March 27, 2021 - Washington - Senators Dianne Feinstein and Alex Padilla (both D-Calif.) sent a letter to Secretary of Housing and Urban Development Marcia Fudge requesting increased funding to help address California’s homeless and housing crisis. 

            The letter follows last week’s release of HUD’s 2020 Annual Homelessness Report to Congress, which showed an increase in homelessness for the fourth year in a row. 

            “As you prepare your Department’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2022, we urge you to advocate for increased funding levels for federal programs that address homelessness and housing insecurity, including the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investments Partnerships, federal homeless assistance programs such as the Emergency Solutions Grant, and Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers, the senators wrote. “In addition, we believe the best and most immediate way that the federal government can help address California’s homelessness crisis would be to allocate at least 50,000 emergency housing vouchers to our state.” 

            The full text of the letter is available here and below:

            March 25, 2021

The Honorable Marcia L. Fudge
Secretary
U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development
451 7th Street S.W.
Washington, DC 20410 

Dear Secretary Fudge: 

Congratulations on your recent confirmation as Secretary of the Department of Housing and Urban Development. We write to request your attention to the homelessness crisis facing California and our nation and ask that you prioritize homeless and housing assistance in your upcoming Fiscal Year 2022 budget request.

Last week, your Department released its “2020 Annual Homeless Assessment Report to Congress,” which indicated that homelessness increased nationwide for the fourth consecutive year. In California, more than 161,000 people were identified as experiencing homelessness on any given night in January 2020, including families with young children who can’t afford rising rents; veterans; formerly stable adults who unexpectedly lost their jobs or became ill; and victims of domestic violence, among others. We are concerned that this number is likely to significantly increase this year given the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, especially as critical federal, state, and local eviction moratoriums are eventually lifted and emergency rental assistance funding runs out.

As you prepare your Department’s budget request for Fiscal Year 2022, we urge you to advocate for increased funding levels for federal programs that address homelessness and housing insecurity, including the Community Development Block Grant, HOME Investments Partnerships, federal homeless assistance programs such as the Emergency Solutions Grant, and Section 8 Housing Choice Vouchers. In addition, we believe the best and most immediate way that the federal government can help address California’s homelessness crisis would be to allocate at least 50,000 emergency housing vouchers to our state. Vouchers reduce homelessness and other financial hardships and lift people out of poverty, give low-income families an opportunity to move to neighborhoods that offer greater opportunity, improve life outcomes for children, reduce overall costs, and end a reliance on other federal assistance programs. 

It is essential that the federal government works collaboratively with California to address homelessness, and we look forward to working with you and President Biden as you work to strengthen communities and provide quality affordable housing for all Americans.  

Sincerely,

Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator 

Alex Padilla
United States Senator
Source: Senator Dianne Feinstein