SACRAMENTO – Assemblywoman Luz Rivas (D-Arleta) secured approximately $1 million in the State’s Budget to combat California’s homeless crisis. Yesterday, Governor Gavin Newsom signed the State’s Budget, which allocates $981,000 to the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency (BCSH) for six additional staff positions to expand the Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council’s (Council) staff so that they can carry out their statutory mandate to end homelessness in California.
Given the critical nature of the state’s homelessness crisis, Assemblywoman Luz Rivas authored Assembly Bill (AB) 1702 to add six additional full-time staff positions to the Council so they can successfully complete their mission to identify, combat and reduce the state’s homeless population. Last Fall, Assemblywoman Luz Rivas convened a working group comprised of state and local departments, and advocates to discuss policy issues affecting the state’s growing homeless population.
“California likes to be the nation’s leader, but not when it comes to homelessness. I want to thank the Governor for working with my office over the past year to discuss the growing crisis, and for finding value in my legislation by including it in his 2019-20 Budget,” said Assemblywoman Luz Rivas. “AB 1702, which received bipartisan and unanimous support from my colleagues, helped set the stage for its inclusion in the Budget. I am proud that for the first time, the Budget will give the Council additional resources to fulfill their aggressive agenda to tackle the growing homeless crisis. As leader of the nation, we are taking responsibility and this is an incremental step in moving the state in the right direction.”
The Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council was created under SB 1380 (Mitchell, Chapter 847, Statutes of 2017) to oversee the implementation of housing first guidelines and to identify and coordinate state resources and services to prevent and end homelessness in California. The Council is housed under the BSCH Agency where the Secretary serves as the Chair and administers the program in consultation with the Executive Director of the Council.
Assemblywoman Rivas proudly represents the 39th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Arleta, Lake View Terrace, Granada Hills, Mission Hills, North Hollywood, Pacoima, Sun Valley, Sunland-Tujunga, Sylmar, and San Fernando.
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CONTACT:
Judy Yee, Judy.Yee@asm.ca.gov, 916.319.2039