Donald Trump’s new law-and-order approach to homelessness bears several striking resemblances to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s.
Trump wants cities to enforce laws that make it illegal for homeless people to sleep outside. So does Newsom.
Trump threatened to withhold funding from places that don’t. So did Newsom.
And the president wants to make it easier to force homeless people living with serious mental illness or addiction into treatment.
by Marisa Kendall, CalMatters
California’s main source of homelessness funding would drop from $1 billion last year to $0 this year in the proposed state budget.
State leaders have been talking a lot lately about cleaning up California’s homeless encampments and moving people indoors. But the tentative budget they’ve drawn up for the upcoming year has many asking: With what money?
Both Gov. Gavin Newsom and the Legislature have proposed gutting the state’s main source of homelessness funding in the 2025-26 budget,
