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Assembly committee advances Functional Zero Act requiring local planning to reduce unsheltered homelessness
Summary
SB 606 would require local governments and Continuums of Care to plan for achieving "functional zero" unsheltered homelessness and to include unit-need analyses; sponsors argued the measure leverages planning to ensure jurisdictions use tools granted by the Legislature.
Senator Becker presented SB 606, the Functional Zero Act, to the Assembly Human Services Committee and said the bill would require cities, counties and Continuums of Care to include plans and analyses showing the number and types of housing units needed to achieve and maintain "functional zero" unsheltered homelessness.
Becker described California as having an outsized share of the nation’s unsheltered homeless population and said the bill clarifies that reaching "functional zero unsheltered" is an intermediate step toward ending homelessness more broadly. He and witnesses cited examples from Santa Barbara, San Jose and San Mateo County where local planning and interim housing have reduced unsheltered counts.
"Ending unsheltered homelessness won't solve every problem related to our homelessness crisis, but it is a critical first step towards getting us there," Adrian Covert of the Bay Area Council said in support. Covert and other supporters argued the state provides tools for interim and interim/permanent housing and that the bill would hold jurisdictions accountable to planning and to making use of existing authorities.
Housing California and national organizations initially raised concerns but moved to neutral after committee amendments were accepted, according to testimony. Supporters included local governments, housing coalitions and business groups.
The committee voted to pass SB 606 as amended to the Assembly Appropriations Committee. The author accepted committee amendments, and the chair recommended an aye vote.
Votes at a glance: the committee passed SB 606 as amended to the Assembly Appropriations Committee (final vote: 7–0).
