Gov. Newsom's Budget & Executive Order on Homelessness 

Earlier this month, Governor Newsom released his draft 2020-2021 budget and signed an executive order to make state land and facilities available for housing and shelter for Californians experiencing homelessness.

Budget Priorities

Housing and homelessness are featured prominently in the draft budget, including:

• $500 million in additional state affordable housing tax credits
• $331 million to a trust fund to support legal aid agencies representing renters and homeowners as well as foreclosure prevention support
• 
$750 million for homelessness, specifically to support operating costs and on-site services for housing accessible to people with extremely low incomes and people who have experienced homelessness
• $700 million to address health needs for the state’s chronically homeless

Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities

The 2020-2021 budget is also the first time that the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund (GGRF) and its programs, funded through cap-and-trade, are to be considered as part of the general budget process. We convene the investAHSC coalition, which has been advocating on behalf of the Affordable Housing and Sustainable Communities program (AHSC), which is funded through the GGRF. We are thrilled that the draft budget maintains AHSC at 20 percent of continuous appropriations -- estimated to be at least $468 million this year. Thank you to all of our partners in this effort!

While an important start, we hope this draft budget will be part of a continued commitment to long-term investments that match the scale of our state’s needs. We will continue to work with our partners to advance a budget and legislative agenda in 2020 that significantly expands resources of the production and preservation of affordable housing, prevents low-income Californians from displacement and housing instability, and strengthens our state's commitment to inclusive, equitable development.