San Francisco, San Jose and Oakland Stand United: Demand Sacramento Restore Homelessness Funds
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 11, 2025
Media Contact:
Tasha Dean, Chief Communications Officer, Office of Mayor Matt Mahan
SAN JOSÉ, CA - This week, the State Legislature released a budget for FY 25–26 that zeroes out funding for the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention (HHAP) program — a proven lifeline that keeps 2,500 people off the streets each year in the Bay Area’s three largest cities.
Obfuscating the reality of this cut, state leaders are pointing to an intention to restore partial funding in FY 26–27 — at just half the prior level. Meanwhile, the Bay Area’s largest cities will lose the progress made over the last few years.
Mayors Matt Mahan, Daniel Lurie, and Barbara Lee are calling on Sacramento to fully restore HHAP funding now and accelerate distribution of the dollars that have already been promised.
“If Sacramento wants to call homelessness a crisis, they need to treat it like one. Cities like ours have been asked to lead — and we are. But here’s the truth: we cannot solve a statewide crisis if the state won’t show up.
We’ve heard again and again that Sacramento doesn’t want to fund failure. Our answer — don’t abandon success.
HHAP is working. It has helped the state’s 13 largest cities add over 17,000 shelter beds, serve 150,000 people, and move thousands into permanent housing. This isn’t just about the Bay Area — it’s about every California city working to move faster, house more people, and bring order and dignity back to our streets.
If the Legislature walks away from that now, we’re not just walking away from progress — we’re walking away from our most vulnerable neighbors. Cities are stepping up. We need Sacramento to do the same.
We need the state to fully HHAP this fiscal year — because if these funds disappear, so does our ability to meet this crisis head-on.
Let’s not go backwards. Let’s not let another 2,500 people in our region fall through the cracks because Sacramento is unwilling to make hard choices. Homelessness is our residents’ biggest concern. We already spend a fraction of our state budget to address it. Now is not the time to do even less.
We’re asking Sacramento to lead — and to act like lives depend on it. Because they do.”
About the City of San José
With nearly one million residents, San José is the largest city in the Bay Area and one of the nation's most diverse and creative. San José’s transformation into a global innovation center in the heart of Silicon Valley has resulted in the world's greatest concentration of technology talent and development.