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Assembly subcommittee weighs speed versus oversight for HAP homelessness funds
Summary
Legislators and witnesses at a California State Assembly subcommittee hearing debated whether stricter accountability for the Homelessness Assistance and Prevention (HAP) program is slowing disbursement and undermining local services — and whether consolidated reporting and multi‑year funding could preserve impact while improving transparency.
SACRAMENTO — The Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Accountability and Oversight spent a day-long hearing testing competing priorities for the Homelessness Assistance and Prevention (HAP) program: getting money quickly into local programs and ensuring that state dollars produce measurable results.
Chair Hart opened the session by saying the subcommittee would examine how state dollars addressing homelessness are being spent and whether those investments are producing measurable results. "The public deserves to know where these funds are going and what outcomes they're producing," he said, citing an estimate that "more than 181,000 people in California are experiencing homelessness on any given night."
The hearing brought testimony from academics, the Legislative Analyst's Office, the Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) and county and city officials. Dr. Margot Kushel, director of the UCSF Center for Vulnerable Populations, told the panel that HAP "has been absolutely essential" but warned that measurement must focus on actions within a jurisdiction's control. "Accountability demands that we have an agreement on…
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