Council Co-Sponsors Legislation to Alleviate Unsheltered Homelessness Crisis

California has the least sheltered homeless population in the U.S. Just 30% of homeless Californians have access to emergency shelter compared to 74% for all homeless Americans outside of California. The problem is growing worse. While California’s unsheltered homeless population increased 57% since 2010, California’s inventory of shelters increased just 6%. The shortage of shelters deprives over 110,000 Californians access to basic safety and sanitation and is directly responsible for deteriorating street conditions in cities across California.

AB 2211, introduced last week by Assemblymember Phil Ting (San Francisco) and co-sponsored by the Bay Area Council and SPUR, would help end California’s unsheltered homelessness crisis by greatly reducing barriers to building new and expanding existing homeless shelters. The bill would declare any jurisdiction in California whose rate of unsheltered homelessness is above the national average to be in a state of shelter crisis. Jurisdictions in a shelter crisis would be empowered to expand their shelter capacity without existing bureaucratic barriers. This bill expands upon existing law, AB 2553 (Ting), which streamlined shelters on public property and was signed by Governor Newsom in 2020. AB 2211 removes the sunset date for the provisions in AB 2553 and extends provisions to expedite emergency shelters onto private property. Read the AB 2211 fact sheet here.

To add your company’s name in support of this legislation, please contact Policy Manager Anna Sciaruto.