Unhoused California: Solutions to Address Homelessness

Description:

California has the largest homeless population in the nation, and this ongoing crisis led Governor Gavin Newsom to recently sign the largest funding and reform package for housing and homelessness in California history as part of the $100 billion California Comeback Plan. Join us for a panel discussion featuring experts in the public and private sectors, including government and academia, to examine how this state funding can be successfully deployed statewide to carry the most impact and overcome conditions exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Panelists will speak about the state’s historic investments to improve local responses and how policymakers might transform some of the short-term pandemic innovations into long-term solutions. Panelists will also cover the state's role in creating and strengthening balanced systems that focus on ensuring vulnerable unhoused people can receive care, support, and shelter. Finally, panelists will discuss why now is the moment for the state to take bold, collective action to address this humanitarian issue overwhelming our social service agencies and impacting every aspect of our state and local communities.

MODERATOR:

• Ethan Ward Unhoused Communities Reporter KPCC & LAist

PANELISTS:

• Ned Resnikoff Policy Manager Benioff Homelessness and Housing Initiative (BHHI) at UCSF

• Julie Lo Executive Director California's Homeless Coordinating and Financing Council

• Colleen Murphy Manager of Unsheltered Strategies Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority

• Dr. Richard Cho Senior Advisor for Housing and Services, Office of the Secretary HUD