Ongoing funding is the only path to housing justice

OPINION – I’ve been homeless. I’ve been labeled, stigmatized, stereotyped. Stability, dignity, thriving: I know that it all starts with home.

Nobody wants to be homeless. We want to be able to pay our rent. We want help to get back on our feet. We want second chances.

But time and again, our state — the 4th largest economy in the world — fails to make the commitments that would make that possible. It’s been as if California’s homeless and housing approach has been to build a house all year, then lock the door when the budget runs out.

That’s why I spoke to a crowd of advocates for long-term homelessness solutions rallying on the west steps of the Capitol building in Sacramento to launch AB1165, the California Housing Justice Act, which passed unanimously through the Assembly Housing and Community Development Committee, and why I won’t rest until it’s signed into law.

There’s a lot of talk from politicians about homelessness as a top issue. So why, unlike public education, healthcare, behavioral health and transportation, does California fail to provide ongoing funding at scale to address the crisis?

The truth is, each year the state invests less than half of one percent of the state’s budget in ongoing investments in housing and homelessness. We would never expect our schools to educate our kids if they had to go up to Sacramento every year to make sure they had the money to keep their doors open and lights on—yet, that’s what we ask of our homeless response and housing sector.

California voters have shown that we want to end homelessness too. But we need a plan. We need more than one-time bond funds that build homes but don’t fund the services needed to help people stay housed in them. We need a plan that’s focused on housing people for the long haul. We need a plan that lets Californians who have been homeless count on the state’s commitment to solve homelessness.

In 2024, over 339,000 people experienced homelessness across California. And far too many others are a job loss or medical emergency away from the same fate with about 30% of renters paying over half their income on housing. Making sure people have a place to call home is the single biggest thing we can do to end the crisis because homes end homelessness.

The lack of affordable housing in California is the overwhelming reason that so many in our state experience homelessness. This is especially true for those leaving jails, prisons, and other institutions. Every year, thousands of people released from California’s institutions face numerous barriers to housing. They face the stigma of incarceration or criminal-record screening policies that limit the housing they can get. Many fall into homelessness. Housing justice means supporting our neighbors who have paid their debt to society by clearing the way for them to come home.

The first step is to make sure Californians have a home is having a plan to solve homelessness. That plan has to be rooted in research, like Roadmap Home 2030 and the Homeless Housing Needs Assessment. A plan will ensure our investments have the most powerful effect.

More than anything else, we need ongoing funding to support that plan at scale.

We cannot afford to keep staring down a cliff in funding that gets bigger and bigger each year. We can’t afford to run harder every day to stay in place. The California Housing Justice Act gives us a foundation we can build on instead. It gives California a plan and calls for ongoing funding that is paired with shared accountability. With it, together, we can work toward housing justice.

You can’t house people with a locked door. Compassion and commitment to our unhoused neighbors are the keys. These are what we’re fighting for.

Tim Heavin serves on the CSH CA State Policy Advisory Board and works full time as a community health worker.