Mayor Eric Garcetti and mayors from California’s 13 largest cities recently met with the governor and legislative leaders to advocate for additional state resources in the 2019 budget to address the ongoing homelessness crisis.

The mayors highlighted the success of the Homeless Emergency Aid Program, an allocation of $500 million that is on track to produce more than 4,000 new shelter beds throughout the state. The allocation included $150 million for cities with a population of 300,000 or more.

“Last year, California’s mayors fought hard for hundreds of millions of state dollars to confront the humanitarian crisis on our streets, and in Los Angeles, we have already committed that money to badly-needed bridge housing and other emergency initiatives,” Garcetti said. “But this is just the beginning. Cities need Sacramento to keep following Governor Newsom’s example and step up with the resources we need to end homelessness across California. We’ll keep pushing toward that goal, with a spirit of partnership that’s as strong as it’s ever been.”

“Last year, the state laid the foundation to get thousands of people off the streets and into housing,” said Sacramento Mayor Darrell Steinberg, chairman of the Big City Mayors coalition. “We look forward to continuing to work with the governor and Legislature to increase that historic investment so cities can fund to scale the programs and strategies that are most effective at addressing the urgent crisis of homelessness.”

California’s homeless population is estimated at 134,278, according to 2017 statewide counts. Half of all the country’s homeless individuals are in California, and nearly half of California’s homeless are in the state’s 13 largest cities.

Across the state, cities have used Homeless Emergency Aid Program funds to dramatically increase capacity for shelters, navigation centers, bridge housing, rental subsidies and other supportive services. The mayors highlighted how quickly the state distributed funds to local governments, allocating resources according to need, and the flexibility of what resources could be spent on as critical components of the program’s success.