(SeaPRwire) –   By: Julian Holbrooke

California’s leaders have long promised to tackle homelessness, yet little progress has been made. In 2020, Gov. Gavin Newsom declared it a priority, but six years later, the state spends less than 0.5% of its budget on addressing the issue.

Despite the political commitment, homelessness remains a pressing problem for the public. In 2023, 22% of registered California voters cited it as the most urgent issue, and in 2025, 58% said the state government needed to improve its performance on homelessness and housing.

A recent analysis by the University of Southern California’s Homelessness Policy Research Institute found that California’s spending on homelessness programs has remained relatively stagnant. In the fiscal year ending June 30, 2026, the state will spend approximately US$1.5 billion, or 0.47% of its general fund. This is similar to the pre-COVID-19 pandemic level of 0.46%.

During the pandemic, homelessness spending increased significantly due to budget surpluses. However, as these surpluses faded, spending dropped sharply. In 2024, it declined to approximately $2.4 billion, or 0.82% of the general fund, and further to about $1.7 billion, or 0.55% in 2025, before returning to roughly 0.47% in 2026.

While the spending surge did not immediately reduce homelessness, it did slow the growth rate. And in 2025, there was a modest decrease for the first time in years.

The federal government’s contribution to homelessness is far smaller than California’s. In 2024, the Housing and Urban Development Department’s national homelessness assistance budget totaled $4 billion, less than 0.06% of the US’s total spending. Only around $700 million of this flows to California annually.

Some local governments, like Los Angeles, have taken matters into their own hands. Voters approved Measure HHH in 2016 and Measure H in 2017, generating billions of dollars in local funding for homelessness. In November 2024, Measure H was replaced by Measure A, which is projected to raise over $1 billion annually. San Francisco also approved Proposition C in 2018 to fund homelessness services.

Private philanthropy also plays a role, but its contributions are small compared to the scale of the problem.

If homelessness is a defining challenge for California, the state must allocate resources commensurate with the problem’s scale. Otherwise, the current situation is likely to persist.

Author bio: Julian Holbrooke, an overseas international relations analyst contributing to major European daily newspapers.