SECTION 1.
The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:(a) As of January 2019, California had an estimated 151,278 people experiencing homelessness on any given day, as reported by Continuum of Care to the United States Department of Housing and Urban Development. This is the highest number since 2007, and represents at 17 percent increase since 2018.
(b) The vast majority of homeless Californians, which is about 71 percent and the highest rate in the nation, were unsheltered, meaning that they were living in streets, parks, or other locations not meant for human habitation. In
2018, among homeless veterans, California had the nation’s highest share that are unsheltered (67 percent), and among homeless youth, the share that are unsheltered (80 percent) ranked second highest.
(c) Despite significant one-time funding from the state and ongoing local funding, in some communities, the number of people experiencing homelessness continues to grow.
(d) As local communities work to house the unsheltered, more people are falling into homelessness. Larger urban areas with high numbers of people experiencing homelessness have reported that more people are falling into homelessness than they are able to house.
(e) In the City of Oakland, for every one person they are able to house, two more are falling
into homelessness.
(f) In the County of Los Angeles, despite housing 20,000 homeless people in 2018, for every 133 people housed, 150 fall into homelessness per day.
(g) In the City and County of San Francisco, for every one person they are able to house, three more fall into homelessness.
(h) A growing percentage of the state’s homeless population are seniors who are experiencing homelessness for the first time. Seniors who are on fixed incomes and who are severely rent burdened have no potential for additional income.
(i) Once seniors are homeless, their health quickly deteriorates and they use emergency services at a higher rate and face high mortality
rates.
(j) Fifty percent of seniors who are homeless become homeless after the age of 50.
(k) African Americans are disproportionately found on California’s streets. Roughly 30 percent of the state’s unhoused population is Black.
(l) While comprehensive statewide data is lacking, local surveys indicate that people living on the streets are typically from the surrounding neighborhood. For example, 70 percent of the people experience homelessness in the City and County of San Francisco were housed somewhere in the city where they lost housing, while only 8 percent came from out-of-state. In addition, three-quarters of the homeless population of the County of Los Angeles lived in the region before becoming
homeless.
(m) About 1,300,000 California renters are considered “extremely low income,” making less than $25,000 per year.
(n) In many parts of the state, many lower income residents are severely cost burdened, paying over 50 percent of their income toward housing costs. One small financial setback can push these individuals and families into homelessness.
(o) Long-term investment in affordable housing and supportive housing with services are necessary to respond to homelessness.
(p) Communities around the state have begun to focus on prevention and diversion programs that keep individuals and families from falling into homelessness. Prevention programs are most
effective when they are efficient and effective and target those individuals and families that are risk of homelessness versus displacement.
(q) The state foregoes approximately $250,000,000 each year in General Fund dollars on the mortgage interest deduction on vacation homes, which benefits about 175,000 taxpayers.
(r) In 2017, the federal government reduced the amount of interest a taxpayer can deduct on a mortgage from $1,000,000 to $750,000. The cost savings were used to fund corporate tax breaks for the rich.
(s) In 2016, taxpayers claimed $54,000,000,000 in mortgage interest deductions, lowering their taxes by about $4,200,000,000.
$3,500,000,000.
(t) The state needs an ongoing, stable source of funding to address the homelessness crisis in a focused in efficient way that supports evidence-based approaches at the local level.