Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: round 8: smaller jurisdictions.

Plain English Breakdown

The official source material does not provide details on how funds from round 8 will be distributed or what happens if a smaller jurisdiction is ineligible for funding.

Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program: Round 8 for Smaller Jurisdictions

This legislation requires larger regions receiving funds from the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program to allocate a portion of those funds to smaller jurisdictions with populations under 300,000.

What This Bill Does

• Requires continuums of care (regions) that receive funding for round 7 to give some money to smaller cities or towns.
• Defines 'smaller jurisdiction' as any city with fewer than 300,000 people.
• Sets rules for smaller jurisdictions to get this funding, like adopting a resolution and having a local encampment policy.
• Requires continuums of care to accept applications from smaller jurisdictions following specific procedures.

Who It Names or Affects

• Continuums of care (regions) that receive funding for homelessness prevention and support.
• Smaller cities or towns with populations under 300,000.

Terms To Know

continuum of care

A region that works together to provide services for people who are homeless or at risk of becoming homeless.

smaller jurisdiction

A city with a population under 300,000.

Limits and Unknowns

• The bill does not specify how much funding smaller jurisdictions will receive.
• It is unclear what happens if a smaller jurisdiction does not meet the eligibility requirements for funding.

Official Summary Text

AB 1708, as amended, Solache.
Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention program: round
7.
8: smaller jurisdictions.
Existing law establishes the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program for the purpose of providing jurisdictions with grant funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges, as specified. Existing law provides for the allocation of funding under the program among continuums of care, cities, counties, and tribes in 6 rounds, with rounds 1 to 5, inclusive, administered by the Interagency Council on Homelessness and round 6 administered by the Department of Housing and Community Development, as provided. Existing law establishes round 7 of the program and states the intent of the Legislature to enact future legislation that specifies the parameters, as specified.
Existing law, effective July 1, 2026, appropriates $500,000,000, as specified, provided that these funds be disbursed in accordance with
specified requirements, including that funds from this appropriation be disbursed to a city, county, tribe, or continuum of care for round 7 of the program after a declaration by the director of the department, in consultation with the Director of Finance, that the department has substantially completed its initial disbursement of round 6 funds to the city, county, tribe, or continuum of care and that the city, county, tribe, or continuum of care has obligated at least 50% of its total round 6 award. Existing law requires the department, during the 2025–26 fiscal year, to prepare to administer round 7 of the program with the goal that initial round 7 disbursements will be available to grantees meeting the statutory provisions for disbursement beginning September 1, 2026, as specified.
To be eligible for round 5 or round 6 base program allocation, existing law requires a jurisdiction that is not a tribe to apply as part of
a region and be signatory to a regionally coordinated homelessness action plan that meets specified requirements.
This bill would
require a continuum of care receiving funding pursuant to round 7, as described above, to allocate funds to a smaller jurisdiction, defined as a city with a population
under 300,000. The bill would require a smaller jurisdiction, in order to be eligible for funding, to, among other things, adopt a resolution, as specified, have a compliant housing element, and have adopted a local encampment policy, as described. The bill would require a continuum of care to accept applications for funding in accordance with specified procedures.
apply to the allocation of funding available under round 8 of the program and require a round 8 regionally coordinated homelessness action plan to include certain components, including a description of programs and interventions provided by smaller jurisdictions, as defined, that serve the objects and goals of the program, as specified. The bill would authorize a region receiving funding under round 8 to allocate a portion of that funding to smaller jurisdictions to support those programs. The bill would prescribe requirements for a smaller jurisdiction to be
eligible to receive funding pursuant to these provisions.

Current Bill Text

Download Bill PDF