Mayors of major cities across California urged the governor and state lawmakers to continue financing homelessness services amid looming budget cuts.
The mayors of nine major cities — including Oakland, San Diego and Sacramento — came to the state capitol to say they can’t continue making a dent in homelessness without help from the state.
The plea comes after the state slashed homelessness grant funding, called HHAP, from $1 billion dollars to $500 million for next year's budget.
All mayors underscored just how much the state funding helps.
"We’ve increased 500 new beds in the past 18 months here in the city of Sacramento, and we have plans to do another 600 in the next year," Sacramento’s Mayor Kevin McCarty says. "All of this is because of HHAP. If we don't have these funds, we will have to make difficult choices."
San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria says $500 million isn’t enough.
"Anything less than a billion dollars really does mean that we'll be closing shelters in our respective cities and I don’t think any Californian wants that," she says.
A governor’s spokesperson says the state has given cities over $28 billion to combat homelessness, and that they will continue to deliver for local partners as they continue to call for accountability and results.
The state will revise its January budget in May and pass an official one in June.