California unveils new HAP round, $118.7M encampment grants and accountability.ca.gov to track spending and outcomes

At a virtual press event, Governor Gavin Newsom and state housing officials announced the distribution of remaining Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention (HAP) round 5 funds, an additional $118.7 million in encampment-resolution grants, and a $760 million HAP 6 notice of funding availability that will require greater compliance and data reporting. The state also launched accountability.ca.gov, a dashboard the administration says will make local spending and outcome data easier for the public to review.

The announcements came after opening remarks from Tamika Moss, who introduced the grant awards. “I’m pleased to announce a spectrum of awards, that will help us achieve our collective goals,” said Tamika Moss, secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. Moss said nearly $42,000,000 in additional HAP round 5 grants would go to five regions — Butte County, Orange County, Nevada County, El Dorado County and a combined award for Colusa, Glenn and Trinity counties — and that 14 projects would receive $118,700,000 to rehouse people quickly.

Governor Gavin Newsom described the accountability site as a tool for monitoring housing element compliance, shelter capacity, changes in unsheltered populations and whether money has been obligated and spent. “accountability.ca.gov” is intended to display county and city metrics on housing plans, encampments, shelter beds and behavioral-health implementation, the governor said, adding the site will include source datasets and be updated over time.

Newsom said the administration will attach stricter conditions to the next round of HAP funding. He told reporters that a portion of the $760,000,000 HAP 6 pool will require compliance with local housing elements, outcome- and data-driven plans for encampments and other prescriptive accountability measures. He also said the state has set aside and is distributing roughly $118.7 million specifically for encampment resolution grants, with targeted awards including $45,000,000 for cleanup along the I-110 corridor and millions for riverfront cleanup in Los Angeles.

The governor described the funding as part of a larger multiyear commitment. He said roughly $855,000,000 of a previously announced $1,000,000,000 commitment has been allocated in grants to date, and characterized the new HAP 6 notice of funding availability as more restrictive than prior rounds: “we’re going to limit some of that discretion,” he said, adding that future state support will be contingent on measurable results and that the state will consider clawback provisions for jurisdictions that do not meet their commitments.

State officials said the dashboard will show which counties have implemented behavioral-health court mechanisms and conservatorship reforms, how many people have been housed with HAP dollars, and detailed obligations and expenditures by county. Officials said the site will be populated with local government data sources, updated iteratively, and expanded in response to public feedback.

State leaders emphasized that the encampment-resolution grants are intended to fund both cleanup and services addressing underlying needs, including shelter placements and service connections. The announcements were followed by a media question-and-answer period in which the governor reiterated that additional state funding will be tied to accountability and outcomes.

The administration did not publish a final disbursement schedule during the event; officials said funding awards and NOFA documents will be published and then populated on the accountability site as they are finalized.