Assembly panel reviews HAP, encampment grants and new state dashboards as officials press for clearer local data

The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Accountability and Oversight held a hearing on state efforts to track and improve outcomes for homelessness spending, focusing on the Homeless Housing Assistance and Prevention program (HAP) and the Encampment Resolution Fund.

Miss Kirkby, a representative of the California Department of Housing and Community Development, told the committee that since HAP moved to HCD the agency has developed reporting dashboards and tightened conditions for disbursement. “Good data helps us make good policy,” she said, and described requirements that grantees obligate or expend earlier HAP rounds, meet HMIS/HDIS reporting standards and, for cities and counties, maintain compliant housing elements before receiving later disbursements.

The hearing centered on whether the new online tools — including the HCD fiscal and HDIS outcome dashboards and the governor’s accountability.ca.gov portal — give legislators and the public enough transparency about how state homelessness dollars are used and whether local programs are producing durable exits from homelessness.

Why it matters: since 2018 the state has invested more than $20 billion in homelessness and housing programs, including roughly $15 billion for housing and about $5 billion for local prevention and services. Committee members said they need clearer measures tying those dollars to outcomes so they can assess return on investment and direct future appropriations.

What HCD described: Miss Kirkby said the HAP umbrella totals about $1 billion…