2023-102.1 Homelessness in California
The State Must Do More to Assess
the Cost‑Effectiveness of Its
Homelessness Programs
Published: April 9, 2024Report Number: 2023-102.1
Recommendation to the Legislature
Recommendation 1
To promote transparency, accountability, and effective decision‑making related to the State’s efforts to address homelessness, the Legislature should amend state law to require Cal ICH, by March 2025, to mandate reporting by state agencies of costs and outcomes of state homelessness programs. To implement such reporting, the Legislature should require Cal ICH to develop guidance establishing specifics on uniformity of data to be collected and how it is to be presented. The Legislature should require Cal ICH to annually compile and report this cost and outcome information publicly beginning in September 2025 and should provide resources for this effort, as necessary.
Status
pending
Recommendations to Cal ICH
Recommendation 2
To ensure that its 2024 update to its action plan aligns with the statutory goals that the Legislature has established, Cal ICH should clearly identify in that update the statutory goal or goals that each of the action plan’s objectives addresses.
Status
pending
Recommendation 3
To promote transparency, accountability, and effective decision‑making related to the State’s efforts to address homelessness, Cal ICH should request that state agencies responsible for administering state‑funded homelessness programs provide spending‑ and outcome‑related information for people entering, experiencing, and exiting homelessness. By March 2025, Cal ICH should develop and publish on its website a scorecard—or similar instrument—on the homelessness programs that would enable the Legislature and other policymakers to better understand each program’s specific costs and outcomes. Cal ICH should determine and request from the Legislature any necessary resources required for this effort.
Status
pending
Recommendation 4
DGS agrees with the recommendation. For those agencies that DGS believes it has not yet discussed potential properties, DGS concurs with reaching out to discuss potential sites. However, DGS notes that several of those agencies have independent authority to manage real property and would likely require legislative action to prioritize affordable housing projects.
Status
pending
Recommendation 5
To ensure that the State has consistent, accurate, and comparable data for all state‑funded homelessness programs, by March 2025, Cal ICH should work with CoCs to implement standardized data requirements that programs must follow when entering information into HMIS. The requirements should establish expectations defining CoCs’ responsibilities for ensuring data accuracy and reliability.
Status
pending
