County leaders say reorganization could help homelessness but urge statutory clarity and unified applications

Graham Knauss, chief executive officer of the California State Association of Counties, told the Little Hoover Commission on April 24 that the governor's plan to split the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency could sharpen focus on housing and homelessness but would not by itself solve implementation problems.

Knauss said the proposed reorganization “is smart, and would provide much greater focus in the work that is being done” while praising Secretary Moss’s leadership. He told commissioners that counties are the primary service providers on housing and homelessness and that the state–county relationship in California is unusually interdependent.

The core concern, Knauss said, is legal and organizational: “There are 0 responsibilities in statute around who's supposed to do what related to homelessness,” he told commissioners. Without defined statutory responsibilities and funding aligned with those duties, Knauss said, no single entity can be held…