Governors Briefs: Funding Moves Californians From Encampments Into Housing and New Bill Promotes Inclusion of LGBTQ+ Community

New Funding to Help More Than 2,600 Californians Move From Encampments Into Housing

SACRAMENTO —  Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 12 announced more than $81 million in Encampment Resolution Fund or ERF grants for 11 communities. The funding will provide services to 2,693 persons experiencing homelessness to help them move out of encampments and into permanent housing. Six of the 12 projects funded will resolve encampments along state rights-of-way.

The ERF, administered by the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency or BCSH and the California Interagency Council on Homelessness or Cal ICH, was designed to provide communities of all sizes with the funding to move people living in encampments into housing. In total, the administration has budgeted $750 million to support 10,000 individuals living in dangerous conditions on our streets without shelter.

The awards support projects in communities large and small from Del Norte County to San Diego, with each community designing their project to provide a person-centered approach to helping their neighbors find a path home.

In the latest round of local awards: the City of Los Angeles will receive $2.4 million to serve 40 people and house 40 from along Jefferson Boulevard in the Ballona Ecological Reserve.

Details: https://bcsh.ca.gov/calich/erf_program.html 

Gov. Newsom Signs SB447
SACRAMENTO – Gov. Gavin Newsom Sept. 13 signed SB 447 by Senate President pro Tempore Toni G. Atkins (D-San Diego), which creates a new public awareness project that will consult with community leaders to promote California’s values of acceptance and inclusion of the LGBTQ+ community across the country. The bill also ends California’s restriction on taxpayer-funded travel by state agencies and departments to states that have adopted discriminatory anti-LGBTQ+ laws.

Currently, travel to states that have adopted anti-LGBTQ+ laws is restricted under AB 1887 (2016), which restricts state agencies, departments, boards, and commissions from using taxpayer funds to travel to states that have passed discriminatory laws. The travel ban originally restricted travel to four states when it was first passed. That number has now grown to include 26 states. Subsequently, the travel ban has unintentionally hampered Californians from being able to conduct research, business, and engage with people from those states.