Republican Lawmakers Demand Answers for California’s Homelessness Problem

SACRAMENTO (February 17, 2026) – California Assembly Republicans led by Assemblymember Diane Dixon (R-Newport Beach) have requested an audit of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program (HHAP).

HHAP is California’s main general homelessness funding stream, but the State lacks the data to judge the program’s effectiveness because agencies are not required to report uniform outcomes.

“The Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program has been central to the administration’s plan to reduce homelessness in the State, but it lacks any meaningful evaluation for cost-effectiveness, spending transparency, and outcome tracking,” said Assemblymember Dixon. “Californians have the right to know why their tax dollars are not fixing the persistent problem of homelessness. Several respected polls have shown for many years that homelessness remains a top priority for everyday Californians, and yet the administration has failed to reduce the nation’s largest homeless population residing in California.”

Since 2019, California has spent approximately $24 billion on homelessness, with $4.3 billion in additional funds allocated for the HHAP, including $500 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year. This multi-billion dollar spending year after year proves that homelessness in California has only gotten worse and grew by about 30,000 between the years of 2019 and 2024, to more than 181,000 individuals. These numbers are unacceptable for the world’s fourth largest economy.

Below is a copy of their letter.

February 12, 2026

Assemblymember John Harabedian
Chair, Joint Legislative Audit Committee 1020 N Street, Room 107
Sacramento, CA 95814

Re: Request for Audit of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program (HHAP)

Dear Assemblymember Harabedian,

We, the undersigned members, are writing to respectfully request that the Joint Legislative Audit Committee approve an audit of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program (HHAP).

Since 2019, California has spent approximately $24 billion on homelessness, but in those first five years, homelessness increased by about 30,000, to more than 181,000. As part of the state’s broader approach to tackling homelessness, the goal of HHAP was to make available grant allocations to cities, counties, and continuums of care in order to prevent and end homelessness in their regions. In doing so, HHAP was intended to “provide local jurisdictions with funds to support regional coordination and expand or develop local capacity to address their immediate homelessness challenges.”

HHAP was originally allocated $650 million in one-time funding in 2019, which was called HHAP Round 1. Since then, the state has allocated more than $4.3 billion in additional funds through five subsequent rounds, along with a commitment to appropriate $500 million in the 2026-27 fiscal year.

Round 5 of the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program was formally established in law, Health and Safety Code 50232(a) and 50236(a), with the explicit “purpose of creating and implementing regionally coordinated plans that organize and deploy the full array of homelessness programs and resources comprehensively and effectively”. As part of HHAP’s approach, all applicants were required to create and implement Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plans. Furthermore, Round 5 clarified that the California Interagency Council on Homelessness (Cal ICH) expected applicants to use the funds, amongst other expectations, to: foster robust regional collaboration and strategic partnerships aimed at fortifying the homeless services and housing delivery system; demonstrate sufficient resources dedicated to long-term permanent housing solutions, including capital and operating costs; ensure the long-term sustainability of housing and supportive services; fund projects that provide housing and services that are Housing First compliant – amongst others.

However, despite the copious funding and support of the administration, 2024 data from the Public Policy Institute of California shows that “of the nation’s 771,500 people experiencing homelessness, over 187,000 (24%) were in California” and that “two in three were unsheltered, accounting for almost half of the country’s unsheltered population.” Similarly, data from Housing California highlights the failure of current attempts to adequately address homelessness. For example, data shows that “contrary to popular belief, only a third of people experiencing homelessness have been diagnosed with a serious mental illness or substance use disorder, often developed during the course of their experience with homelessness.” Furthermore, “California’s homeless population is disproportionately Black, brown, LGBTQ+, foster youth, justice-system involved, people with disabilities, and other marginalized populations”.

The Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention Program (HHAP) is California’s main general homelessness funding stream, but the state lacks data to judge the program’s effectiveness because agencies are not required to report uniform outcomes.

Audit Scope and Objectives

The scope of the audit request is as follows:

1. Based on available data, how would you characterize the performance of the HHAP program overall in reducing the net unsheltered homeless population?
2. On what services have local jurisdictions been spending HHAP funds? What local expenditures of HHAP funding have proven to be the most effective at reducing unsheltered homelessness?
3. In 2024, the State Auditor examined the HHAP program and concluded that the state was gathering insufficient data about the program to enable the Auditor to determine whether it was cost-efficient. Since the previous audit, has the state implemented sufficient accountability measures to ensure that counties, cities, and continuums of care are spending HHAP funds efficiently on programs that are directly reducing the homeless population?
4. Have recent executive branch reorganization plans for the Department of Housing and Community Development and California Interagency Council on Homelessness affected the disbursement and oversight of HHAP funds?
5. Did the HHAP Round 5 requirement to establish Regionally Coordinated Homelessness Action Plans, along with requirements to foster regional collaboration, have a measurable impact on the success of homelessness programs?

Thank you for your consideration of this request. For questions, please reach out to Aaron Rice in my Office at 916 319 2072 or Aaron.Rice@asm.ca.gov.

Sincerely,

Assemblymember Diane B. Dixon 72^nd Assembly District

Assemblymember Heather Hadwick 1st Assembly District

Assemblymember James Gallagher 3^rd Assembly District

Assemblymember Heath Flora 9^th Assembly District

Assemblymember David J. Tangipa 8^th Assembly District

Assemblymember Juan Alanis 22^nd Assembly District

Assemblymember Alexandra M. Macedo 33^rd Assembly District

Assemblyman Tom Lackey 34^th Assembly District

Assemblymember Jeff Gonzalez 36^th Assembly District

Assemblymember Wallis 47^th Assembly District

Assemblymember Natasha Johnson 63^rd Assembly District

Assemblymember Kate Sanchez 71^st Assembly District

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