Another $50 million in state funding for solutions to homelessness is headed for Santa Clara County and San Jose, but cities and counties may face tougher rules when asking for more state support as Gov. Gavin Newsom cuts funds and demands results.
The California Department of Housing and Community Development, part of Newsom’s administration, announced Wednesday it was sending $150 million to cities and counties throughout the state. A third — $49.9 million — will be shared between Santa Clara County and San Jose, the agency said in a news release. The funds come via the state’s Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program and were approved in the state’s 2024-2025 budget.
Santa Clara County and San Jose will split the new funding, a county spokesperson said in an email. In prior years, the city and county had already received $234 million through the state’s homelessness program, according to the housing agency. Past rounds have funded the county’s rental assistance for 2,500 households annually and helped the county double its temporary shelter capacity since 2021, the spokesperson said.
“This critical state funding is delivering results in our region,” Santa Clara County Executive James Williams said in a statement.
However, Williams and a chorus of homelessness advocates and state lawmakers are calling on Newsom and top Democrats in the state legislature to pump more funding into the state program, which is the main way the state supports counties and cities charged with solving homelessness.
Newsom rolled out the program in 2019 and California has doled out $5 billion through it. Since then, Newsom has repeatedly threatened to withhold funding from cities that don’t deliver reductions in homelessness, spurring clashes with local officials and hand-wringing among homeless services providers nervous about their financial futures.
Last year, Newsom and top Democratic lawmakers opted not to allocate more funds for homelessness assistance and prevention. They plan to spend $500 million — half the usual yearly allocation — during the next budget cycle, starting in July. Cities and counties may have more administrative hoops to jump through for that future round of funds: only counties, cities and regional homelessness providers “with clear accountability requirements” and demonstrated progress will be eligible, the budget reads.
The program is an “incredibly powerful and flexible resource,” said Ray Bramson, chief operating officer of the South Bay nonprofit Destination Home. “But we definitely need more investment,” he said, “and we need this to be an ongoing, permanent source that our community will be able to count on year-in and year-out.”
Spokespersons for San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan, who has blasted Newsom over homelessness funding and is running to replace him as governor, did not respond to requests for comment.
State Sen. Dave Cortese, a Democrat representing Santa Clara County, said not all recipients of the homelessness assistance funds have used them 100% effectively. He noted a scathing state audit in 2024 found state agencies had failed to track at least $24 billion spent to combat homelessness between 2018 and 2023. It raised questions about “what actually happened to the money,” Cortese said.
But the solution should not be to “reduce or cut off the funds,” he said, especially as San Jose appears to be reducing unsheltered homelessness. City officials say they’ve added more than 1,000 shelter beds in city limits since the beginning of 2025. Cortese said he and other South Bay lawmakers will be pushing Newsom to release more funds during the budget-writing process, which ends in June.
“It’s not a good time to be short-changing anyone,” he said.